Comments on: to make: homemade sun jar http://www.notmartha.org (p.s. I now have comments, yay.) Sat, 05 Jul 2008 19:16:14 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.5.1 By: bbb http://www.notmartha.org/tomake/homemadesunjar/#comment-171379 bbb Thu, 12 Jun 2008 22:57:35 +0000 http://www.notmartha.org/homemadesunjar/#comment-171379 the post about substituting AA NiMH 2300m Ah batteries is great. but how do you mount them in the jar? thanks the post about substituting AA NiMH 2300m
Ah batteries is great.

but how do you mount them in the jar?

thanks

]]> By: Jenn http://www.notmartha.org/tomake/homemadesunjar/#comment-158436 Jenn Thu, 15 May 2008 03:17:03 +0000 http://www.notmartha.org/homemadesunjar/#comment-158436 ok this sounds GREAT but I am in one of my last two classes to graduate being single mom still going through divorce, just lost my mother and job of nine years............blah I need to make a less than ten dollar gift for the house for assignment for class...any ideas? This was almost perfect but I don't think it will be less than ten. ok this sounds GREAT but I am in one of my last two classes to graduate being single mom still going through divorce, just lost my mother and job of nine years............blah I need to make a less than ten dollar gift for the house for assignment for class...any ideas? This was almost perfect but I don't think it will be less than ten.

]]> By: IllTemperedCur http://www.notmartha.org/tomake/homemadesunjar/#comment-125780 IllTemperedCur Fri, 29 Feb 2008 15:40:38 +0000 http://www.notmartha.org/homemadesunjar/#comment-125780 I made bunches of these for Christmas gifts this last year, based on the Instructables article. They were HUGE hits! Everyone loved them. A few points from my own experiences. Just like any project, don't rush things. Especially when you're dealing with paint/glue setup times. +1 on multiple, light coats of frosting paint. I did mine with two light coats (on the jar interior), and they came out just fine. I also frosted the outsides of the jar lids, because the assembly looked really ugly through the clear glass. Don't worry, the solar cell will get plenty of light through the frosting. The NiCad batteries typically shipped in these solar lights are cheap garbage, with only about 600mAh capacity. They'll only last about 6 hours when fully charged. I replaced these with AA NiMH 2300mAh batteries that I have around the house for all my battery-powered electronics. I got mine at Fry's Electronics, but they're pretty much available anywhere. Be sure to fully charge the battery before swapping them out. When fully charged, they will power the light for about 4 days continuously. I made bunches of these for Christmas gifts this last year, based on the Instructables article. They were HUGE hits! Everyone loved them. A few points from my own experiences.

Just like any project, don't rush things. Especially when you're dealing with paint/glue setup times.

+1 on multiple, light coats of frosting paint. I did mine with two light coats (on the jar interior), and they came out just fine.

I also frosted the outsides of the jar lids, because the assembly looked really ugly through the clear glass. Don't worry, the solar cell will get plenty of light through the frosting.

The NiCad batteries typically shipped in these solar lights are cheap garbage, with only about 600mAh capacity. They'll only last about 6 hours when fully charged. I replaced these with AA NiMH 2300mAh batteries that I have around the house for all my battery-powered electronics. I got mine at Fry's Electronics, but they're pretty much available anywhere. Be sure to fully charge the battery before swapping them out. When fully charged, they will power the light for about 4 days continuously.

]]> By: diysolarlights http://www.notmartha.org/tomake/homemadesunjar/#comment-105633 diysolarlights Fri, 04 Jan 2008 00:43:09 +0000 http://www.notmartha.org/homemadesunjar/#comment-105633 I bought a homemade solar jar on etsy. You can read about my experience with <a href="http://www.diysolarlights.com/homemade-solar-jar" rel="nofollow">Solar Jars</a>, but basically the one I bought mustve been made out of bad quality (dim and short lasting) I bought a homemade solar jar on etsy. You can read about my experience with Solar Jars, but basically the one I bought mustve been made out of bad quality (dim and short lasting)

]]> By: Matt http://www.notmartha.org/tomake/homemadesunjar/#comment-95705 Matt Thu, 13 Dec 2007 20:37:55 +0000 http://www.notmartha.org/homemadesunjar/#comment-95705 TRY SANDBLASTING! If you have access to a sandblaster, or talk to a local sign shop, machine shop, body shop, painter, etc. They would probably be glad to sand blast them for you for a couple of bucks. It's permanent, more environmentally friendly and will give better results! You could sandblast either the inside or outside of the jars. TRY SANDBLASTING! If you have access to a sandblaster, or talk to a local sign shop, machine shop, body shop, painter, etc. They would probably be glad to sand blast them for you for a couple of bucks. It's permanent, more environmentally friendly and will give better results!

You could sandblast either the inside or outside of the jars.

]]> By: megan http://www.notmartha.org/tomake/homemadesunjar/#comment-95674 megan Thu, 13 Dec 2007 18:17:09 +0000 http://www.notmartha.org/homemadesunjar/#comment-95674 Deb - You need to do lots of very light layers. I suspect that if the paint is running it's not setting up the way it's supposed to, and probably not creating the right surface to grab the subsequent layers. Or try painting the outsides of the jars? I didn't have too much trouble doing the outsides while standing on my back deck ankle deep in snow the second time I made some jars. Deb - You need to do lots of very light layers. I suspect that if the paint is running it's not setting up the way it's supposed to, and probably not creating the right surface to grab the subsequent layers.

Or try painting the outsides of the jars? I didn't have too much trouble doing the outsides while standing on my back deck ankle deep in snow the second time I made some jars.

]]> By: Deb http://www.notmartha.org/tomake/homemadesunjar/#comment-95669 Deb Thu, 13 Dec 2007 18:01:19 +0000 http://www.notmartha.org/homemadesunjar/#comment-95669 Hi Megan -- Thank you for the quick reply! I was trying to paint the jar's insides, with the paint can about a foot away. The first coat was sort of okay, and I could swirl the wet paint around to make it more even, though still far from perfect. (it wanted to pool in the jar bottoms.) I tried two jars. The second coat was more of a dribbly, uneven mess than the first, but one coat was 'clearly' not going to be frosty enough. My guess is the jars might have been too cold. Good thing IKEA is a short drive from home! Hi Megan -- Thank you for the quick reply! I was trying to paint the jar's insides, with the paint can about a foot away. The first coat was sort of okay, and I could swirl the wet paint around to make it more even, though still far from perfect. (it wanted to pool in the jar bottoms.) I tried two jars. The second coat was more of a dribbly, uneven mess than the first, but one coat was 'clearly' not going to be frosty enough. My guess is the jars might have been too cold. Good thing IKEA is a short drive from home!

]]> By: megan http://www.notmartha.org/tomake/homemadesunjar/#comment-95660 megan Thu, 13 Dec 2007 17:07:24 +0000 http://www.notmartha.org/homemadesunjar/#comment-95660 Deb - Are you spraying the inside or the outside of the jar? How close are you standing? How many coats? Deb - Are you spraying the inside or the outside of the jar? How close are you standing? How many coats?

]]> By: Deb http://www.notmartha.org/tomake/homemadesunjar/#comment-95657 Deb Thu, 13 Dec 2007 17:04:24 +0000 http://www.notmartha.org/homemadesunjar/#comment-95657 Hi -- does anyone have suggestions on how to get the glass frosting spray to go on evenly? My attempt has it looking very splotchy, drippy, runny. What I know I did wrong was to spray them in below 50-degree weather, but I had all components inside at room temp before dashing out to the porch to paint. Didn't want to paint indoors due to gas pilot lights and smelliness. Advice, anyone?? Hi -- does anyone have suggestions on how to get the glass frosting spray to go on evenly? My attempt has it looking very splotchy, drippy, runny.
What I know I did wrong was to spray them in below 50-degree weather, but I had all components inside at room temp before dashing out to the porch to paint. Didn't want to paint indoors due to gas pilot lights and smelliness.
Advice, anyone??

]]> By: megan http://www.notmartha.org/tomake/homemadesunjar/#comment-80601 megan Wed, 31 Oct 2007 23:45:29 +0000 http://www.notmartha.org/homemadesunjar/#comment-80601 Zach - My only advice is to stand in Lowes and open box after box of lights to find the kind that don't need to be broken to take apart. That box I have in the picture is one I found at Lowes and of twenty boxes, every third one seemed to have a different set of components. So, I dug until I found the kind I needed. Zach - My only advice is to stand in Lowes and open box after box of lights to find the kind that don't need to be broken to take apart. That box I have in the picture is one I found at Lowes and of twenty boxes, every third one seemed to have a different set of components. So, I dug until I found the kind I needed.

]]> By: zack http://www.notmartha.org/tomake/homemadesunjar/#comment-80595 zack Wed, 31 Oct 2007 23:08:23 +0000 http://www.notmartha.org/homemadesunjar/#comment-80595 First, thanks for creating this step-by-step. More helpful than the instructables version. I just made a couple of these this weekend. Spraying the inside definately looked better than the outside. The outside scratched in places and flaked off of the bottom. I used a GE silicone for mounting. It worked well for mounting the panel to the lid but not at all for mounting the battery and board to the panel. I had to go back and remount with super glue that seems to be holding much better. Does anyone know how to find the right light setup without tearing open the box and light unit? The malibu lights that i got at Lowes had only one battery, but everything was mounted to the underside of the light unit. The battery holder was actually molded into the base. (looks like the first picture but with only one battery) I had to hack saw the whole thing apart to get it to fit. First, thanks for creating this step-by-step. More helpful than the instructables version. I just made a couple of these this weekend. Spraying the inside definately looked better than the outside. The outside scratched in places and flaked off of the bottom. I used a GE silicone for mounting. It worked well for mounting the panel to the lid but not at all for mounting the battery and board to the panel. I had to go back and remount with super glue that seems to be holding much better.

Does anyone know how to find the right light setup without tearing open the box and light unit? The malibu lights that i got at Lowes had only one battery, but everything was mounted to the underside of the light unit. The battery holder was actually molded into the base. (looks like the first picture but with only one battery) I had to hack saw the whole thing apart to get it to fit.

]]> By: Dog Mom http://www.notmartha.org/tomake/homemadesunjar/#comment-65833 Dog Mom Mon, 17 Sep 2007 04:53:24 +0000 http://www.notmartha.org/homemadesunjar/#comment-65833 Long time lurker at notmartha, first time crafter with notmartha's instructions. I bookmarked this page a while back and got a whim the make some of these sun jars this weekend. Firstly, I'd like to thank notmartha for just spelling out what we needed...*I* didn't have to hoof it about town to figure out what would and wouldn't fit! That was the bomb...THANK YOU! To answer some of the questions in previous posts...I quessed that the spray might scrape off and I wanted to use these camping (which means that they would get a lot of bumping and scraping). Since I already had some glass etching acid (you can get it at a good hobby shop), I elected to use that. I etched the sides of the glass from the glass ridge down and about 1/4 inch of the bottom. I left the bottom clear. It was fine. Maybe it wasn't a even as if I done 2-3 fine sprays of frosted glass spray, but it looks really really good...and definately will not scratch off. I also tried several different glues ... silicon - fail super glue gel (the cheap kind) - fail JB Weld (24 hour set) - black goo - fail Devcon Clear Epoxy (5 min set) - SUCCESS! Devcon cost about $3.45 and rocked! Well - thank you notmartha...I now have 4 excellent sun jars...and will be making four more soon! Oh - one recommendation, you might want to be sure that the solar lights are not faulty BEFORE you take them apart and start glueing them. Luckily mine worked... Long time lurker at notmartha, first time crafter with notmartha's instructions.

I bookmarked this page a while back and got a whim the make some of these sun jars this weekend. Firstly, I'd like to thank notmartha for just spelling out what we needed...*I* didn't have to hoof it about town to figure out what would and wouldn't fit! That was the bomb...THANK YOU!

To answer some of the questions in previous posts...I quessed that the spray might scrape off and I wanted to use these camping (which means that they would get a lot of bumping and scraping). Since I already had some glass etching acid (you can get it at a good hobby shop), I elected to use that. I etched the sides of the glass from the glass ridge down and about 1/4 inch of the bottom. I left the bottom clear. It was fine. Maybe it wasn't a even as if I done 2-3 fine sprays of frosted glass spray, but it looks really really good...and definately will not scratch off.

I also tried several different glues ...
silicon - fail
super glue gel (the cheap kind) - fail
JB Weld (24 hour set) - black goo - fail
Devcon Clear Epoxy (5 min set) - SUCCESS!

Devcon cost about $3.45 and rocked!

Well - thank you notmartha...I now have 4 excellent sun jars...and will be making four more soon!

Oh - one recommendation, you might want to be sure that the solar lights are not faulty BEFORE you take them apart and start glueing them. Luckily mine worked...

]]> By: Ashley http://www.notmartha.org/tomake/homemadesunjar/#comment-63743 Ashley Sat, 08 Sep 2007 18:16:21 +0000 http://www.notmartha.org/homemadesunjar/#comment-63743 Im looking for just the guts of the solar panel garden light because i want to make a whole bunch of these for an event. Does anyone know where i can find a vendor that will just sell the guts? i dont want to be wastefull. cheers, ash Im looking for just the guts of the solar panel garden light because i want to make a whole bunch of these for an event. Does anyone know where i can find a vendor that will just sell the guts? i dont want to be wastefull.

cheers,
ash

]]> By: Janice Handy http://www.notmartha.org/tomake/homemadesunjar/#comment-59846 Janice Handy Fri, 24 Aug 2007 13:17:09 +0000 http://www.notmartha.org/homemadesunjar/#comment-59846 I love it Thank you for the step by step instructions. I'm going to try this. I love it
Thank you for the step by step instructions. I'm going to try this.

]]> By: Andee http://www.notmartha.org/tomake/homemadesunjar/#comment-55493 Andee Fri, 03 Aug 2007 04:22:22 +0000 http://www.notmartha.org/homemadesunjar/#comment-55493 If you coat it a couple of times, the unevenness goes away. You can redo the process several times. With the ornament glass, though, it gets fragile. But I think with the thick glass on the jars, it will work fine. You can also get Amaco Rub 'n' Buff,(at art supply) that coats the etched glass and it makes it look even brighter, and it comes in colors that will tint the glass. Use silver if you don't want color. If you coat it a couple of times, the unevenness goes away. You can redo the process several times. With the ornament glass, though, it gets fragile. But I think with the thick glass on the jars, it will work fine. You can also get Amaco Rub 'n' Buff,(at art supply) that coats the etched glass and it makes it look even brighter, and it comes in colors that will tint the glass. Use silver if you don't want color.

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