I had some nichrome wire laying around and I wanted to make something with it. So I came up with the idea to make an electric lighter.
I wanted it to be small and easy to use. You can light most things you can light with an ordinary lighter. Like a candle, a piece of paper or even a piece of wood.
Step 1: Parts and Tools
For this project you don't need very much parts.
You will only need:
•A small push button.
•A short piece of nichrome wire.
•A small piece of about 1mm thick solid core copper wire.
•A 9volt battery clip, I reused mine from a dead battery.
•In the bottem of the battery I took apart for the battery clip, I found a piece of plastic
with the same size as the batteryclip. But you can use any piece of plastic as long as it fits.
•A short piece of insulated wire.
The tools you will need are:
•A hot glue gun.
•An exacto knife.
•A piece of metal wire that is about 1 to 2 mm thick.
•A soldering iron.
•Spray paint (optional).
•A piece of tape (optional).
Step 2: The Bottom Part
First cut some slots in the front of the battery clip. Bend the small solid core copper wire in the shape on the picture and solder it into the battery clip. Make sure the wire goes through one of the slots.
Now cut about 3cm of insulated wire and solder it to the battery clip as well.
Now you should have something like the pictures.
Step 3: The Top Part
First cut a small square in the piece of plastic and glue the little switch inside, make sure you don't cover the leads with hotglue.
Now cut an other 3cm wire and solder the switch to the two insulated wires.
Cut and bend an other piece of solid core wire into the shape on the pictures and solder it to the insulated wire.
Step 4: The Coil
Cut a piece of nichrome wire of about 9Ω So it draws about 1 amp of current and add about 1,5 cm of wire to that. You can Calculate how many ohms you need to draw 1 amp by deviding volts by current so u/I=R so 9/1=9Ω. My nichrome wire has 0,665cm/Ω so 0,665x9 = 5,985. Now add 1,5 cm and you get about 7,5cm. But for thicker wire you need a longer piece to get the same result. So be carefull.
If you want to calculate how many cm/Ω / Ω/cm it is you need to measure the length and the resistance of your wire. The longer the wire the more accurate the measurments are. My wire was 200Ω and 131cm. To calculate how many Ω/cm it has you devide Ω by cm so 200/131=1,5267Ω/cm.
To calculate howmany cm/Ω it has you devide cm by Ω so 131/200=0,655cm/Ω.
Now use a small piece of metal wire of about 1 to 2mm thick and wind the nichrome wire around it but leave about 7 to 8mm on both sides.
Take the coiled nichrome wire from the metal wire and stretch it out so the coiled piece is 1cm long.
Step 5: Asembling
First glue the two solid core wires in place with a bit of hot glue and when you are sure you did everything right you can use a lot of glue to seal the whole thing from the inside. When it is cooled off you can cut the two solid core wires to about 11mm and take off the insulation of 6mm. Now fit the coil in place by winding the nichrome wire around the copper wire and bending the copper wire down with pliers. Make sure it is very secure.
Step 6: Painting
Painting is optional but is just looks nice.
First tape the parts that shouldn't be paint like the coil and the metal battery clip parts. After that use some spray paint to make it look better.
Step 7: The Result
Now test the electric lighter by attaching a 9volt battery and press the button. The coil should get bright orange immediately.
Unfortunately the battery will drain very fast and will get a little hot so try to use the lighter as short as possible.
I hope you enjoyed the project. If you have any questions leave them in the comments.