How to Make Your Own IR Illuminator From a Flashlight
An infrared beam has the capability of showing a wavelength of the spectrum that is normally invisible to the human eye. You can make your own IR flashlight by using a few household tools and adapting the light output of an ordinary incandescent bulb flashlight with exposed color negative film. Your IR flashlight might not look as fancy as one purchased from a hobby store, but it will provide a beam of IR light just as well as any commercial model.
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Things You'll Need
- Color negative film
- Small flashlight
- Utility knife
- Printing paper, 8 by 10 inch
- Cellophane tape
Instructions
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Buy a 2 1/4 by 2 /4 inch roll of color negative film. Give it back to the photo shop developing center where it was purchased to have it developed.
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2
Put four strips of the color negative film on top of each other so that the translucent sections line up.
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3
Place a piece of printer paper on a table. Put a strip of the color negative film down on the paper horizontally. Put three more strips of color negative film down on the first strip horizontally.
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4
Tape the ends and sides of the strips of color negative film to the paper with cellophane tape.
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5
Unscrew the reflector off of the small flashlight. Remove the plastic lens from inside of the back end of the reflector.
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Place the back end of the reflector down on the color negative film. Cut around the back end of the reflector and through the color negative film with the utility knife.
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Place the cut circles of color negative film that have just been cut out inside of the back end of the reflector. Screw the reflector back onto the flashlight. You can now turn on your IR flashlight.
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Tips & Warnings
You can buy outdated photographic color negative film in a discount bin at a photo or hobby store.
Do not touch the surface of the color negative film as fingerprints will cloud its use.
References
Resources
- Photo Credit flashlight image by timur1970 from Fotolia.com
