• Design
• Parts
• Construction
• What would I do differently next time?

• Related Pages

We have decided on the following colors:

• 1 red
• 2 yellow
• 2 green

We used the following layout:

    Y
  G R G
    Y

The LEDs are all wired in parallel and the whole mess powered from a wall wart power supply.

We initially planned to use conical kaleidoscopes, $2.95/dozen at OTC (October 2002). The order number is PL-25/2440

We then found some cylindrical kaleidoscopes at Jo-Ann's, a package of 9 for $3.49, discounted to $.87 (dang late October 2002).

Either one would do, but we thought ones that the cylindrical ones fit better in the garg eye sockets.

Note that the wall wart power supply can power more than one eye. We used one wall wart for both eyes in each garg, and it also powers the lamps that illuminate the gargs.

The 1/8" mono audio jack was chosen to match the connector on the wall wart. We were lucky that the wall wart didn't have some strange and expensive connector.

Construction

Start by using a hot-knife to cut slots in the plastic.

The LEDs are inserted in the center hole, moved into a slot, and held with hot-melt glue.

The fifth LED is put in the middle and held with still more hot-melt glue.

The long wire from each LED (anode) is bent outward.

A loop of wire around the rim of the kaleidoscope connects all the LED anodes in parallel.

All of the LED cathodes (short wire) are soldered together in the middle.

A cable will bring low-voltage DC to the eye.

Red is positive. It goes to the anodes on the outside.

The completed eye assembly fits neatly into the garg eye socket.

• The more self-flashing LEDs you use, the smoother the shimmering effect. If you use too few LEDs, you see flashing.

  This batch of eyes used 5 self-flashing LEDs, and that is probably the bare minimum. It looked good, but could look better. If I were to do it again, I would use more LEDs per eye. Six or seven sounds good, if it were not for the "significantly different color" issue discussed later.

• If you add more LEDs, the eyes get brighter, perhaps objectionably so depending on the creature you put them in.

  You might need to use a lower voltage wall wart, or put a resistor in series with the whole eye assembly.

• The red LED was in a water-clear package and the others were in tinted diffused packages. As a result, the red produced a more focused beam and the red light didn't mix as well with the other colors.

  We helped this by scuffing the red LEDs with fine sand paper. The resulting frosted appearance helped diffuse the light.

• Even with the diffusion, the red LED was noticibly brighter than the others.

  We might add a resistor in series with the red LED in the future.

• Whatever colors are used in the eyes should have at least 2 LEDs for each color. This is especially true if the color is significantly different from the others. Let me explain... Green and yellow look close enough that you might get away with only one green and several yellow. But red is different enough from yellow and green that if there is only one red LED blinking on and off, you see that red is coming and going. If you have two red LEDs, sometimes you get a lot of red (both on), sometimes a little on one side (one on), sometimes a little on the other side (other one on), and sometimes no red.

Next time, I will probably use:

• 2 red
• 3 yellow
• 3 green

    G
  Y   Y
 R     R
  G   G
    Y

• Main gargoyle page
• Gargoyle internal skeleton
• Painting
• Flickering eyes [this page]
• Flap those wings!
• Make a gargoyle breathe smoke
• Making them talk
• Mounting gargoyles on fence columns
• Lighting up the finished gargoyles

Thank you for visiting. Your comments are welcome.
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