The Hacksmith: Recreating the Bat-Signal

By The Hacksmith

This project was created by Engineering Superheroes of Hackmith Industries.

DO NOT ATTEMPT to Re-Create

With a new Batman movie out — this time, featuring Robert Pattinson as “The Batman” — it’s time for another Hacksmith-built Batman project! Hacksmith Industries has made several batarangs, a grapple gun, and a mini batmobile in the past, but no makers have ever attempted to recreate the iconic Bat-signal. One might think this is an easy project: all you need to do is slap a Batman logo on a spotlight… right?

It turns out that projecting an image like the Bat-signal on clouds is much more complicated than initially thought. See how Hacksmith team members Chris and Akshat design their Bat-signal to get around these engineering challenges in the video below!

How Does it Work?

It turns out that light from a typical spotlight doesn’t work the way it does for Bruce Wayne. When you stick a Bat symbol on the glass or plastic that covers a standard spotlight, the symbol will not project because it lacks a lens to project the image. With that in mind, the Hacksmith placed a smaller bat logo (upside down) in front of the LEDs, toward the back of the Bat-signal, and a large focusing lens on the front to project the image into the sky.

The light itself comes from 4 massive LEDs — similar to what was used in the world’s brightest flashlight. These LEDs are so powerful that the Bat-signal needed an industrial water chiller to keep them cool. They also consume a lot of power, so the Bat-signal is hooked up to a gas-powered generator. The spotlight, with all of its components and a sturdy stand to keep it upright, weighs over 1000 pounds and has to be hauled around in a pickup truck!

Check out the schematic of the Hacksmith’s bat signal project below!

Schematic and BOM

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