Rechargeable Helmet Light (electronics)

I was tired of having clip-on bike lights stolen and decided to build a set of head and tail lights into my helmet.  The final helmet has bright white LED headlights, flashing LED taillights and runs off a rechargeable Li-Po battery.   For an extra challenge I decided to do the switching and flashing entirely with analog components and use SMD electronics where possible for a smaller form factor.

I'll describe the process by which I designed and built the electronics.  The plastic enclosure I built wasn't anything special and I would redesign it if I repeated the project.  Schematics, layout and SPICE simulation are in the attached ZIP file.

Parts are detailed in the schematic in the next step.

Tools & Supplies:
- Laser cutter (at the TechShop)
- Soldering iron
- Tweezers
- Helping hands
- Toaster oven
- Spackle knife
- Painters tape
- Fine (<#70) drill bits, chuck and drill
- Dremel (or other tool capable of cutting PCB)
- Wire snips
- Needle nosed pliers
- Black spray paint
- PCB etchant
- Solder paste
- Electronics solder
- Li-Po charger

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Art Deco Eagle Wings for Captain America Helmet

I share a love of bike riding and of Captain America with my son.  His bike helmet was stolen from his school storage bin a while back and the school Principal was kind enough to give him a new blue bike helmet.  I was not thrilled to hear that his helmet had been stolen while he was in school, after all we wrote his name across the back of his old helmet.  When I saw the new helmet I decided we needed to make it more easily identifiable, using some white duct tape we fashioned an A and a pair of wings for his helmet.  He loved the new look to his helmet but I was not really happy with it.  After seeing an art deco eagle hood ornament on a vintage car I had an idea to remedy that.

I drew a sketch of the art deco eagle I had seen and used it to make a template of the eagle wings.  I transfered the outline of the wings to some 18 gauge sheet metal and rough cut the wings out with a metal shear.  I finished shaping the sheet metal with a drum sander bit on a rotary tool.  I drew the interior lines of the wings and stamped them in with a peice of wire hanger, cut to fit, and a big hammer.  The peice of sheet metal that I had was painted so I sanded the old paint off and repainted the wings with a metallic aluminum enamle paint.  I colored the stamped lines in with some black, just to make them stand out more.  I used 3M double sided adhesive tape to attach the wings to my son's helmet, now we are both thrilled with the look of his custome bike helmet.

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