Busy hands | Disquiet mind

A Study: Book Light

Mon, 19 Mar 2018 14:16:18 GMT

I wanted to try out a few techniques on a smaller scale;

1. feasibility of the neopixel circuit layout,
2. using conductive thread as traces,
3. light transmission through different fabrics.

And so I ended up with the slightly silly light-up bujo cover/ portable night light.

( Steps )

Much more impressive in a dark room. Coded using FastLED library, OceanColors_p palette, taken from this tutorial.

Cover, front, in dark room
Photo by chebe

Conclusions;
1. The circuit layout does work well. But, there is still a looseness to the attachment points (on the boards) that could be improved.
2. I didn't treat the edges of the conductive fabric, and although it frayed very little it did still fray. Treating the edges of the strips would help. I don't think using the conductive fabric over conductive thread was any faster, but it was less fiddly.
3. Diffusion of the neopixels is best achieved through distance from the LEDs and the covering fabric, so designs enforcing this distance would be better.

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Dublin Mini Maker Faire 2012

Mon, 16 Jul 2012 22:15:49 GMT

Bear with me, this is going to be a long post.

This Saturday just gone, July 14th, was Dublin's first Mini Maker Faire! It was held in the Science Gallery and on the Physics Lawn of Trinity College. I was there as a part of TOG, the Dublin maker/hacker-space. It was a fantastic day. So many people showed up who already knew a lot and came up with interesting questions and ideas. Some people were just wandering through Trinity like they do every weekend and were a little confounded to find us there. Yet others showed up wearing ESOF lanyards! I'm sad I didn't get to see much of the other makers or exhibits, things were just so hectic! It certainly seemed like everyone was having a good time.

( Maker Faire )

( TOG's new tshirt )

Projects

( Arduino IR receiver )

( LED matrix top )

( Constellation Quilts )

Well, I fairly collapsed with exhaustion about 4pm (missing the after-party and everything), but up until that point it was a great day and I'm already looking forward to next year!

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A Study: Starry Light

Wed, 06 Apr 2011 17:08:15 GMT

This project came about basically as culmination of lots of different techniques I wanted to try out;

1; sewing on really slippery, delicate fabrics
2; using the satin-stitch on the sewing machine to couch conductive thread, as seen in the Sparkle-TuTu instructable
3; determining some method/sensor for detecting movement
4; trying out the Aniomagic LED-sequins that had just arrived
5; playing with my new glow-in-the-dark thread
6; utilising an old dreamcatcher that improper storage managed to render into a simple ring
7; trying a new battery holder for the larger 24.5mm rechargeable coin cells

Insomuch as I managed these objectives it was a success. However, the end product doesn't work as I'd hoped, so a final product is further down the line.

I present to you the first prototype of 'Starry Light'. The concept; a night-time wind-chime, that instead of making sounds when moved by the wind, lights up some LEDs.

( Construction details and pics )

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Simple LED soft-circuit

Fri, 01 Oct 2010 11:05:09 GMT

It's the first of October! Finally, my favourite month begins, and I can start throwing Hallowe'en things at you! *grin* I like this one, it's great when you're stuck for ideas, but still want something a little special. Just add LEDs! This is the simplest, most basic way to add LEDs with a soft circuit. The bigger circuits I do are just expansions of this one.

( Equipment )

( Prepare the LED )

( Turn the elastic into a battery holder )

( Power it up! )

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AudioTee

Tue, 03 Aug 2010 20:40:23 GMT

I like listening to music. I find when navigating the city and its public transport that having portable music is a must. However, when you're subjected to very changeable weather there are often problems with trailing wires, bag straps, jumpers, coats, buttons, zips, and passing umbrellas. Not to mention having wires catch on the most awkward of things even in fine weather. (Which is particularly painful when wearing those wrap-ear headphones.) Every one of my portable CD-players smashed to the ground because of this, and smaller MP3-players have been known to go flying through the air. Wouldn't it be great, I thought to myself, if I could wear my headphones as easily as I wear a tshirt. *grin*

- Headphones break all the time, at one stage I was buying a new pair every two weeks. And sometimes you just want something different. So, I want to make my headphones replaceable, just something I plug into my tshirt. This requires a female stereo audio jack. Okay, but how am I going to attach it to my tshirt? Aha! Finally I've found a use for the Lilypad mini protoboards!
( Female audio jack construction... )

- Now, you have your jack to plug your headphones into. I'm going to put this on my shoulder, to keep the wires away from my body, where they have the habit of getting caught on things. But my music player will be somewhere around my hip/waist, in a pocket or bag. Okay, so I need to connect the two together, and I don't want wires... Ah, conductive thread! So, I came up with a design to suit having three trails of conductive thread (sleeve, ring, tip) across my tshirt.
( T-shirt design... )

- Okay, this last bit could have been done with conductive thread as well, but I reckon this part will be subjected to a lot of wear-and-tear, and wire comes pre-insulated, which makes our life easier (the small insides of the male audio jack is very likely to result in shorts). And, as long as it's removable the rest should still be washable. This bit, being the plug into our music player.
( Male audio jack construction... )

- Done. Now plug in music player, and headphones. And enjoy!
( Final product. )

You may want to add some extra things, like an inside pocket to hold your music player if it's small, or a loop of fabric to keep the wires from annoying you. But overall I'm loving this! It's comfortable, much less likely to catch on anything, and there's only a slight drop in volume level. Plus I think it's pretty cool to have audio waves carried through silver-plated thread across your body!

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LED necklace, mark one

Tue, 04 May 2010 21:02:50 GMT

Was looking around the internet for LED jewelery, you know, to get inspired. Most of the tutorials out there are for fabric cuff bracelets. Most of the products available to buy are bracelets and necklaces. So, curiosity overtook me and I tried my hand at making a necklace.

( What I tried... )

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Lilypad Project 2: The LED Grid, part 2

Tue, 13 Apr 2010 21:47:25 GMT

Remember part 1, with the 3x3 LED matrix? That was practice, for this, a 7x7 matrix, on a functional, wearable, piece of clothing.

( Lots of text, pictures, and a couple of videos. )

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Need LEDs for your clothes?

Thu, 08 Apr 2010 12:30:35 GMT

To attach an LED to your clothes you need to think about how you're going to do the wiring. If it's the old-fashioned wires and heat-shrink, you're set. If you're thinking conductive thread, then your LEDs will need something the thread can attach to.

( Talk and pictures of LEDs, plus surface mount LED tutorial )

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Lilypad Project 2: The LED Grid, part 1

Mon, 22 Feb 2010 20:34:04 GMT

I can't help it, I think LEDs are pretty. So what could be better than a tshirt with 49 of them? Well, there's a lot to figure out before I get that far. Let's start with a more reasonable number, say 9, that's a 3x3 matrix. Yes, that's doable. But let's not make it too easy, let's try using the sewing machine, and user input. Okay, ready?

( Details, pics, and vid. )

Things I Learned:
1. That to use 4-ply conductive thread in a sewing machine it needs to be in the bobbin.

2. That your choice of fabric is very important. If it is thin/light you need to skip a couple of stitches at the point where two traces cross, to prevent possible shorting.

3. That I can use user input through the computer to affect Arduinos through Serial.read().

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Sound, light, snuggly warm action

Fri, 12 Feb 2010 21:03:02 GMT

Walking down the street one day, sinuses nearly frozen solid, I happened across a cheap, and warm looking hat. Who was I to be picky about style? Once my brain had thawed I was struck by inspiration! So I modded the hat, based upon the Rock Star Headphones from 'Fashioning Technology' (to be seen on the cover). (Hmm, there's a community too, very, very interesting...) Here's my tale...

( A few pictures )

I do realise that is the very short version, so if you want me to explain at a regular pace any particular step or technique, in this or any other post, just let me know and I'll gladly oblige.

In conclusion, this was fun. My first project that I really had to figure out the details for myself, and actually ended up a finished, working piece. Next up, back to the Lilypad Arduino I reckon. But I'm not telling what just yet.

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Electrical kits: Glow Beadwork Bracelet

Mon, 08 Feb 2010 21:47:14 GMT

I actually thought I was getting something else when I ordered this from MakerShed. Don't ask me how, but what I saw in that photo was three large round beads, with surface mount LEDs inside, covered with, and strung together with a kind of crotchet. What it actually is is a cuff of satin and netting, with regular, small, LEDs under three pieces of (flat) beading work. Not to my own personal taste, but weirdly it is growing on me.

( Details and pics )

Overall this kit took me 9-10 hours (a third of which I spent on the beading alone), which is quite good value in my opinion. And overall it's a good idea; the light from the LEDs is diffused and refracted through the translucent seed beads. Also, I like the idea that an item can look good in both day and night, without having to sacrifice one. A good exercise.

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Getting there...

Tue, 15 Sep 2009 19:26:45 GMT

The physical construction of my Arduino Lilypad glove is almost complete. Just have to tighten the fit, finish a few edges. I was going to line, decorate, and all that jazz, but feel it's a bit unnecessary for this project. I am getting usable information in, and just have to decide what way I want to use that information, as in, how I want the lights to behave in relation to movement. Here's the glove:

( Some text and pics )

Things I learned:

- Analog sensors give you a value between 0 and 1023, which represents the level of current flowing through it. Not anything useful like an absolute temperature, sound level, or angle. You have to work these things out yourself, with a thermometer or other measurement device in hand, and seeing what the values correspond to.

- Analog actuators take values between 0 and 255, which I assume represents a level of current?, but that doesn't really matter much. The easiest way to get from sensor data to usable actuator data is to simply divide by 4. This however, doesn't always give you the behaviour you desire.

- Accelerometers also require + and - lines. If you can't see the markings you need a magnifying glass. It will still seem to work without them hooked up, but you'll get somewhat random data that if plotted looks like a soft wave, sitting at 0 for a bit then increasing over a few values to 1023, where it will sit for a bit before descending over a few values to 0, and repeating.

- The language you use to program the Arduino is called Processing.

- Getting data from the Serial object is quite simple. For the regular Arduino if you specify the transfer rate Serial.begin(9600) it comes through on baud 9600. However, for some reason the Lilypad when set at 9600 comes in at 19200. If set at 4800 comes in at 9600. Don't know why. Yet.

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My first Arduino Lilypad project

Tue, 04 Aug 2009 21:06:13 GMT

How It All Began:

In this world there a great variety of people, with vastly different skills, interests, backgrounds, and futures. But for the sake of this post I will concern myself with only two kinds. Those who know cool electrical stuff, and those who don't. I fall into the latter category. But when a friend told me about these pre-assembled circuit boards, that are used to rapidly prototype gadgets and inventions, that are so simple to use that artists with no technical background are able to pick them up and realize their visions, well, my first thought was, 'that's kinda cool'. So idly I browsed the interwebs, for this strange thing called Arduino, and discovered it's sleeker, purple-ier, sibling, the Arduino Lilypad. It offers a subset of the range offered for the Arduino, but washable, and redesigned for use on clothing. My imagination immediately filled with visions of me dancing, trailing swirls of colours. *ahem* And other less girly things. And I just knew I had to get my teeth into it. Afterall, if it was so simple to use then I could hardly fail.
( This is long, and has two photos, and two videos )

Things I Learned:

- The Lilypad is more expensive than the Arduino, so unless you want wearable tech specifically, stick to the Arduino.
- The Arduino works in a three-dimensional space. You can build flat circuits, or giant cubes. The Lilypad, although it has to shape and conform to the 3-D form of the body, works primarily in flat planes. You are fairly limited to above the fabric, and below it.
- If you don't know much about electronics the Lilypad is easier to use and understand. As you learn more you start seeing how your projects would translate to the Arduino, and just how neat and clever (both intentionally, and coincidentally) the Lilypad is.

- I have installed the Arduino IDE on both Fedora 11 and Windows XP. Both are similar and very easy. Windows does have the disadvantage of offering you many COM ports, and you just have to try them all to find the one that's connected to your Arduino. Whereas on my Fedora machine I have to launch it from the terminal, and as root.

- When using the Lilypad you may notice a complete lack of resistors. This is because the power sources readily available are about 3-5V, which is the range the Lilypad likes. But also, despite it's name, conductive thread, while being conductive relative to ordinary thread, is a quite poor conductor with regards more traditional electrical items like wire. So in essence the thread is your resistor. If you need a greater resistance, simply create a longer path of thread between the power source and your components. Adding other pieces, like clasps and such can also add a decorative touch of resistance if needed.

- Conductive thread is like unshielded/uninsulated wire. It is very important not to cross the positive and negative strands. And seeing how easily the thread frays you will need a way to seal away the knot-ends at the very least. I currently use fabric paint, and find it very good, despite a quite long drying time.

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