It finally cooled down enough, and the humidity dropped enough, that I was able to get the display box sealed.  I wasn’t happy with the shininess of the satin spray-paint I had originally used, so I decided to use a flat sealant to help dull the box.  I didn’t know what to expect being that I’ve never use a flat clear coat before, but I certainly wasn’t expecting the cloudy, hazy coating that came out of the can.  The box isn’t quite gray now but it’s certainly a lighter black.  Some of the haziness wiped off with a towel once the paint was dry and a little more came off when I did a light sanding so that helped improve the way it looked.  Overall, while I’m not 100% happy with the way it turned out, it does still look good.  I’m glad the shine is gone, I just wish the deep black had stayed.

Now all that needs to be done is lightly sand the LED to help diffuse some of the light and the stand will be finished.

Too damn hot to do anything.  I’ve needed to clear coat the display base for the gift for over a week now and it’s just been way to hot and humid to get it done.  Which is bad because the birthday that the gift was for has come and gone.  I’m a horrible friend.

It’s been a long time since I’ve tried to solder anything.  It’s been even longer since I’ve had to figure out a circuit.  So, as a result, while building the light for my friend’s birthday gift, I not only burned myself on my soldering iron, I also managed to put it together wrong.  When you turn the switch off the batteries get very hot because the switch causes the power cells to short out instead of switch off.  It’s not a difficult fix, but it’s still annoying I have to take it apart and do it.

The box itself though is nearly complete.  I got it glued, drilled, sanded and painted.  Now all it needs is the clear coat.  With drying time and a busy schedule, it should take about a week.