3D Printed Holder for LED Throwies

3D printed a simple holder for coin cell batteries and make LED throwies that’s re-usable. Just pop in a coin cell and press fit them together. You can slide in an LED and take it out to turn it off or change the battery. The design is free to download and easy to print so you can make batch of them. You can get your students involved by having them setup the parts for 3d printing.

This is could be pretty cool way to have students learn how to light up their first LED. Have the kids use the LEDs in other projects. Just change out the battery when its done. We think young students can learn by making and hopefully get them interested in how electronics work.

STEM LED Starter Kit

 

These types of projects can help STEM educators get their students excited about learning electronics and making. Educators can use LEDs to teach kids how they work and get them involved with the making process. 

 

The idea is to put a kit together for a classroom or workshop using just a few parts.

All About LEDs

Go deeper and learn all about LEDs in this learning guide. Use Ohm's law and resistors to properly power LEDs with various power supplies. Find out how LEDs work and how to use them with micro-controllers!

DIY Slime

Whip up a batch of slime and throw in some LEDs to make it glow! Use transparent colored slime to make a soft diffusion. You can stretch and squash the slime without having to worry about getting poked with the LEDs because they're safely housed in a 3D printed holder.

1 x Elmer's Glowy Glitter Glue
Clear, Glitter or Florescent colored
1 x Elmer's Magic Liquid
Pre-made Solution. Washable, non-toxic and safe

These are some handy things to have when mixing and handing slime.

  • Mixing Bowl
  • Paper Towels
  • Ziplock Bags
  • Decorations: glitter, sequins, beads or confetti
  • 3xAAA Batteries
Single large LED lit up red
Need some big indicators? We are big fans of these huge diffused red LEDs. They are fairly bright so they can be seen in daytime, and from any angle. They go easily into a breadboard...
$9.95
In Stock
Single large LED lit up white
Need some really bright and big indicator LEDs? We are big fans of these 10mm diffused white LEDs. They go easily into a breadboard and will add that extra zing to your...
$7.95
In Stock
Single large LED lit up blue
Need some big indicators? We are big fans of these huge diffused blue LEDs. They are really bright so they can be seen in daytime, and from any angle. They go easily into a breadboard...
$9.95
In Stock
Front shot of CR2032 Lithium Coin Cell Battery upright.
A perfect match for our sew-able coin cell holder. This non-rechargeable coin cell is CR2032 sized: 20mm diameter, 3.2mm thick. It...
Out of Stock

What If I Don't Have A 3D Printer?

 

Not to worry! You can use a 3D printing service such as 3DHubs or MakeXYZ to have a local 3D printer operator 3D print and ship you parts to you. This is a great way to get your parts 3D printed by local makers. You could also try checking out your local Library or search for a Maker Space.

3D Printed Parts

All of the parts are 3D printed with FDM type 3D printers using various colored filaments. All of the parts are separated into pieces to make 3D printing easier. Assembly is pretty easy and straight forward. Use the links below to download the STLs files.

Slice Settings

These settings are for a 0.4mm nozzle profile using CURA 3.4 Optimized for the Ultimaker 3.

  • Layer Height 0.2mm
  • Line Width 0.35mm
  • Print Speed 60mm/s 
  • Retraction 6.5mm
  • Bed 60c

No Supports

Fusion 360 files 

Below are link to modify the design of the enclosure, claws and LED clips to fine tune them to adjust to your printers tolerances.

Design Source Files

The enclosure assembly was designed in Fusion 360. This can be downloaded in different formats like STEP, SAT and more. Electronic components like the board, displays, connectors and more can be downloaded from our Fusion 360 CAD parts github repo.

Slime Mix

Check out our previous guide on how to use Glue and Elmer's Magic Liquid to make an easy batch of slime!

For this batch, the only addition is adding food coloring and glitter to customize the look of our slime.

leds_magic-lquid-pour.jpg

leds_food-coloring-mix.jpg

leds_add-glitter.jpg

LED Case Assemble

Now we can move on to building the LED throwies. We'll assemble the LED case by aligning the two 3d printed parts over the 2032 coin cell battery.  We found slight tolerance differences between coin cell battery brands. If the 3d printed parts are too loose, flip the part and try fitting the case on the opposite side of the coin cell. 

Once both cases are attached to the coin cell we can insert an LED to the top of the case. Note which side negative and positive are on the coin cell and then carefully insert the legs into the two holes on either end. 

If you get the LED in backwards, it won't light up. No biggie! Flip it around and try again!

You may need to bend the LED legs inward to ensure contact is being made between the coin cell and terminals. 

The positive leg of the LED will stick out of the case, so we recommend using flush cutters to remove them as it could poke you while kneading the slime.

Cut Leg to fit

 

The positive leg of the LED will stick out of the case, so we recommend using flush cutters to remove them as it could poke you while kneading the slime.

Mix LEDs throwies into Slime

 

First we'll make sure our slime isn't too sticky. You can add a small amount of "Elmer's Magic Liquid" to make the slime less sticky. Kneed the slime and then stretch onto the LED throwies. 

 

Mix until the LEDs are evenly mixed into the slime!

 

This guide was first published on Jun 20, 2018. It was last updated on Mar 08, 2024.