A Mistake-Free Build?

This is not like me. This is off-brand on Ken Makes Mistakes. I can't explain it.

But I legitimately made something from scratch with zero major mistakes. I don't understand it, it doesn't make sense, but I guess statistically, it was bound to happen someday.

First, some backstory.

I have had this little glass gummy bear thing since I was a kid. It might even be older than me, I'm not sure. It used to have a little wooden base with a night light inside that would glow up through the glass gummy bear and make him look awesome. That part where I said "used to?" We call that foreshadowing; it's like SPOILERS, but more literary and refined.

I got to thinking that I'd like to set my son up with that glass gummy nightlight for his first birthday. But that would mean I'd need to make a new glow base for it.

TO THE DESIGN CAVE!

I don't literally design in a cave. But only because I don't have access to one that's not too damp or drafty.

First attempt! Let's talk about what you're seeing here.

On the left is the base itself. I gave it some rounded corners using the fillet option in 123D Design, cut out space for a small switch that I think I took out of a dead external hard drive enclosure, and room on the bottom for a 9 volt battery along with some wiring and a resistor and whatnot. There's also that hole in the middle, which is just big enough to fit a 3mm LED through.

So much room for activities.

The other stuff in that first photo are a bottom cover, which is pretty self explanatory, and there's that little round disc.

That round disc is the diffusor. The idea is that this will be printed out of a clear PLA material, and the LED will glow through this. The clear PLA is in theory going to diffuse the light and spread it out, lighting up that bear something fierce. 

So. When all is said and done, I should have a base that powers an LED off a 9 volt battery (yes, it's inefficient, but I had an extra battery harness lying around, so I went with it; this is mostly scavenged stuff here). Essentially, a little micro-size light table.

The first print wasn't great. Turns out, those filleted corners were no good printing unsupported, and it didn't look as good as I wanted. So I redesigned with chamfers instead. 

That looks sharp. But not dangerous. 

How did this print? Oh man.

Looks great. And the clear PLA insert fit like a glove. How about the switch?

Dope. Electronics and battery?

Ignore that I'm terrible at soldering. That looks good.

Let's fire it up.

Believe it or not, at this point, there were practically zero mistakes made. That's not how I work. Other than the filleted corners not printing well unsupported, nothing needed to be redesigned. I didn't blow any LEDs by forgetting to add a resistor. Everything fit together flawlessly.

Obviously, at this point, I did the only logical thing. I bought $94 in lottery tickets. Clearly, I'm on a hot streak.

Turns out, I used up all my luck on this project.