The light up Harry Potter Wand is an extremely simple concept. It’s basically a flashlight shaped like a wand. Despite this, it went through many different iterations.
Early MK.1 Design
The earliest design used an actual stick. This was essentially an LED wired to a button. Then the button was wired to 3 coin batteries. I painted everything and covered the bottom in bark. This design was very crude. It barely functioned, and it didn’t look very good either.
Failed MK.1 Design
My next idea was to use a wand replica as a base. I wanted something that would be sturdier since pieces of bark were falling off the original design. However, this ended up being a little too well built. It took forever to saw the end of the wand off, and the material was very strong. My plan was to use an actual flashlight and attach that to the bottom of the wand. Then, I was going to solder wires to the LED, and glue it to the tip of the wand. However, I abandoned this design when I realized how difficult the material was to work with.
Final MK.1 Design
The final design is very similar to what I was planning on doing with the replica. However, this time, I decided to start with the flashlight and build everything else around that. I basically just soldered wires and a switch to the LED and glued it to the end of a stick. Then, I glued the other end of the stick into the lens where the LED was. I covered the flashlight part in hot glue, and then I painted everything. This version is the best of both worlds. It has a really nice LED, but it also has real wood. The only problem with this design is that it uses power even when the switch is off. The batteries die very quickly. The switch needs to be wired up in a different way.
More “Light Up Harry Potter Wand” Posts
Light Up Harry Potter Wand [HPWMK.1] (Show and Tell)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XxYNBjjoLT0
