Venetian LED Helicopter (in 30 Minutes)

As a teenager, my parents took me to visit Venice, the incredible city of canals and cathedrals. I remember many sights that amazed me in the architecture and culture there. Unfortunately, when our vacation ended, all of the sights, sounds, and experiences stayed in Italy and I came home.

That is... until I remembered the Venetian LED helicopters.

The LED helicopters were sold by the many vendors outside of the Venice train station. These vendors used rubber bands to launch glowing contraptions high into the air, where they would unfold and then spin their way to earth, glowing as they came. The dozens of glowing copters rocketing skyward and then drifting down, backlit by the Venetian canal and its attendant dockside hotels and restaurants, are a sight that I will never forget.

Now, almost a decade after returning home I decided to recreate a Venetian LED helicopter, using supplies that many people can easily get a hold of, both to reminisce on my teenage vacation as well as to share the joy of Venice with the many who don't get the chance to go there.

Presenting... the Venetian LED Helicopter, a simple 30 minute project that will have adults and children staring into the sky with wonder.

• Mechanical Pencil
• 2 Jumper Cables (I used Arduino)
• 1 Arduino LED of any color
• 1 3V Coin Battery
• 1 Sheet Cardstock Paper
• 1 Rubber Band
• Drill
• 2 small nails
• 3/32" drill bit (or whatever bit is slightly larger than your nail diameter).
• Hot Glue Gun
• Soldering Iron
• Scissors
• Needle-nose pliers

Firmly grasp the pointed end of the mechanical pencil and pull until it separates from the rest of the pencil.

Do the same with the eraser end of the mechanical pencil, grasping the plastic and pulling until the entire inner portion of the pencil comes out. You will probably notice a small circular plastic piece stopping you from doing this. Use scissors to cut the thin plastic connecting this circular piece to the body of the pencil and then proceed with removing the inner portion.

Bend the ends of your jumper cable and LED as shown in the pictures.

Link them together (also as shown in the pictures) so that one jumper cable is hooked to each prong of the LED. Solder the hook sites to permanently join the LED and jumper cables together.

Slide the jumper cable that is connected to the negative prong on the LED (the shorter of the two LED prongs) through the main body of the pencil until the LED is resting on the pencil's front hole with the positive prong in and the negative prong out.

Hot glue the LED so that it will stay in that position.

Slide the coin battery underneath the pencil's clip with the negative side facing upwards.

Pin the metal tip of the negative jumper cable between the top piece of the plastic clip and the negative side of the coin battery (see picture).

Once contact between the jumper cable tip and the coin battery is firmly established, use hot glue to attach the coin battery to the pencil and the jumper cable tip to the battery. Leave several small gaps in the hot glue on the bottom (you'll see why in the next step).

Wrap the jumper cable connected to the positive prong of the LED around the body of the pencil until its entire length is expended and the end of the cable is close to the coin battery.

Wedge the metal tip of the cable into gaps in the hot glue between the coin battery and the body of the pencil. Once contact is established, the LED should turn on. Note: If you mix up the positive and negative terminals or sides of the coin battery, the LED will not turn on.

The pressure between the coin battery and the pencil body should keep the metal tip of the positive cable firmly in contact with the positive underside of the battery. Not securing this with hot glue allows you to turn the helicopter on by removing the metal tip of the positive cable from contact with the battery. This will save battery and should allow you to conduct dozens of flights before replacing the battery.

Cut out a long strip of cardstock paper. Mine was approximately 8.5"x1.5". Cut out a small, diamond shaped hole in its center.

Thread the LED end of the pencil body through the hole, leaving an inch of plastic body visible. Fold the rotors in half (width ways) as shown in the picture and then fold it in half long ways (also shown in the picture).

Use hot glue to connect the base of the rotor blades to the pencil body. Then follow the last two pictures to give the rotors the shape that will help them rotate well.

Drill a small hole through the pointed pencil tip that you took off earlier, about 5 mm from the wide end (see picture). Do the same 5mm from the tip of the coin battery end of the pencil body. Be careful to avoid drilling into the cable running through the pencil body.

Slide the nail through the holes in both pencil pieces, arranging them so that the pointed tip points away from the pencil body (again see the pictures). Use hot glue to secure these in place.

You can either stop at the last step or continue on to make this optional launcher. This will make launch smoother and reduce the number of times that the copter might touch your hand as it rockets skyward.

Take the inner portion of the pencil and remove the eraser. Then drill a hole about 5 mm from the thick end.

Slide your rubber band into the cavity left by the eraser and secure it by sliding a small nail through the hole you drilled.

Use hot glue to secure the nail, simultaneously making sure to not get any hot glue on the rubber band.

Congratulations!!! You've officially completed your very own Venetian LED Helicopter.

Find a clear launch site outside. Hook one end of the rubber band around the end of the pointed pencil tip with one hand, holding the end of the pencil body behind the rotors with your other hand. Holding the far end of the rubber band, stretch the rubber band to full tension and then release your grip on the pencil body. The copter will rocket skyward!

Watch our video to see our copter head for the stars.

Enjoy!!

Note: The glowing effect will be magnified if you launch in the dark.