How to Create Custom LED Angel Eye Rings

LEDs can add an other-worldly look to a car.

Model Ts roared into new life as hot rods. Impalas gained "street cred" as hydraulic fueled, pin-striped painted low riders. Although it may cost some effort and money, customization has allowed cars to be a stylistic extension of a driver's aesthetics. As with every area, technology feeds emerging trends. Angel Eyes are no different. Mounted around the headlight within the headlight assembly, Angel Eyes add a touch of futuristic sleekness to any new car. Any new car can hold the promise of the future by building these simple parts.

Difficulty:

Moderate

Instructions

Things You'll Need

• Hacksaw
• 39 cm clear solid plastic tubes, 4
• Oven gloves
• CD pack plastic cover
• Drill
• 18 mcd LED diodes, 8
• Acrylic lacquer clear coat paint, 1 small can
• Small Cup
• 390 ohm resistors, 4
• Small circuit electric welder
• Tape
• Aluminum foil
• Shiny nail lacquer
• Oven
• Cooking pan
• Cellophane tape
• 9-volt battery, 4

1. Cover the cooking pan with a sheet of aluminum foil. Place one of the clear tubes on top of the pan. Put on the oven gloves. Place this within the oven. Heat the oven to 150 degrees C, and place the pan within the heated oven. Let it sit for four minutes and 30 seconds. The tube should be bendable now.

2. Keep the oven gloves on to handle the hot plastic tube. Place the tube within the CD pack cover so that it takes a circular shape as it cools. It should look like an uncompleted clear plastic circle. Repeat Steps 1 and 2 for the next three tubes.

3. Saw some small cuts to the back of the tubes a few centimeters apart. These cuts will look like deep round cuts in the front.

4. Take a round tube and drill holes into the flat ends for the LED lights. Each hole should run into the tube so that the LEDs fit within the solid tube. Do this step for all the tubes.

5. Fill the small cup with a small amount of acrylic lacquer clear coat paint. Dip two LED diodes into the small cup with clear in it, and fit it into the tube holes of one tube. Do this for the next three tubes.

6. Take a tube and weld a resistor to one of the wires of one of the LED and the wire of the opposite LED. Opposite LEDs on one tube should be connected by a resistor through two wire connections.

7. Cut a thin strip of aluminum to fit within the cellophane tape, and tape around the each LED diode for each plastic tube. Paint the back of each LED with the nail lacquer.

8. Connect the plastic tube to the 9-volt battery. Connect one free LED wire of one plastic tube to the positive end of the battery, and touch the other end to the negative side. Your new Angel Eye should turn on. Connect the last three Angel Eyes this same way to have a set of four brilliant lights.

Tips & Warnings

• The size and instillation of each headlight depends on the make and model of car you drive. Take this into consideration when making the Angel Eyes. Measure out the diameter of your headlight, and find an object with this same diameter you can place the hot plastic tube in to help in creating your Angel Eyes.

References

• YouTube: Billysgeo: Angel Eyes DIY
• YouTube: My Damn Channel: You Suck at Photoshop #4 Paths and Masks
• Mods: How to Make LED Angel Eyes