Im not sure if this is the right place for this question, if not then please can you move it to a more appropriate place. Does the shiny part of CDs conduct electricity? I want to glue a few cds together to make a thickish round circle, and mount a number of bloo leds on the top so that the shiny part of the cds will act kind of like a light shade and focus the light in the direction its facing. Will this plan work or is the shiny layer of the cd going to create a short and blow my PSU up?
They should, but probably not too much ('cause the foil layer is so thin). However, if you run the current through multiple cd's it should be ok. To minimise the number of cd's, you could cut a thin-ish line (with a dremel of something else) down the middle of the cd to seperate the foil into suitable conductors for the + current and the - current. Attaching the power source to the foil might be a problem though. Cool idea though . Will try it if that's ok with you. My room needs new lighting anyways
Put a CD in the microwave for 30 seconds....and you will discover that, yes, they do in fact conduct electricity. Actually, it looks really cool, but it smells horrible.
The aluminium layer is sandwiched between two plastic coats, so the metal surface isn't exposed. Otherwise the slightest scratch would mess them up.
30 seconds and you have a broken microwave, a stinking kitchen and a CD burnt to the microwave turntable. Snood
no they dont... (just checked) BTW: anyone ever put a grape or a bar of soap in a microwave? sopposed to be effective...
Hmm, I guess thats plan B then I wasn't going to use the layers of (aluminium?) inside the cds to power the circuit, I was just going to use the CDs as a mounting board for the LEDs. I suppose if I made sure the wires going through the holes were properly covered in heatshrink that it would work ok. I think I will give it a miss now though as one small piece of bare wire touching the aluminium would fry the psu. I think ill just use a cheap pice of plywood and some of those (expensive looking) chrome led holders then.
you could drill the hole slightly witer then the individual led legs, then place a blob of a clear laquer/varnish over the hole and let it run through to seal the sides (and the aluminium) and if surface tension stops it from flowing thru.... use a vaccum cleaner to suck the laquer through the hole...... it's kinda the reverse of thru-hole pcbs lol. Snood
You might like to look around here for ideas... http://www.electricstuff.co.uk/transparent.html (Great site BTW! Amazing stuff!)
CD - Plastic disc stamped with pit pattern on one side; same side vacuum-coated with aluminium to make surface more reflective/more contrast between pits & land; aluminium spin-coated with a thin plastic resin laquer; laquered side printed with label. CD-R are basically similar, but plastic disc coated with laser-reactive dye, then often a gold film, then thin resin on label side. In both cases the label side is easiest to cause damage on, hence don't write on CD-R with a hard-tipped pen or nasty solvent inks.
For future notice mate, just take a battery tester, set it to 1K ohms, and touch the ends to the CD. Or whatever else you are testing. battery testers... useful stuff.
Nope, Mythbusters busted that one.. cpemma, Eggs are always fun.. Nuke one a little bit (don't let it eggsplode and dare a friend to take it out of the microwave.. They practically eggsplode on contact.. Anyway, I doubt the foil layer in a cd would be a good conductor. Better off running a small wire or something..
Where the heck did you hear that?!?!?!?! it's the same smell you get when you burn polycarbonate, which is what cds are made of. Incidentally, i have a bridge to sell you.
LOL..... you really think they would put cyanide in a product which comes into contact with people directly... next i suppose you'll say theres arsenic in printer cartirdges.. Snood
