Kit-of-No-Parts

Electrolibrary

admin — Wed, 06 Feb 2013 08:30:32 +0000

Wonderful video showing the process of developing and then creating an electronic interactive book as interface to computer content:

Elektrobiblioteka / Electrolibrary from waldek wegrzyn on Vimeo.

Copper Tape Connections

admin — Fri, 25 Jan 2013 08:56:47 +0000

Using copper tape on paper (or other surfaces!) to make quick, flat and flexible circuits.

Pu Gong Ying (Dandelion) Painting by Jie Qi:
>> http://technolojie.com/pu-gong-ying-tu-dandelion-painting/

Interactive Light Painting: Pu Gong Ying Tu (Dandelion Painting) from Jie Qi on Vimeo.

By David Mellis:

By Hannah Perner-Wilson:

Paper meets SMA

admin — Fri, 25 Jan 2013 08:28:01 +0000

Jie Qi has done extensive work looking at how to use SMA (Shape Memory Alloy, Nitinol, Muscle Wire) to animate paper by causing it to fold, curl, crinkle and much more.

The Fine Art of Electronics >> http://web.media.mit.edu/~jieqi/

Sculpted Solenoid

admin — Sat, 12 Jan 2013 20:46:53 +0000

In her Suicidal Teapot Mika Satomi sculpted her own solenoids by wrapping enameled wire around empty thread spools, inserting an iron nail in the center of the spool and using Shapelock (friendly plastic) to make a spring.

Project page >> http://www.stdl.se/?p=2001
Photo set >> http://www.flickr.com/photos/14412219@N04/sets/72157627106383555/

Making of:

Another project that uses homemade solenoids >> http://www.nerdkits.com/videos/robotic_xylophone/

Barebones Connections

admin — Thu, 03 Jan 2013 15:08:45 +0000

Bare bones circuits refer to a style of building that uses just wires and no board to connect the parts of a circuit.

Beautiful circuits by Karl Klomp

>> http://www.karlklomp.nl/

Beautiful circuits by Peter Vogel

>> http://www.petervogel-objekte.de
>> http://www.bitforms.com/peter-vogel-gallery.html
>> http://www.carzaniga.ch/html/07_kuenstler/display.php3?artist=14
>> http://www.coolhunting.com/culture/peter-vogel-at.php

Knit Radio Transmitter

admin — Sat, 22 Dec 2012 05:21:51 +0000

Drapery FM is a knit radio transmitter by Ebru Kurbak and Irene Posch.

>> http://ebrukurbak.net/draperyfm/

Pencil Drawn Sensors

admin — Fri, 21 Dec 2012 17:25:00 +0000

Sam Jacoby of High-Low Tech has some examples of graphite (pencil drawn) sensors.

>> http://www.flickr.com/photos/samjacoby/

3D Printed Circuit

admin — Sun, 18 Nov 2012 08:56:23 +0000

Thingiverse user CarryTheWhat has created a library of 3D printable modules that fit various electronic components such as batteries, resistors and LEDs, as well as pushbuttons and switches. The circuit can be arranged in a 3D modeling environment, printed and then the conductivity is added by hand in the form of conductive thread.

>> http://blog.ponoko.com/2012/03/16/3d-printed-circuit-board/

Lasercut Conductive Paper Piano

admin — Wed, 13 Jun 2012 18:02:03 +0000

Adrian Freed has made a piano largely from paper parts. The keys are vinylcut from conductive paper, …

>> http://cnmat.berkeley.edu/publication/paper_fingerphone_case_study_musical_instrument_redesign_sustaina

Electroactive Polymers

admin — Thu, 22 Mar 2012 06:54:18 +0000

Soft Matter Physics at JKU >> http://www.somap.jku.at/
Materiability >> http://materiability.com/

Video of project made at the Materiability workshop at the Swedisch School of Textiles in Boras, Sweden.

Sculpting and Assembling Gears

admin — Mon, 05 Mar 2012 16:11:08 +0000

Inspired by the work of Arthur Ganson and other kinetic artists, this post features some mechanical gears assembled and sculpted from various materials such as wire and cardboard.

Cardboard Gears

Photo of Jerushia’s cardboard automata:

>> http://www.ehow.com/how_2306150_make-gears-out-corrugated-cardboard.html

>> http://www.sheldrake.net/cardboards/machine_dreams/

Links

Animatronic kitty ears >> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bmfi5lZXoHc&feature=player_embedded
Arthur Ganson >> http://www.arthurganson.com/
Tom Haney >> http://www.tomhaney.com/

Molded Circuitry

admin — Tue, 28 Feb 2012 00:42:02 +0000

In contrast to casting traces by applying the cast material selectively to a flat surface, molded circuitry is cast into a mold. I’m interested in being able to cast both flexible and firm conductive materials in combination with common casting materials such as silicone and epoxy. This post describes various attempts at creating molds and casting conductive materials.

carving soft rubber and casting conductive epoxy

Mold carved from a soft rubber sheet, commonly used for linoleum printing, then filled with conductive epoxy. Traces are very brittle when fully cured and hard to remove without breaking.

Mix equal amounts of conductive epoxy

Mix thoroughly and apply into mold.

Wipe away excess and let cure.

Carefully remove from mold. I used masking tape to grip the cast traces and pull them out. This worked well, but it was hard to get them off the masking tape without breaking them. They were very brittle when fully cured.

Result.

Removing traces from masking tape proved tricky…

Carved mold with flexible casting materials

Mold carved from a rubber sheet intended for linoleum printing. Bellow is a two sided speaker mold.

Carving the mold

Two-sided mold with connection through center hole

Making a flexible castable material

Attempts at mixing conductive nickel powders and pigments from Novamet with latex to achieve a conductive material with flexible (stretchable) properties.

Getting mix ratios just right

Casting a speaker coil

Square speaker coil

Round speaker coil

Materials and tools

Liberated Circuits

admin — Fri, 24 Feb 2012 18:29:04 +0000

The circuits are painted on a peltier thermo-electric heating device that is itself part of the circuit. The circuit is painted with a water-based silver paint and are coated in resin mixed with black thermochromic pigment, which becomes transparent when the peltier device heats up.

Project page >> http://www.plusea.at/?p=3433

Paper Power Pouches

admin — Thu, 16 Feb 2012 20:02:41 +0000

Battery pouches made from paper, plastic and fabric are quick to make and are a cheap alternative to commercially available options. Copper tape and conductive fabric work great as conductors and some squishy foam or fabric, or else some flat magnets, help achieve a reliable contact between your pouch conductors and the contacts of your batteries.

Vinylcut plastic pouch with copper tape conductors

Stencil:

Vinylcutting:

Vinylcut paper pouch with copper tape conductors

Conductive painted conductors:

Lasercut coin-cell pouch with conductive fabric tape conductors

Stencils:

Paper coin-cell holders

Hand-cut paper pouch with copper tape conductors

Links

Jie Qi’s paper battery holder tutorial >> http://web.media.mit.edu/~jieqi/?p=50

Assembled Coin-cell Holder

admin — Thu, 12 Jan 2012 20:56:07 +0000

This coin-cell holder is made using copper tape and a mini cloths peg. The LED lead wires are soldered to the strips of copper tape on the peg, which simply clips onto a 3V coin-cell to complete the circuit.

Ingredients:
- copper tape
- mini wood peg
- coin-cell battery
- LED light
- soldering iron and solder

Press-fit Battery Holders

admin — Tue, 20 Dec 2011 14:45:59 +0000

Press-fit, also known as interference fit or friction fit, describes a connection that is held without adhesive, screws or nails, but simply by the friction between materials and shapes of either part after they have been pressed together. This recipe describes various ways to make press-fit holders for a range of standard batteries.

>> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Interference_fit

Lasercut acrylic with copper tape conductor:

Conductive silver paint on wood with tiny screws:

Taped Traces

admin — Sat, 17 Dec 2011 15:05:22 +0000

This is one of the quickest techniques for prototyping circuits, as well as an efficient and reliable way of making flat and flexible circuitry. Copper tape and conductive fabric tapes are relatively affordable and comes with or without conductive adhesive. When using copper tape with conductive adhesive, connections between separate pieces of tape can be made by overlapping individual pieces, but these connections aren’t the most reliable, especially over time. Soldering recommended.

ENSAD workshop poster >> http://hlt.media.mit.edu/workshops/ENSAD_2011/?page_id=16

Links

Microcontroller circuit with copper tape >> http://hlt.media.mit.edu/?p=1653
Simple Arduino audio samples >> http://hlt.media.mit.edu/?p=1619

Painted Pressure Sensor

admin — Thu, 08 Dec 2011 08:38:11 +0000

Mixing carbon with a variety of mediums, trying to achieve a paintable (possibly also castable) substance with piezoelectric properties similar to Velostat or Eeontex coated fabrics.

Cast Pixels

admin — Fri, 02 Dec 2011 23:15:07 +0000

casting thermochromic paint or pigment into various hard and soft castable materials and embedding steel thread as a heating element.

Carved Pixel

admin — Thu, 01 Dec 2011 04:22:17 +0000

Using thermochromic pigments, that turn transparent when heated to a certain temperature, on top of conductive paint conductors that can be heated up by running power across them.

Video

Pixels

Seashellphones

admin — Thu, 01 Dec 2011 04:21:39 +0000

This is a project I never finished. It was intended as a pair of headphones made from seashells. The limpet seashells were plated with conductive coils wrapping around their in and outsides. The coils were first painted with conductive silver paint, then plated in a Copper Sulphate plating bath, as were the connections on the wood that linked the speaker shells together.

Project Post >> http://www.plusea.at/?p=4596

Press-Fit Components

admin — Thu, 01 Dec 2011 04:17:48 +0000

Various Components

Press-fit dimensions with the lasercutter for 1/8 inch birch plywood. Speed 15, power 70.
Coin-cell: 19.65cm diameter circle
Through-hole ATtiny85 Microcontroller:
Square speaker:
Vibration motor:

Coin-cell

9V battery

Casting Setup

admin — Tue, 20 Sep 2011 01:54:26 +0000

There are a large variety of castable materials with various consistencies, colors and other material properties. The information in this post only covers a selection of such materials that I’ve experimented with myself.

Silicones

Smooth-on is a great resource for all things castable! >> https://www.smooth-on.com/

HARD

Brilliant Resin
This resin is great for casting transparent coating over electronics!
Little Windows >> http://www.little-windows.com/store.php

Easycast clear casting epoxy
>> http://www.tapplastics.com/shop/product.php?pid=386
(have not tried it yet)

Smoothcast 326
A clear hard resin that can be mixed with pigments to give it colour. The best results I’ve had with this material is with casting sheep lights.

SOFT

Smooth-on Ecoflex
Ecoflex is a really nice soft, squishy silicone that is easy to mix. But i’ve been having problems creating a mold.
Smooth-on replied: “There is a chemical interaction between OOMOO and Ecoflex which prevents Ecoflex from fully curing. You cannot pour a platinum silicone like Ecoflex into a tin silicone like OOMOO. One option would be to pour Ecoflex into another platinum silicone (Mold Star could be used, for example: http://www.smooth-on.com/video_play.php?video_id=wd1fe4pMNa0&autoplay=1 ). Release agent (Ease Release 200 or equivalent) is required to separate the silicone from silicone. Another option would be to create a hard mold out of a urethane plastic such as Smooth-Cast 300 (simple example: http://www.smooth-on.com/gallery.php?galleryid=451 ) or Shell Shock (simple example: http://www.smooth-on.com/gallery.php?galleryid=014 ). No release agent is required when pouring silicone into one of these molds.”

Dragonskin

Latex
While not good for casting voluminous shapes, latex is good for applying to surfaces.

Mold Making

Mold Star
(have not tried yet)

Smooth-cast 326
Casting urethane foam prototype in Smooth-cast 326 didn’t go so well. I think the heat from the curing process not only deforemd the palstic container, but also forced air bubbles out of the foam making it inflate the Smooth-cast just as it was turning hard. Ops.

Moldgel Silfree
While nice to work with, this algy-based mold material is doesn’t produce great results if you’re looking to cast multiples. Also, the Smooth-cast 326 that i cast into this mold cured very slowly and with lots of bubbles. Not sure why.
>> http://www.artmolds.com/product362.cfm

Oomoo
Is a great tin silicone for casting soft, durable molds – only not to be used with platinum silicones like Ecoflex (see above)!

Machinable Materials

admin — Sun, 28 Aug 2011 17:31:28 +0000

Polyurethane/urethane modeling foams

They come in a variety of colours and densities that can be worked by hand or machine to model small and large structures.
offers a kit of machinable materials >> http://www.freemansupply.com/MachinableMediaSam.htm
ask for samples >> http://www.generalplastics.com/solutions/product-lines/rigid-foams/fr-4500
McMaster >> http://www.mcmaster.com/#urethane-foam/=e1sccw

Balsa-foam

A non-toxic alternative to urethane!
>> http://www.dickblick.com/products/balsa-foam/
>> http://www.americanfoamtech.com/balsafoam/craftideas.asp

Fountain Pens

admin — Sun, 17 Jul 2011 18:33:58 +0000

Fountain pens can be used to draw with conductive paint.

Conductive Gel Sensors

admin — Fri, 10 Jun 2011 06:42:43 +0000

Gel sensors in the human ear:
>> http://www.dynamicscience.com.au/tester/solutions/biology/ear/ear1.htm

Limoleum Printing 101

admin — Wed, 20 Apr 2011 14:36:26 +0000

Sculpted Battery Holders

admin — Tue, 19 Apr 2011 13:18:35 +0000

Tilt Sensing Bell

admin — Tue, 19 Apr 2011 13:15:10 +0000

Second attempt:

Precious Metal Parts

admin — Mon, 18 Apr 2011 23:14:36 +0000

Sculpted from precious metal clay. Unfortunately I have not (yet) had much success sculpting and firing the clay.

Sculpted ball socket switch

Sculpted slider switch:

Coin-cell Holder

Before and after firing:

Video of terrible attempt at firing precious metal silver clay:

Fired precious metal copper clay needs dirties and needs to soak in a pickle to clean the surface. Failed attempts at this:

Painted Resistors

admin — Sun, 17 Apr 2011 15:07:18 +0000

Demo Wall

admin — Sun, 10 Apr 2011 20:17:07 +0000

This demonstration wall is made up of 12 example circuits that showcase the various materials and techniques featured in A Kit-of-No-Parts.

Project page >> http://www.plusea.at/?p=1855

Slide-show

Vinylcutting 101

admin — Sun, 10 Apr 2011 15:47:56 +0000

With the Craft Robo
images: http://fab.cba.mit.edu/classes/MIT/863.09/people/hannah/craftrobo.html

Step-by-step

Craft ROBO from GRAPHTEC

Model CC200
You can get a Craft ROBO CC330L-20 on Amazon for 250$

Setup
These instructions go over two versions for using the Craft ROBO, on a Mac one directly from Illustrator, the other on Windows using Craft ROBO software calledROBO Maser. The Craft ROBO comes with a set of cutting knives but the holding for these knives can also be used to hold other items such as pens or crayons to leave marks on the material going through the machine. I used a strip of neoprene around the felt tip pen to keep it in place within the holding space that is intended for the blade.
Using Cutting Master 2 on Mac OSX with Illustrator 10/CS/CS2

You can also do this on Windows with CorelDRAW 10, 11, 12, X3 or Adobe Illustrator 8, 9, 10, CS, CS2 but I haven’t tried this yet.
Downloads

>> Download Cutting Master ROBO User’s Manual (PDF 273KB)
>> Download Cutting Master 2 ROBO version 1.60 (54MB) for CC200
For Windows option download drivers and other things from link above
Install Software

Follow the instructions in the manual from page five onwards. Make sure Illustrator is closed during installation!
Create in Illustrator

Open or create the files you want to use.

In from the top menu select:
“File” –> “Cutting Master 2 for Craft ROBO” –> “Cut/Plot…”

The interface is very easy to use and there are excelent description of it in the manual. You can use colors or layers to separate objects that you want to output at different times.

And if all goes well it should print…
Using ROBO Master software on Windows
Downloads

>> Download Windows drivers and Cutting Master 2 software for Windows
Install Software

Follow install instructions.
Open Cutting Master 2 Software

Not a very nice software to creating shapes. But okay for simple geometry and text.

When you are ready to print. Look in the top icon menu bar and click on the icon that looks like a blade cutting paper and it says “Craft ROBO” on mouse-over. A window pops up and the name should be Graphtec Craft ROBO. Click OK.

Now you’re in a menu with lots of options and you have to go though them in order, though you can click back. When you reach the end of this menu, click “Cut”.

One last window will pop up, click “OK” to print/cut/start the job.
Cutting instead of drawing

This is an example of cutting instead of drawing.

Inkjet Printed Traces

admin — Sat, 26 Mar 2011 10:44:15 +0000

Commercially inkjet printed traces by >> http://inkjetflex.com/site/

Stencilled Traces

admin — Sat, 26 Mar 2011 10:43:01 +0000

Squeeze Bottle

admin — Sat, 26 Mar 2011 10:24:47 +0000

also: henna applicator bottle

>> http://www.shopbeachcombers.com/storefrontprofiles/deluxeSFshop.aspx?Henna%20Applicator%20Bottles&sfid=39600&c=863959

Calligraphed Traces

admin — Fri, 25 Mar 2011 23:15:19 +0000

Extracting paint from a conductive pen

Wash-out an old ink cartridge:

Fill with conductive paint:

Writing:

Silver paint and fountain pen with different tips

Silver paint in squeeze bottle with needle point tip

Silver paint in cartridge fountain pen

Empty ink cartridge and fill with water based silver paint or another very fine particle paint.

Links

Silver roller ball pen >> http://news.illinois.edu/news/11/0628silver_pen_JenniferLewis.html

Conductive gold nano fountain pen >> http://www.nanonics.co.il/analysis-of-a-gold-line-written-with-the-nanofountain-p.html

How a fountain pen works >> http://www.explainthatstuff.com/how-fountain-pens-work.html

Traces and Connections 101

admin — Thu, 24 Mar 2011 19:56:40 +0000

There are various options for electrically connecting two things. Wire, plugs and screw terminals are a few of them.

But you can also use other conductive objects to make electrical connections.

A nice example from e-textiles shows how a regular LED can be modified to make the legs “sewable” and more easily integrated in textiles circuits using conductive thread.

Plated Fabric Traces

admin — Wed, 23 Mar 2011 16:16:10 +0000

Instead of plating onto rigid structures you can also plate onto soft and flexible materials. I’ve tried fabric and paper so far and both work well. If you paint onto a shiny repellent surface, then you can peel away the plated traces, making them free-standing.

Step-by-step

Fabric

Samples on different fabrics.

Fabric circuit.

Paper

Paper is more durable than you might think. The plating process can take only a few minutes, so don’t be scared to drench the paper. But be sure to thoroughly rise all the Copper Sulfate off afterward. Iron dry.

First paper circuit.

Second Paper Circuit

Video

Resistant Surface

If you plate your traces on a resistant surface then you can later peel them off so that they are free-standing.

Linoleum Print Traces

admin — Wed, 23 Mar 2011 01:18:18 +0000

Print carved from linoleum. Using conductive silver paint mixed with block print medium. But the conductivity of paint and application of the paint to paper is not yet working well enough for electronics.

Carved Switch

admin — Wed, 23 Mar 2011 01:16:11 +0000

Molding and Casting 101

admin — Sun, 20 Mar 2011 21:21:09 +0000

Conductive Powders

admin — Fri, 18 Mar 2011 19:51:33 +0000

Novamet

Samples from Novamet: nickel coated graphite, nickel pigment, nickel flake
>> http://www.incosp.com/novamet_products/conductive_nickel/

Novamet samples mixed with latex:

Other products

>> http://www.creativematerials.com/products/
>> http://www.appliednanotech.net/tech/nanoparticle_ink_ni.php
>> http://www.sigmaaldrich.com/united-states.html (chemicals)
>> http://www.novacentrix.com/product/metalon.php

Cast Stretchy Traces

admin — Fri, 18 Mar 2011 17:07:54 +0000

So far unsuccessful attempts at casting conductive traces by mixing various ratios of conductive paints (copper, silver, carbon) with latex. Applying them to a surface, letting htem cure and then peeling them away.
The following examples, while they look great, hardly conduct at all. Mixing even only a little latex into the water based silver paint seems to render it highly resistive.

Materials and tools

Applying water based silver paint mixed with latex to a already cured thin patch of latex.

After it cures, everything is stretchy, translucent and durable, but sadly not conductive.

Stretches beautifully, but does not conduct.

Even less successful attempts with copper paint and latex blends.

Pure copper (and water) not mixed with latex before casting with latex substrate. Cracks badly (of course).

Carved Traces

admin — Sat, 12 Mar 2011 20:44:57 +0000

Using wood and conductive paint to carve and paint conductive traces for circuitry.

painting-then-carving

How circuit connections can be carved from a sheet of plywood that has been coated with a layer of conductive paint. First a flat piece of wood or plywood is sanded, primed and sanded again, creating an even and less absorbent surface. Then one or two layers of conductive paint are applied. There are a range of conductive paints that can be used, they vary in particle size, medium and conductor type. Silver paint is expensive, but highly conductive and applies beautifully. Copper paint is cheaper, but the particles are bigger and so narrow strips of carved material risk disconnection. Carbon paint has a much higher resistance to it that copper or silver, but is cheap in comparison and works like and acrylic paint.
The circuit is carved with a variety of carving tools, small grooves can be carved out for the smaller components to recede into, such as the surface mount LEDs. The components are superglued to the surface and additional silver paint is applied to bridge the connections between the painted wood traces and the component leads. The coin-cell battery holder was made by screwing two small screws into the wood, making contact with the conductive paint. The screws are spaced so that the battery press-fits between them.

Copper paint

>> http://lessemf.com/paint.html

Samples of sanding, priming and carving wood circuits:

Isolating and jumping over carved traces:

Silver paint

>> http://www.conductivecompounds.com/WB_101_Water_Based_Silver_Conductive_Ink.html

Isolating and jumping over carved traces. Unsuccessful and messy:

Coil-cell battery holder:

Interact through touch and skin resistance:

Interaction with the circuit toggles the LED lights on and off:

Video of carved circuit with skin-resistance toggle switch:

Carbon paint

>> http://lessemf.com/paint.html

Carving-then-painting

Copper paint

Saturate the carved channels with conductive paint:

Careful carving tools are sharp!

Vinylcut Traces

admin — Sat, 12 Mar 2011 20:43:23 +0000

Great tool and process of cutting circuitry from conductive copper sheets that have adhesive backing.

>> http://www.kobakant.at/DIY/?p=1132
>> http://www.v2.nl/lab/blog/cutout-circuit-board
>> http://fab.cba.mit.edu/content/processes/PCB/vinylcut.html
>> http://fab.cba.mit.edu/classes/MIT/863.10/people/jie.qi/jieweek5.html

Machine: Roland CAMM-1 GX-24 Vinyl Cutter

The machine works on PC and Mac. Support files can be downloaded from Roland Technical Support.

For PC, you need to install the CutStudio and Printer driver; you can also install an Illustrator or CorelDraw plugin. CutStudio allows you to import EPS (Encapsulated PostScript) and AI (Adobe Illustrator) files.

For Mac, you need to have Adobe Illustrator installed. There are CutStudio plugins for all versions from Illustrator 8 up to CS5. A second program, CutStudioOutputX, included with the plugin, actually handles the transfer of your drawing to the cutter. See the instructions included with plugin from the Roland website.

Etched Fabric Speaker

admin — Sat, 12 Mar 2011 19:45:13 +0000

Similar to the paper speakers these copper fabric speakers are created by etching the copper off the fabric in order to create a coil. If you then run a 5-9V amplified sound signal through this coil and hold a magnet close to the center of the coil then it will make sound. Unlike most speakers that have the wire coil wrapped cylindrically and placed around the magnet, here the coil is in the plane and directly part of the membrane that moves the air creating sound.

For more details please see the paper speaker post:
>> http://web.media.mit.edu/~plusea/?p=265

Using masking tape to mask both sides of the areas you want to etch away. Then apply Vaseline to the exposed areas (both sides!).

Carefully peel away the masking tape, without smearing the Vaseline everywhere.

Submerge in a bath of salt (1 tablespoon) and distilled vinegar (1 cup), proportions are rough. Let sit for anywhere between 4 and 12 hours. As the copper dissolves in the acid it creates Copper Sulfate. Don’t drink! And don’t dispose of but use for future etching! Ultimately dispose of it safely.

When the copper has etched away, rinse thoroughly and then iron between two paper towels to remove remaining Vaseline.

Other fabric/thread versions

conductive fabric on canvas (good), stainless steel thread on canvas (okay)

Stainless steel thread between masking tape (okay), stitched to paper (bad)

Pencil Pot

admin — Sat, 12 Mar 2011 19:34:19 +0000

Drawing the resistive track of a potentiometer with a graphite pencil is a nice and quick way to make a resistive position sensor. It is also slightly messy as you’ll need to cover the paper thickly in a soft graphite pencil creating some dust as a surface that will smear.

Research@ML Workshop

admin — Fri, 11 Mar 2011 16:06:17 +0000

April 4 2011, 1h, MIT Media Lab, Cambridge/MA

This workshop will be held during the MIT Media Lab’sResearch @ ML event and open to anybody interested in learning the techniques presented on this website. No prior experience in electronics or craft is necessary. The workshop will last one hour in and introduce participants to the range of materials, tools and craft techniques documented on this website. A short introduction will be followed by a hands-on activity.

Participant Creations

Plated paper

Plated driftwood

Plated magnifying glass

Gilded mask

Materials and Tools

Colour-Changing Materials

admin — Thu, 03 Mar 2011 14:22:28 +0000

Thermochromic, Liquid Crystal…

Thermochromic (temperature sensitive colour)

Thermochromic pigments, paints and inks have the property that they become transparent when heated to a certain temperature.
HOW TO GET WHAT YOU WANT >> http://www.kobakant.at/DIY/?p=3183
Nice article on Open Materials >> http://openmaterials.org/2011/06/06/materials-101-thermochromic/

Linda Worbin is the head of the Smart Textiles lab at the Swedish School of Textiles and has done lots of work with thermochromatic paints and print. You can download her thesis and other publications here:
Thesis >> http://www.google.se/url?sa=t&source=web&cd=3&ved=0CCoQFjAC&url=http%3A%2F%2Fbada.hb.se%2Fbitstream%2F2320%2F6283%2F1%2FWorbinavh.pdf&ei=DMT9TZOgJojLtAaUxrzyDQ&usg=AFQjCNHy9pFGHGhhbTi23tTeUgRwlKKt2w
>> http://www.google.se/url?sa=t&source=web&cd=1&ved=0CBgQFjAA&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww2.khib.no%2Ffuturetextile%2Farchives%2Fcategory%2Fintelligent-textiles&ei=DMT9TZOgJojLtAaUxrzyDQ&usg=AFQjCNHIP0pKRZKecOypJFvAiEpUYzeTLA

Suppliers

Chromazone (International) >> http://www.chromazone.co.uk/
B&H (ask for samples and for BAR free paint!) >> (UK) http://www.colourchange.com/products.php
Americos Industries (India) >> http://www.kenencoregroup.com/trifunctional-color.html?gclid=CIjojNzbwakCFQol3wodJT8Rbg
Zenit (Sweden) >> http://www.zenit-konst.se/Servlet
Siltech (UK) >> http://www.siltechlimited.com/thermallysensitive.aspx
Paint with Pearl (only black, orange, blue) >> http://www.paintwithpearl.com/colorchangestore.htm
Thermal Liquid Crystal paint (transparent, turns multi-colour, depending on temperature) >> http://www.scientificsonline.com/thermal-liquid-crystal-paints.html
Thermochromic glue >> http://www.amazon.com/Copernicus-Toys-Thermochromic-Glux/dp/B003CSX2MU/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1308477133&sr=8-1
Solar Colour Dust >> http://solarcolordust.com/Site/Products.html
Thermochromic film >> http://www.mindsetsonline.co.uk/product_info.php?cPath=418_627_464&products_id=548
Glass >> https://www.inventables.com/technologies/temperature-sensitive-glass
Fabric >> https://www.inventables.com/technologies/temperature-sensitive-polyester-fabric-purple-to-pink

People and projects using thermochromic paint

Linda Worbin >> http://www.smarttextiles.se/en/about/organization/165-doktorand-linda-worbin
Marjan Kooroshnia has done a series of projects using thermochromic inks and is also doing research in this area >> http://www.fashioningtech.com/profile/MarjanKooroshnia
Thermochromic wallpaper by the Brothers Mueller >> http://www.thebrothersmueller.com/work/viral-wallpaper/
Maggie Orth’s thermochromic textile weaves >> http://www.maggieorth.com/
Mika Satomi’s thermochromic patterns >> http://www.flickr.com/photos/14412219@N04/sets/72157625534286485/

Liquid Crystal Paint

>> http://www.scientificsonline.com/thermal-liquid-crystal-paints.html

Electroluminescent Paint

EL experimenters kit >> http://sites.google.com/site/elen4193/kits/el
EL display materials from DuPont >> http://www2.dupont.com/MCM/en_US/tech_info/products/displays.html

>> http://www.dhub.org/articles/787
>> http://www.anat.org.au/2010/06/reskin-emerging-technology-lab/
Puddlejumper by Elise Co (detail), 2002
>> http://acg.media.mit.edu/people/elise/glow/index.html

Videos

Jon Beck – Silk Screen-able Electroluminescent Ink >> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jPclj5lbz48&feature=player_embedded
Turn LCDs into Electroluminescent Displays – Luxprint Experiments >> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZuDZnJX5kqw&feature=relmfu

Fabric that changes colour when stretched

>> http://www.colours.phy.cam.ac.uk/synthetic-opals/
>> http://news.cnet.com/8301-17912_3-10240738-72.html

Hydrochromic (water sensitive colour)

>> http://www.matsui-color.com/hydrochromic/
>> http://www.solaractiveintl.com/hydrochromicink-ezp-9.html

Hue shifting pigments

>> https://www.inventables.com/technologies/hue-shifting-pigments

Hot Air Gun

admin — Thu, 03 Mar 2011 14:18:55 +0000

Cast Speaker

admin — Sun, 27 Feb 2011 02:50:02 +0000

Unfortunately i have not yet found a way to make a highly conductive castable material. Instead casting wire into latex or other castable materials works best.

Wire coil in Shapelock.

Carving 101

admin — Sat, 26 Feb 2011 23:52:28 +0000

Electroplating Equipment

admin — Thu, 24 Feb 2011 22:36:02 +0000

To start electroplating you will need the following materials and tools:

- Voltage rectifier
- Copper Sulfate
- Copper metal
- Conductive paint

The difference between electroplating and electroforming is that with electroplating the plated metal is intended to stay on it’s base, whereas with electrofomring the idea is to remove the base and have the metal be a stand-alone piece of its own.

Voltage Rectifier

Converts AC to DC current.
>> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rectifier

The Model 1672 is a Quad Display Triple Output DC Regulated Power Supply that provides one fixed output (5V/ 3A) and two variable outputs (0 – 32V/ 0 – 3A) ratings. The four displays allow the user to continuously monitor the voltage and current values of the two main outputs. The variable outputs can work independently, or in series tracking, or parallel mode.

* Independent control of Voltage and Current for variable output
* CV/CC operation
* Separate 3 digit displays for voltage (Green) and current (Red) for both variable outputs
* LED indication for CV (Green) and CC (Red) modes
* Overload indication LED for Fixed output
* Series tracking and parallel mode operation
* Output terminals are banana style (not binding posts), click on Accessories for leads

>> http://www.bkprecision.com/products/model/1672/triple-output-quad-display-dc-power-supply-2-0-32v-0-3a-15v-3a.html

>> http://www.sherrihaab-shop.com/etching-supplies/electroforming-kit-full.html

Copper Sulfate

Used for electroplating. Supposedly you can purchase copper sulfate from the hardware store. I got mine from RIO Grande:
Copper sulfate >> http://www.riogrande.com/MemberArea/ProductPage.aspx?assetname=335074&page=GRID&category|category_root|120=Tools+and+Equipment&category|cat_120|5924=Plating
Brightener >> http://www.riogrande.com/MemberArea/ProductPage.aspx?assetname=335065&page=GRID&free_text=brightener

Links

Rio Grand and Sherri Haab sell a range of electroforming and electroplating materials, tools and kits:
Rio Grande >> http://www.riogrande.com/MemberArea/ProductPage.aspx?assetname=335600&page=GRID&category|category_root|118=Finishing+Equipment+and+Supplies&category|cat_118|282=Electroforming&t=lp0
Sherri Haab >> http://www.sherrihaab-shop.com/electroforming-kit-full.html

Power 101

admin — Thu, 24 Feb 2011 15:40:47 +0000

Lemon battery

>> http://www.quantumbalancing.com/news/lemon_battery.htm

Coin battery

>> http://www.how-things-work-science-projects.com/coin-battery.html

Joule Thief

>> http://www.emanator.demon.co.uk/bigclive/joule.htm

Etching 101

admin — Thu, 24 Feb 2011 15:36:48 +0000

Use Vaseline as a resist and a bath of salt and vinegar to etch away the copper from copper fabric to make circuits and sensors.
Inspired by instructions from Rehmi Post and Kit Waal.
Also see Sew-through Soft Circuits post by Meredith Scheff on The Steampunk Workshop:
>> http://steampunkworkshop.com/sew-through-soft-circuits

Step-by-step

Tested mix:
*100ml vinegar
*7ml salt

Insert piece of copper fabric. With resist applied to the areas taht you do not wish to etch away the copper from. See bellow list of resist media. For copper fabric we have been using pure copper polyester tefta fabric sold by LessEMF.
It takes up to 12 hours for the first piece of fabric to etch, but after that the following pieces take roughly 2 hours.

In the above examples the resisting medium (Vaseline) was only applied to one side of the fabric. Even though the Vaseline penetrates the fabric it does not protect the reverse side from etching. As can be seen in the following image.

Resist on both sides
If you want to preserve more of the copper you can apply Vaseline (or another medium of resist) to both sides of the copper fabric. The following photos show an example of this.

Mediums tested for resist against etching:
*Vaseline – great! (and you can iron off Vaseline into a paper towel)
*paper stickers – good, but they leave stickiness behind
*masking tape – good, but takes off some of the copper
*drawing with wax from candle – good, but have to scrape or iron off wax afterward
*duct tape – okay, but takes off a lot of copper with it
*stickytape – okay, but takes off a lot of copper with it
*hot glue – okay, but takes off a lot of copper with it
*fusible interfacing – works, but hard to get off afterward
*melted candle wax – doesn’t work great

Sherri Haab

Lasercutting/Engraving 101

admin — Thu, 24 Feb 2011 15:25:53 +0000

Lasercut Potentiometers

admin — Sun, 20 Feb 2011 23:57:51 +0000

Using the lasercutter to cut wood shapes that press-fit (or screw) together to build your own knob and slider potentiometers.

Cut-file for press-fit parts and cut-file for screw-together parts:

lasercutting:

Applying resistive carbon paint and highly conductive silver paint.
VRI solvent based potentiometer ink >> http://www.conductivecompounds.com/VRI_Variable_Resistance_Carbon_Ink.html
Waterbased silver ink >> http://www.conductivecompounds.com/WB_101_Water_Based_Silver_Conductive_Ink.html

Blow-drying solvent-based carbon paint:

Assembling screw-together knob potentiometers:

Assembling screw-together slider potentiometers:

Assembling press-fit knob potentiometers:

Assembling press-fit slider potentiometers:

Plated Seashell Speaker

admin — Sun, 20 Feb 2011 23:55:31 +0000

Similar to the paper speakers these copper plated seashell speakers are created by plating copper to a seashell that has first been painted with conductive paint where the copper should adhere. Running a 5-9V amplified sound signal through this coil and holding a magnet close to the center of the coil will produce sound. The sound is not loud, but this can be used intentionally, having to hold the seashell close to your ear to hear what it has to say.

For more details please see the paper speaker post:
>> http://web.media.mit.edu/~plusea/?p=265

Video

Step-by-step

Sensors 101

admin — Sat, 19 Feb 2011 20:48:46 +0000

Pushbutton

Potentiometer (knob and slider)

Tilt Switch

Microphone

Pressure sensor (FSR)

Bend Sensor

Painting 101

admin — Sat, 19 Feb 2011 18:09:07 +0000

Paint, conductive paint, water, base and medium, thinner, turpentine, paint brushes, mixing pots, mixing sticks, re-sealable containers…

Electroplating 101

admin — Sat, 19 Feb 2011 17:59:46 +0000

also: Electroforming

Once you get the hang of it, electroplating is a very straight fwd and relatively simple process. At first i tried creating my own plating solution by applying current across two copper poles in a distilled vinegar bath. The solution turned green and it did plate my cathode (-), but the layer of plated copper was always rough and would flake away or oxidize almost as soon as i took it out of the bath. Finally i ordered Copper Sulfate solution intended for electroplating, together with brightener, which replenishes the solution when the plated layer starts to become dull. See bellow for materials.

Materials and Tools

- glass container
- copper sulfate (copper sulfate is poisonous. don’t get it in your mouth! and look up how to dispose of it according to your local regulations!)
- brightener
- copper electrode (sheet copper or copper rod)
- aligator clips
- rectifier for regulating voltage/current

Wikipedia has a good explanation of how electroplating works:
>> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electroplating

Step-by-step

Seal the object

Pick the object that you want to electroplate. If it is made of a natural material like a wood or even a seashell then you probably need to first coat it in a layer of something that will seal it from the plating bath, since it will otherwise eat away at the surface of your object, dirtying the solution and making it hard to achieve a nice clean layer of copper. I’ve used nail varnish and other kinds of varnish to seal objects.
These are examples of how the plating bath can eat away at a seashell.

Coat the object in conductive paint

You want to apply conductive paint to the surface of your object everywhere you want the copper plating to adhere to. I have not had luck with carbon paints, which is a shame because they are so cheap and nice to work with. But instead have had great results with a water based silver paint from Conductive Compounds, WB-101. A little bit of this paint goes a long way and you only need a thin layer.
You may want to plate multiple surfaces on one object that are not necessarily connected. You have a few options here. You can either paint everything so that it connects in one point, and after plating disconnect them all again. You can add extra material on which you can connect all parts and then cut this away after plating. You can also plate each part individually.
When you coat of conductive paint is dry you are ready to plate.

Prepare the plating bath

Pour copper sulfate in a glass container (the plating solution might eat away at plastic containers) so that there is enough or more to fully submerge your object in it. Take the copper anode (+) and bend it so that it fits in the container with your anode and the object. If you bend or curve the copper, make sure not to create any sharp bends as these will break over time and you’ll have to replace the copper.
When you electroplate you want to use a very low direct voltage, less than one volt, but be able to supply as much current as your plating bath draws. For this it is good to have a rectifier or another kind of regulating device that supplies direct current. You can use batteries to plate, though i have not had success with this yet.

Plate

Connect the + of your power supply to the copper anode that should protrude above the surface of the solution. Connect the – of your power supply to the object you want to plate and lower it into the plating bath. Make sure that painted parts of your object are not touching the copper. And make sure there there are no bubbles forming on the surface of your object. If bubbles form then your voltage is too high and your copper coat will be clumpy and brittle.
The electroplating process can take as less as a few minutes. the longer you leave it the thicker the copper will be. Check the object regularly to see what is happening. Add a few drops of brightener to the solution if you notice that the copper is looking dull.

These are the kinds of plating you don’t want:

This is the kind of plating you want:

Rinse

Immediately after you remove your object from the plating bath, rinse it with water to remove all the copper sulfate solution and then pat dry. Your traces should be shiny and robust.

Flexible and solderable

If the object you plated to has a water repellent surface (or the sealer created a shiny repellent surface) then your traces might start to come off. But this is something that you might have done intentionally.

The traces should be flexible and not break immediately, they are pure copper and should act similar to copper wire. You should be able to solder to them without problem.

Resources

Sherri Haab has extensive resources and downloadable PDF instructions on how to electroform objects including leaves and other natural materials.
Sherri Haab >> http://www.sherrihaab-shop.com/craft-supplies/metal-etching/e3-etch.html
Other links to electroplating instructions:
>> http://www.andybrain.com/sciencelab/2008/01/27/how-to-electroplate-copper/
>> http://www.instructables.com/id/Clean-and-Simple-Electroplating/
Examples of electroplated objects by Cassy Muronaka >> http://cassymuronaka.wordpress.com/2010/08/09/easy-electroforming-with-e3-etch-2/

Sculpting 101

admin — Fri, 18 Feb 2011 21:30:25 +0000

PMC

How to make pickle

“To make a vinegar based solution, place water in a sauce pan and add distilled white vinegar. Heat the solution until it simmers, then add a bit of kosher salt or table salt. The ratio is about 1 part of salt to 8 parts vinegar.” (from: http://jewelrymaking.about.com/od/solderinginformation/a/032806.htm)

Sculpted Motors

admin — Thu, 17 Feb 2011 17:06:40 +0000

Simplest Motor Ever

Video of attempted switch:

Rubin’s Vase Motor

Video

Step-by-step

Bird-Cage Spinning Motor

Video

Step-by-step

Wrap coil out of magnet wire. Insert toothpick. Paint ends with nail varnish first to seal wood first, then paint with conductive silver paint.

Plate one end at a time.

Shape Fimo around toothpick. Fire in oven, then seal toothpick with nail varnish.

Paint with conductive paint, then electroplate.

Assemble and use solder to make connections between parts.

Links

Instructions
>> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YLJ5O0r-vks&feature=relmfu
>> http://www.displayresearch.com/education_DIYMotor.htm
DIY reed switch motor >> http://www.simplemotor.com/selfmotor.htm

DIY electric motor videos
>> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=it_Z7NdKgmY&NR=1
>> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OS-ihkq8mKI
>> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ziJRFNI5vBc&feature=related

Really simple and elegant homopolar motors
>> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zOdboRYf1hM&feature=related
>> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kto3JGQs83M&feature=related

Breaking system
>> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YLJ5O0r-vks&feature=relmfu

Actuators 101

admin — Thu, 17 Feb 2011 17:05:58 +0000

Lights, LEDs, speakers, motors, vibration motors, solenoids…

Wood Speakers

admin — Wed, 16 Feb 2011 17:33:10 +0000

Similar to the paper speakers these wood speakers are created by carving or laser engraving a spiral shape into wood that has been prepared with a highly conductive layer. If you then run a 5-9V amplified sound signal through this coil and hold a magnet close to the center of the coil then it will make sound. Unlike most speakers that have the wire coil wrapped cylindrically and placed around the magnet, here the coil is in the plane and part of the membrane that moves the air creating sound.

For more details please see the paper speaker post:
>> http://web.media.mit.edu/~plusea/?p=265

Hand carved

Lasercut and engraved

Wood Flexures

Inspired by Jean-Babtiste Labrune’s wood flexure speaker structures.

Link to flexure design >> http://dl.dropbox.com/u/9029347/FlexureSpeakerBC1.svg

Styrofoam plate speaker Instructable >> http://www.instructables.com/id/Styrofoam-Plate-Speaker/
Presentation from Open Course Ware class on flexures taught by Martin Culpepper at MIT >> http://ocw.mit.edu/courses/mechanical-engineering/2-72-elements-of-mechanical-design-spring-2009/lecture-notes/MIT2_72s09_lec08.pdf

Paper Speakers

admin — Wed, 16 Feb 2011 17:14:26 +0000

Inspired by Marcelo Coehlo’s paper speaker and Vincent Leclerc’s Accouphene textile speaker, these paper and fabric speakers are made by running 5-9V amplified sound signal through a very conductive coil in close proximity to a magnet. Unlike most speakers that have the wire coil wrapped cylindrically and placed around the magnet, here the coil is in the plane and directly adhered to the membrane that moves the air creating sound.

Also see: etched fabric speaker, carved and engraved wood speakers, plated seashell speakers

Vinylcut copper coil

Painted silver coil

Screen-printed silver coil

Gilded coil

Video

Video of thermochromic and liquid crystal inks affected by the heat from speaker coils

Technical

The coils can be made from a variety of conductive materials. Copper tape, conductive fabric tape, conductive fabric and stainless steel thread work really well. gold leaf does not work as well (yet!) in comparison. The coil can be one sided or two sided. A continuous spiral gives better results than one that backs up on itself.

The coils can be fused to a variety of membrane materials such as paper, vellum, veneer, fabric, transparency, tissue paper…

Jean-Babtiste Labrune pointed out this planar coil calculator >> http://www.circuits.dk/calculator_flat_spiral_coil_inductor.htm

Variations

Step-by-Step Instructions

Ingredients: copper tape, conductive fabric, stainless steel thread, gold leaf, paper, wood, fabric, double-sided sticky (studio tack), size (gold leaf tacky adhesive)
Equipment: Lasercutter, vinylcutter (Craft Robo), scissors, paint brushes, carving tool
Downloads:Illustrator file of speaker coils, some of which were hand drawn

Create a coil shape

Draw and scan or create in software.

Cut the coil

Depending on what material you are using (copper tape, conductive fabric, thread, paint…) you’ll have different ways of creating your coil.

Copper tape on Craft Robo, double-sided sticky on lasercutter

Conductive fabric tape on lasercutter

Conductive fabric with fusible interfacing on lasercutter

Adhere coil to membrane

Steel thread on masking tape

Sound amplification circuit

Using a TIP 120 transistor to control a 5V or a 9V power supply from a microcontroller, in this case a sound circuit taken from a toy that plays the same song every time the button is pressed.

Tom Igoe’s schematic >> http://itp.nyu.edu/physcomp/Tutorials/HighCurrentLoads

Related Work

Absolutely beautiful speaker designs and artwork by Jess Rowland:
>> http://cnmat.berkeley.edu/new_music/people/4752
!!! click on the “Images” link at the very bottom of the page!

Sliced Speaker

admin — Wed, 16 Feb 2011 16:24:03 +0000

Inspired by the Fimo bead roll technique that allows you to layer and roll two (or more) different colours and then slice the roll to get thin slices.

Painted Displays

admin — Wed, 16 Feb 2011 14:24:11 +0000

Fronts and backs of thermochromic samples

Mix thermochromic pigment with medium:

Sew a circuit with steel thread and coat in thermochromic paint

Lay-out control circuitry with copper tape:

Thread steel thread through crimp bead and crimp close to where it will connect with copper tape:

Solder crimp beads to copper tape:

Leah’s example circuit using MOSFET to control high current (for heating) from a microcontroller pin:

Conductive (resistive) materials for heating

Steel thread: Bekinox VN12/1*275/100Z:
thick >> http://www.sparkfun.com/products/10120
thicker >> http://www.sparkfun.com/products/10119
Ingredient >> http://web.media.mit.edu/~plusea/?p=368
Conductive paints (silver, copper, carbon…) >> http://web.media.mit.edu/~plusea/?p=183

Videos

Video demonstrating different conductive heater materials with thermochromic paints

A perfect circle

Controlling different shapes

Using an iron as heat source

Heating with strands of steel thread (slow change)

Links

Ingredients >> http://web.media.mit.edu/~plusea/?p=734
HOW TO GET WHAT YOU WANT >> http://www.kobakant.at/DIY/?p=3183

Microcontrollers 101

admin — Wed, 16 Feb 2011 01:34:21 +0000

Through-hole (left) and surface mount (right) packages of ATtiny85 microcontroller.

Screen Printing 101

admin — Wed, 16 Feb 2011 01:02:02 +0000

Lino printing tutorial >> http://www.sunberst.com/lino_tutorial.html

Screen-Printed Traces

admin — Wed, 16 Feb 2011 00:53:25 +0000

Gilding 101

admin — Tue, 15 Feb 2011 23:42:19 +0000

Basics:

http://www.gildedplanet.com/howtogoldleaf.asp

http://www.artsparx.com/gildinghome.asp

http://www.dickblick.com/categories/goldleaf/#watchrelatedvideos

Use chopsticks to handle sheets of gold leaf as seen in these videos that shows gold leaf being packaged:

Keum-boo is an ancient Korean gilding technique used to apply thin sheets of gold to silver, to make silver-gilt. Traditionally, this technique is accomplished by first depleting the surface of sterling silver to bring up a thin layer of fine silver. Then 24 carat gold foil is applied with heat and pressure – mechanical gilding – to produce a permanent diffusion bond.

Apply size (glue) with a sponge:

Simple leaf includes paper backing that simplifies the application process and helps cut down on breackage.

Use masking tape to remove excess gold leaf and create a “demneted” effect:

Gilding Ingredients

admin — Tue, 15 Feb 2011 23:41:49 +0000

gilding describes a technique in which metal leaf or a powder is adhered to a surface such as wood.
>> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gilding

size

Size refers to the adhesive used to adhere metal leaf to the surface being gilded.

Metal Leaf

TCP Global sells ribbon leaf and simple leaf, both come with a wax backing that holds the leaf to the backing sheet and only applies it where there is adhesive. Making it easier and saving material.
>> http://www.tcpglobal.com/kustomshop/ksgold.aspx

Simple leaf by Mona-Lisa comes with wax backing that makes application MUCH less messy.

Fake gold leaf ribbon

Sculpting Materials

admin — Tue, 15 Feb 2011 23:40:55 +0000

Shapelock/Polymorph/friendly plastic/thermoplast

>> http://shapelock.com/
>> http://www.instructables.com/id/DIY-Material-Guide%3A-Polymorph-Plastic–a-thermal-/
>> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sfcBWnOqr6s

Sugru

>> http://sugru.com/us
Make your own Sugru >> http://www.instructables.com/id/How-To-Make-Your-Own-Sugru-Substitute/

Fimo/polymer clays…

Oven bake, air dry

Ceramic clays

Conductive Tapes

admin — Tue, 15 Feb 2011 23:38:53 +0000

conductive fabric Tape (silver)

Conductive fabric is nice to work with, you can achieve curves and rounded shapes, simply by shaping the tape as you adhere it to your base material. It is possible to solder to the fabric tape using flux, but it remains a delicate connection.
Ni/Cu/Co FABRIC TAPE >> http://www.lessemf.com/fabric.html

Lasercut fabric tape coils:

Copper Tape

Comes in rolls of tape as well as whole sheets. The great thing about copper tape is you can solder to it for extremely reliable connections! Check whether adhesive is also conductive and even if it is, it’s not always a reliable connection, solder overlapping pieces of tape together insure a durable connections.

digikey >> http://search.digikey.com/scripts/DkSearch/dksus.dll?Detail&name=3M1181A-ND
amazon >> http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=conductive+tape&x=0&y=0#/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=copper+tape&rh=i%3Aaps%2Ck%3Acopper+tape

Circuit and speaker coil made from length of copper tape:

Technique for turning corners without cutting tape:

Circuit and speaker coil vinylcut from full sheet of conductive copper.

Use masking tape to transfer traces from copper sheet to where you want them.

Wide rolls or sheets of adhesive copper tape are great for using in the vinylcutter to quickly make small or large, flat, flexible, solderable and reliable circuits.

>> http://search.digikey.com/scripts/dksearch/dksus.dll?pname&WT.z_cid=ref_octopart_dkc_buynow&site=us&lang=en&name=3M1126D-ND

Alu Tape

You can buy alu tape sometimes in local hardware stores. But you can also make your own by fusing fusible interfacing (a fabric heat glue) to one side of aluminum foil.

gold leaf Tape

You can even buy gold leaf in tape format, though it does not come with adhesive backing!

Links

Nice summary of 3M conductive tapes >> http://www.epd.com.tr/emc.html

Conductive Threads

admin — Tue, 15 Feb 2011 23:35:03 +0000

For more info, please see the following post >> http://www.kobakant.at/DIY/?p=379

Stainless steel thread

Good for carrying high current and heating applications.

Silverized threads

Wire threads

Conductive yarn

Paper Microphone

admin — Tue, 15 Feb 2011 18:36:16 +0000

How to make a microphone from a speaker Instructable >> http://www.instructables.com/id/SPKR-MiK–How-to-make-a-microphone-from-a-speaker/

Tunable Hinge

admin — Tue, 15 Feb 2011 07:43:33 +0000

Inspired by Nadia Cheng’s Tunable Stiffness Structures this one-time melting hinge actuator works with a polymorph plastic also known as friendly plastic or Shapelock that is molded around a strand of stainless steel conductive thread that will heat up considerably when shorted across a 5V power supply. The heat causes the polymorph to soften so that it can be bent like a hinge. When the thread and polymorph cool back down, the hinge is stuck in whatever new state it is left in.

Video

Inspiration

Nadia Cheng’s work on Tunable Stiffness Structures >> http://newtextiles.media.mit.edu/2010/pmwiki.php?n=Main.TunableStiffnessStructures

Related Work

Capillary Origami. Jean-Babtiste Labrune together with Etienne Cliquet inspired by José Bico have been playing with laser cut paper structures for water actuated origami.

Pencil Resistors

admin — Tue, 15 Feb 2011 03:07:33 +0000

With a graphite pencil you can draw resistors.

Bases and Mediums

admin — Tue, 15 Feb 2011 02:57:08 +0000

Magnets

admin — Tue, 15 Feb 2011 02:56:18 +0000

For making paper or fabric speakers neodymium magnets work best.
k&j magnets (ask for free samples) >> http://www.kjmagnetics.com/

Magnetic Paint

admin — Tue, 15 Feb 2011 02:55:55 +0000

Shape Memory Alloys

admin — Tue, 15 Feb 2011 02:55:31 +0000

More info >> http://www.kobakant.at/DIY/?p=2884
Jie Qi’s website The Fine Art of Electronics is a great resource for everything paper and SMA related >> http://web.media.mit.edu/~jieqi/

Conductive Fabrics

admin — Tue, 15 Feb 2011 02:54:21 +0000

There are a wide range of conductive fabrics available through online ships such as LessEMF, Plug and Wear and even Sparkfun.

This website makes a bit of an effort to explore conductive materials other than fabrics, so for all the detailed e-textile information please visit the HOW TO GET WHAT YOU WANT website.

Conductive Fabrics >> http://www.kobakant.at/DIY/?p=376

Resistors 101

admin — Sat, 12 Feb 2011 21:15:16 +0000

Capacitors 101

admin — Sat, 12 Feb 2011 21:09:26 +0000

Capacitor explanation >> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=riZkGSXZ7JE&feature=related
Explaining how capacitors are made >> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t9Qwx75eg8w&NR=1
Variable capacitor >> http://www.crystalradio.net/beginners3/cap.shtml
Dielectric ink >> http://www.conductivecompounds.com/BT_101_Dielectric_Ink.html

Transistors 101

admin — Sat, 12 Feb 2011 21:05:26 +0000

First transistor

Photo of a replica of the first transistor exhibited at the MIT museum

DIY triode >> http://paillard.claude.free.fr/
Cat’s-whisker detector >> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cat%27s-whisker_detector
Jeri Ellsworth explaining how to make a transistor >> http://vimeo.com/2423528

Paper Pushbutton

admin — Thu, 10 Feb 2011 20:25:03 +0000

Firing Setup

admin — Sun, 06 Feb 2011 21:36:13 +0000

Firing Torch

Firing Surface

Precious Metal Clay (PMC)

admin — Sun, 06 Feb 2011 21:31:35 +0000

precious metal clay (PMC) is clay made from fine metal particles suspended in a binder. When fired, the binder burns off and the metal particles sinter to form a solid metal.

Instructional Resources

PMCguild.com has great resources on getting started with Precious Metal Clay. I especially like their one page instructions on how to torch fire PMC3: >> http://www.pmcguild.com/download/Tech_Data/Teach_Yourself_Torchfiring.pdf
as well as their instructional videos:
>> http://www.pmcguild.com/gettingstarted/video_clips.html
List of instructional PDFs >> http://www.metalclayacademy.com/pdfs/

Make your own PMC!

Instructable >> http://www.instructables.com/id/DIY-Copper-Clay-Trilobites/
>> http://www.metalclayacademy.com/metal-clay-resources/make-your-own-metal-clay.html
>> http://redwriteblue.com/metalclay/claymaking.html
Handmade metal clay paste >> http://www.squidoo.com/making-pmc-silver-metal-clay-oil-paste

Metal powder supplies for making your own PMC

>> http://www.silvernitrate.org/
>> http://www.tapplastics.com/shop/product.php?pid=76&

Manufacturers and Distributors

They also link to a whole range of distributors who sell PMC products.

Hadar’s online store sells metal clay in powder form that is already mixed with binder so all you have to do is add water >> http://store.artinsilver.com/purchasepmc.html

>> http://www.pmcguild.com/pmc.html

Combining PMC with a non-conductive clay???

Combining Metal Clay and a combustible material that disappears after firing in a kiln >> http://www.hollygage.com/pages/negative-space-caning.html

Combining different metal clays >> http://www.artinsilver.com/blog/

Precious Metal Clay with Carl Stanley >> http://www.faceters.com/askjeff/precious_metal_clay03.shtml

Firing times

Taken from: http://www.pmcguild.com/gettingstarted/faq_firing.html

Original PMC
2 hours to reach full strength

PMC+
1650° F for at least 10 minutes OR
1560° F for at least 20 minutes OR
1470° F for at least 30 minutes

PMC3
1650° F for 3 minutes OR
1290° F for at least 10 minutes OR
1200° F for at least 210 minutes OR
1110° F for at least 45 minutes

PMCs good for torch firing

Low fire silver art clay >> http://www.cooltools.us/Art-Clay-ACS-650-Clay-Low-Fire-20g-p/acs-120.htm
Copper Art Clay – torch fireable in 30 minutes: http://www.cooltools.us/ACS-Copper-s/683.htm

Carving Tool

admin — Sun, 06 Feb 2011 16:00:03 +0000

You’ll find a variety of carving knives and blades at your local craft shop.

Conductive Paints

admin — Sun, 06 Feb 2011 15:57:51 +0000

There are a whole variety of conductive paints available, mostly over the internet. Metallic markers and paints that you can get from craft stores are typically NOT conductive. Conductive paints are not cheap, but they are affordable and can be used in many of the processes described in the recipes on this website.

Copper paint from LessMF:

Make our own conductive paints, glues

>> http://smackaay.com/2009/01/13/making-a-conductive-adhesive/
>> http://www.instructables.com/id/Conductive-Glue-And-Conductive-Thread-Make-an-LED/step1/Make-Conductive-Glue-Conductive-Paint-and-Conduc/
>> http://www.talkbass.com/forum/f38/diy-conductive-paint-cavity-shielding-589012/
>> http://www.ehow.com/how_5031497_make-conductive-ink.html

Silver Paints

Tend to be very highly conductive. I prefer water based because they tend to dry/cure at room temperature and are easy to mix with acrylic bases and thin with water. Solvent based versions often have to be dry/cured at high temperatures for long periods of time and are messy to work with.

Conductive Pens

Silver paint is contained in conductive pens that are sold for fixing electrical connections on circuits. I have had little luck getting these pens to work well and dispense their conductive ink nice and smoothly. But you can easily cut them open and extract the silver paint to be used in other ways.
Google “conductive pen” and you should find lots of results.

Extracting paint from a conductive pen:

Conductive Compounds

WB-101 water based silver paint >> http://www.conductivecompounds.com/WB_101_Water_Based_Silver_Conductive_Ink.html

Midas

Midas silver paint (solvent based) >> http://www.riogrande.com/MemberArea/ProductPage.aspx?assetname=335068&page=GRID&category|category_root|118=Finishing+Equipment+and+Supplies&category|cat_118|282=Electroforming&t=lp0

SPI

>> http://www.2spi.com/catalog/spec_prep/cond_paints.php

M.E. Taylor Engineering

SE-101 silver conductive paint >> http://www.semicro.org/silverpaint-18silver15g.aspx

Copper Paints

LessEMF

Cu-Pro Cote is a water based copper paint >> http://lessemf.com/paint.html

Carbon/Graphite Paint

Tend to have high resistance, but cheap and easy to work with.

Sherri Haab

>> http://www.sherrihaab-shop.com/etching-supplies/graphite-conductive-paint.html

LessEMF

Y-Shield is a water based carbon paint >> http://lessemf.com/paint.html

Conductive Compounds

Antistat 268 is a water based carbon paint >> http://www.conductivecompounds.com/ANTISTAT268_Conductive_Coatings.html

Conductive Epoxy

>> http://www.alliedelec.com/Search/ProductDetail.aspx?SKU=6613536

Conductive Grease, Lubricant

>> http://www.alliedelec.com/search/productdetail.aspx?SKU=9740011

Solar

admin — Sun, 06 Feb 2011 14:50:28 +0000

Programming 101

admin — Sun, 06 Feb 2011 14:37:49 +0000

David Mellis has posted some great tutorials on how to turn an Arduino board into an ISP programmer and use it to program bare microcontrollers such as the ATtiny85.

Getting started with AVR programming >> http://hlt.media.mit.edu/wiki/pmwiki.php?n=Main.AVRProgramming

Advanced AVR programming >> http://hlt.media.mit.edu/wiki/pmwiki.php?n=Main.AVRProgrammingAdvanced

From Arduino to a Microcontroller on a Breadboard >> http://arduino.cc/en/Tutorial/ArduinoToBreadboard

Using FabISP and Arduino IDE for programming ATtiny45 and 85s – NOTES TO SELF!

Edit the boards.txt file in the Arduino application folder!
>> http://fab.cba.mit.edu/content/projects/fabkit/
>> http://fab.cba.mit.edu/classes/MIT/863.09/people/mellis/fabisp/index.html
>> http://fab.cba.mit.edu/content/projects/fabisp/
>> http://fab.cba.mit.edu/content/tools/microcontrollers/compiling.html
>> http://hlt.media.mit.edu/wiki/pmwiki.php?n=Main.ArduinoATtiny4585
forum answer >> http://arduino.cc/forum/index.php/topic,70841.0.html

Improving sound code for ATtiny45 and 85

To make your sound quality better, change register for clock speed of tiny85 by typing the following into your terminal.

If you are using the MKII programmer:
avrdude -p t85 -c avrispmkii -P usb -U lfuse:w:0xe2:m

If you are using Dave’s fab isp progammer:
avrdude -p t85 -c usbtiny -U lfuse:w:0xe2:m

Also see this fuse calculator website to see where we got the settings from:
>> http://www.engbedded.com/fusecalc/

After setting the fuses, upload the following code to your microcontroller:

// code for sound and led output on an ATtiny85
// using leah buechley’s sound code, taken from: http://web.media.mit.edu/~leah/LilyPad/07_sound_code.html

int sensorPin = 2;
int speakerPin = 3;
int LED0 = 0;
int LED1 = 1;
int LED2 = 2;

int reading;
int count = 0;
int threshold = 850;

int LEDstate = 0;
int SENSORstate = 0;
int previousSENSORstate = 0;
int SENSORgo = 0;

void setup()
{
pinMode(sensorPin, INPUT);
digitalWrite(4, HIGH);//sensorPin
pinMode(speakerPin, OUTPUT);
pinMode(LED0, OUTPUT);
pinMode(LED1, OUTPUT);
pinMode(LED2, OUTPUT);
digitalWrite(LED0, HIGH);
digitalWrite(LED1, HIGH);
digitalWrite(LED2, HIGH);
}

void loop() {
reading = analogRead(sensorPin);
SENSORstate = reading/(threshold/8);

if(SENSORstate == previousSENSORstate) SENSORgo = 0;
else SENSORgo = 1;

if(SENSORstate == 0 && SENSORgo == 1) scale(‘C’);
if(SENSORstate == 1 && SENSORgo == 1) scale(‘D’);
if(SENSORstate == 2 && SENSORgo == 1) scale(‘E’);
if(SENSORstate == 3 && SENSORgo == 1) scale(‘F’);
if(SENSORstate == 4 && SENSORgo == 1) scale(‘G’);
if(SENSORstate == 5 && SENSORgo == 1) scale(‘A’);
if(SENSORstate == 6 && SENSORgo == 1) scale(‘B’);
if(SENSORstate == 7 && SENSORgo == 1) scale(‘H’);

previousSENSORstate = SENSORstate;

if(reading < threshold && LEDstate == 0){
count++;
LEDstate=1;
}
if(count == 1 && LEDstate == 1) {
digitalWrite(LED0, HIGH);
digitalWrite(LED1, LOW);
digitalWrite(LED2, LOW);
}
if(count == 2 && LEDstate == 1) {
digitalWrite(LED0, LOW);
digitalWrite(LED1, HIGH);
digitalWrite(LED2, LOW);
}
if(count == 3 && LEDstate == 1) {
digitalWrite(LED0, LOW);
digitalWrite(LED1, LOW);
digitalWrite(LED2, HIGH);
}
if(count == 4 && LEDstate == 1) {
digitalWrite(LED0, HIGH);
digitalWrite(LED1, HIGH);
digitalWrite(LED2, HIGH);
}
if(count > 4) count = 1;
if(reading > threshold) LEDstate = 0;
}

void scale (char note)
{
if(note == ‘C’)
beep(speakerPin,2093,500); //C: play the note C (C7 from the chart linked to above) for 500ms
if(note == ‘D’)
beep(speakerPin,2349,500); //D
if(note == ‘E’)
beep(speakerPin,2637,500); //E
if(note == ‘F’)
beep(speakerPin,2793,500); //F
if(note == ‘G’)
beep(speakerPin,3136,500); //G
if(note == ‘A’)
beep(speakerPin,3520,500); //A
if(note == ‘B’)
beep(speakerPin,3951,500); //B
if(note == ‘H’)
beep(speakerPin,4186,500); //C
}

void beep (unsigned char speakerPin, int frequencyInHertz, long timeInMilliseconds) // the sound producing function
{
int x;
long delayAmount = (long)(1000000/frequencyInHertz);
long loopTime = (long)((timeInMilliseconds*1000)/(delayAmount*2));
for (x=0;x {
digitalWrite(speakerPin,HIGH);
delayMicroseconds(delayAmount);
digitalWrite(speakerPin,LOW);
delayMicroseconds(delayAmount);
//break;
}
SENSORgo = 0;
}

Visualizing sensor data

In order to visualize certain sensor data you might want to visually graph serial data. At the very bottom of this interview with Tom Igoe you’ll find Arduino and Processing code necessairy for such a graph:
>> http://wiki.processing.org/w/Tom_Igoe_Interview

The following link also contains both Arduino and Processing (as well as Max/MSP) code for a graph:
>> http://www.arduino.cc/en/Tutorial/Graph

Painted Pot

admin — Sun, 06 Feb 2011 14:24:26 +0000

Pot is the abbreviation for potentiometer. Traditionally potentiometers come in knob or slider forms, such as the volume knob on your stereo or the slider for dimming lights.

A potentiometer works by having a conductive wiper slide along a resistive track. sensor measurements are taken from two places, the conductive wiper and one end of the resistive track. Depending on how far along the resistive track the slider makes contact, the resistance value you measure across the two measurement points will be different. The further away from the measuring point on the resistive track, the high the resistance.

painting potentiometers is pretty straight forward, so long as you have a nice resistive paint to use. Most carbon paints will work well, but also more conductive paints such as copper or even silver will work if you are covering larger distances (meters) with your resistive track.

Instead of measuring directly from the conductive wiper you can also create a conductive track running parallel to your resistive track. In this case your conductive wiper acts a bridge between the two. there the resistance on the conductive track should be negligible.

Video

The following video shows two resistive tracks painted with two layers of AntiStat carbon paint. The first track demonstrated in the video is 1.5cm wide, the second is 5mm wide. The conductive track is made of a silverized conductive fabric tape. At first i use a copper penny as a conductive wiper, then a piece of leather with a small stripe of conductive tape adhered to one side. The tape works much better than the penny.

Thesis Workshop 2

admin — Wed, 22 Dec 2010 23:19:31 +0000

Handcrafted Personal Electronic Artifacts

Saturday 2nd April 2011, 11-6pm

This workshop is specifically for individuals who already have experience with a craft. There is no restriction as to what craft participants should have experience with. While previous experience with a craft is required, no previous electronics experience is necessary.

- Location: High-Low Tech research group, MIT Media Lab, Cambridge/MA
- craft experience required (any craft), no experience with electronics necessary
- no fee, materials and tools provided
- max. 10 participants, email me to reserve a spot: plusea@mit.edu

Description

Have you ever wondered what kinds of electronics we would be using if we had crafted them ourselves? What kind of interface would you have built to interact with your music? What would your alarm clock look like? How would your doorbell feel? What shapes, sizes, colors, textures and functionality would a craft approach to building electronics offer?

The Kit-of-No-Parts workshop introduces participants to a craft approach to building electronics. Imagine you could sculpt a switch, carve a circuit or plate your own speakers. This workshop will cover a range of traditional and contemporary craft techniques including gilding, carving, casting, sculpting and plating, and demonstrate how a variety of craft materials can be formed into functioning electronic artifacts.

Craft as an expressive building processes requires an understanding of the materials and tools involved as well as skill in working them into the desired results. The results of this process are unique, diverse and personalized artifacts that merge materiality with functionality to allow for new understanding, aesthetics and interactions.

Participant creations

Downloads

Workshop Poster PDF >> http://web.media.mit.edu/~plusea/downloads/print/workshop-posters.pdf
Powerpoint Presentation >> http://web.media.mit.edu/~plusea/downloads/present/KoNP-Workshop2-Present.pptx.zip
Circuit Booklet PDF >> http://web.media.mit.edu/~plusea/downloads/print/workshop-circuit-booklet.pdf

Links

Photos on Flickr >> http://www.flickr.com/photos/plusea/sets/72157626301099789/

Schedule

Participants will be introduced to a range of materials, tools and techniques that can be used to craft electronics. After a short presentation and introductory activity, participants will proceed to build a small electronic artifact of their own.

Morning 11-1pm
- Introductions
- Presentation
- Brainstorm ideas for your personal electronic artifact
- Sketch a design
– Begin to build!

Lunch 1-2pm

Afternoon 2-6pm
- Build

5:30pm Show and tell

Poster

Code

This is the Arduino code that is on the ATtiny85 microcontroller:

//
// hannah perner-wilson, march 2011
// www.kit-of-no-parts.at
//
// code for sound and thermochromic output on an ATtiny85
// using leah buechley’s sound code, taken from: http://web.media.mit.edu/~leah/LilyPad/07_mound_code.html
// and with much help and advice from david mellis
// !!! the clock speed fuse has been changed to be 8 times as fast as normal !!!
//

int frequencyInHertz[] = {
2093, 2349, 2637, 2793, 3136, 3520, 3951, 4186}; // array for note frequencies
long delayAmount;
long soundTimeSample;
long lastSample;
int BUTTONstate = 0;
int SENSORstate = 0;
int previousSENSORstate = 0;
int SENSORgo = 0;
int sensorPin = 2;
int speakerPin = 3;
int LED0 = 0;
int LED1 = 1;
int LED2 = 2;
int reading;
int count = 0;
int threshold = 850;

void setup()
{
pinMode(sensorPin, INPUT);
digitalWrite(4, HIGH); // set internal pull-up resistor for sensorPin
pinMode(speakerPin, OUTPUT);
pinMode(LED0, OUTPUT);
pinMode(LED1, OUTPUT);
pinMode(LED2, OUTPUT);
digitalWrite(LED0, LOW);
digitalWrite(LED1, LOW);
digitalWrite(LED2, LOW);
}

void loop() {

if(millis() – lastSample > 50){ // only do everything (except modulate note frequency) every 20ms. this is to improve sound qualit
lastSample= millis();
reading = analogRead(sensorPin);

// THERMOCHROMIC
if(reading < threshold && BUTTONstate == 0){
count++;
BUTTONstate=1;
}
if(count == 1 && BUTTONstate == 1) {
digitalWrite(LED0, HIGH);
digitalWrite(LED1, LOW);
digitalWrite(LED2, LOW);
}
if(count == 2 && BUTTONstate == 1) {
digitalWrite(LED0, LOW);
digitalWrite(LED1, HIGH);
digitalWrite(LED2, LOW);
}
if(count == 3 && BUTTONstate == 1) {
digitalWrite(LED0, LOW);
digitalWrite(LED1, LOW);
digitalWrite(LED2, HIGH);
}
if(count == 4 && BUTTONstate == 1) {
digitalWrite(LED0, LOW);
digitalWrite(LED1, LOW);
digitalWrite(LED2, LOW);
}
if(count > 4) count = 1;
if(reading > threshold) BUTTONstate = 0;

// SOUND
SENSORstate = reading/(threshold/8);
if(SENSORstate != previousSENSORstate && SENSORstate < 8 && SENSORgo == 0){
SENSORgo = 1;
delayAmount = (long)(1000000/frequencyInHertz[SENSORstate]);
soundTimeSample = millis();
}
if(millis()-soundTimeSample > 500){
SENSORgo = 0;
}
previousSENSORstate = SENSORstate;
}

if(SENSORgo){ // play sound
digitalWrite(speakerPin,HIGH);
delayMicroseconds(delayAmount);
digitalWrite(speakerPin,LOW);
delayMicroseconds(delayAmount);
}
}

Gilded Traces

admin — Wed, 22 Dec 2010 20:41:27 +0000

gilding is the practice of covering or coating a surface in gold leaf. It is mostly done for decorative purposes in the framing, signage as well as automotive industry. This recipe describes how a range of available metal leafs (very thin sheets of metal) can be applied to surfaces – both flat and curved – to create the conductive traces of a circuit.

In order to apply metal leaf you first need to apply an adhesive. Traditionally an adhesive called “size” is applied and let dry until it is tacky (not wet) before the metal leaf is then applied to it and the remains brushed away. Size can be painted on or sprayed on. Instead of size you can also use double sided sticky tape (studio tack) or spray-on adhesive.

Size

Double sided stickytape

Studio tack, cut all the way one layer and glue, leave second layer as backing to keep traces in place.
lasercutter settings: 100 speed, 12 power

Related work

Some of Greg Saul’s paper robots have gold leaf gilded circuits inside:
>> http://www.gregsaul.co.uk/lookAt/paperRobots/#14

Etched Traces

admin — Thu, 11 Nov 2010 21:18:26 +0000

Use Vaseline as a resist and a bath of salt and vinegar to etch away the copper from copper fabric to make circuits and sensors.

Inspired by instructions from Rehmi Post and Kit Waal.
Also see Sew-through Soft Circuits post by Meredith Scheff on The Steampunk Workshop:
>> http://steampunkworkshop.com/sew-through-soft-circuits

Step-by-step

Tested mix:
*100ml vinegar
*7ml salt

Sherri Haab

Sculpted & Plated Traces

admin — Thu, 11 Nov 2010 21:14:49 +0000

For information on electroplating please see the electroplating 101 post.

Introduction

Electroplating is a technique for coating a conductive object in a thin layer of metal. It uses electrodepositing to transfer metal ions in a solution from one electrode to another, depositing a thin layer of metal on the conductive material attached to the negative electrode of your direct power supply. This technique is used in jewelry making to plate natural objects such as leaves, flowers and seashells. Once you get the hang of it, electroplating is a very straightforward and relatively simple process. It took me some time to get a feeling for the process and all the materials but now I really like it because it allows me to sculpt three-dimensional circuits as well as include found objects such as seashells in my circuit design.

This recipe describes the process of sculpting acrylic clay, firing it and then electroplating it with copper metal to form fully functioning circuit connections, create a magnetic battery holder, shape a skin resistive switch and embed some electronic components; in my case an Atmega ATtiny85 microcontroller and some LED lights.

Step-by-step

Materials and Tools

The materials and tools used in this process can be sourced from a combination of local craft, hardware and online shops. TO begin electroplating and sculpting circuits you will need the following materials and tools.

- A rectifier: A direct power supply that allows you to control the amount of voltage and current you supply. Rectifiers cost from 100$ upwards. Some models are sold specifically for plating and include Sherri Haab’s E3 kit.
- Copper Sulfate: Commonly sold as a root killer and can be purchased from local hardware stores. It can also be purchased through a variety of online electroplating supply stores such as Rio Grande.
- Replenishing brightener: Midas also sells a replenishing brightener solution can be added to the plating bath to maintain the bath’s ability to produce a bright finish.
- Some copper metal: The positive lead from your DC power supply connects to a piece of copper metal that is submerged in the plating bath, this can be a solid piece of sheet copper or a rod that can be bent in a spiral to fit the shape of your plating container.
- A container: Depending on the shape and size of the objects you plan to plate you’ll want to select a container for plating in. This container should be of a material that will not contaminate the solution, nor be affected by the solution’s corrosive properties. Transparent glass containers work well since they also allow you to better see the object you are plating.
- Alligator clips: You will need alligator clips or similar to connect from the leads of your power supply to the copper rod as well as to the object you are plating.
- Conductive paint: some other recipes I read said that they were plating objects coated in carbon paint but I could not get it to work well for me. Silver paint is not as cheap as carbon, but the water-based silver paint WB-101 from Conductive Compounds worked best for me.
- Some Fimo: or another kind of polymer clay.
- An oven: a toaster oven will work too.
- Some components: to include in your circuit.

Sculpting your circuit

For sculpting you circuitry you can choose from a variety of polymer clays and their firing or hardening methods. The following steps describe in detail the process of molding Fimo, an acrylic clay that can be fired at a low temperature in an oven or toaster oven for half an hour. Benefits of the low firing temperature are that you can fire your sculpted circuit containing certain electronics components without destroying the electronics, also it cools quickly and you can continue to work with it as soon as it has cooled down. After firing, the clay is firm, yet flexible and can withstand the etching properties of the plating bath. Other, more porous clays need to be sealed before plating them if their substance is affected either by liquid or the acid of the plating bath. For shaping your circuitry you might also like to keep a selection of common sculpting tools at hand, such ribs, needles, knives and rolling pins as well as a surface for working on.
To begin sculpting the Fimo start by rolling and kneading your clay in your hands, warming it up to make it more workable. As you shape the material you can incorporate various electronics as you go. You can do this by sculpting clay around them or by pressing them into the clay. As you work the clay into it’s final form you need to plan where the connections between your electronics will run so that they match the connections in your circuit diagram.

Firing

When your Fimo sculpture is finished it can be fired in your oven or even in a toaster oven. Check the packaging for precise instructions on what temperature and for how long you should fire your piece. The Fimo that I used could be fired at 110°C for 30 minutes, at this temperature you can fire most electronics with the clay and not damage them. Fimo softens as it heats up in the firing process and this might affect the structure of your piece. Depending on what you have sculpted you might need to create some support structures out of toothpicks or similar materials that can withstand the heat of the firing process. Right after firing the Fimo is hot and still soft, leave it to cool before proceeding.

Use a knife to separate any parts that might have connected.

Applying conductive paint

The copper sulfate plating bath is also an etchant. If the object you want to plate is of a material that might be affected by the etching properties then you first want to seal it with a layer of varnish. For this you can use a whole range of products, for smaller objects one of the most convenient options is to use nail varnish, since it also dries relatively quickly.

In order for the copper to selectively plate to areas that you would like it to, you first need to make the surface of your object electrically conductive in these areas. While there are a variety of different conductive paints that can be applied to various surfaces, I had the most success using a water based silver paint WB-101 from Conductive Compounds. You can thin the paint with water and with a paintbrush apply a single layer to the areas of the object you wish to plate. Paint selectively, but keep in mind that when you go on to plate these areas, if they are not interconnected then you need to connect separately to each of them.

There are some things you can do to get around having to make multiple connections or to plate each separate conductive area one at a time. One solution is to have all your conductors meet in an area that you can later cut away or remove. A trick for this is to use a piece of copper tape that you can stick to the surface of the object and have the conductive paint connect to it by painting on top of it. After the plating is done you can score the copper metal buildup around the tape and then peel it off.

Another variation of this approach is to superglue a wire to the surface of the object you are plating and to then paint on top of it with the conductive paint. Be careful not to completely coat the wire in superglue, otherwise you create an isolating layer and the wire and the pint will not be electrically connected.

Another solution is to use multiple alligator clips to interconnect all your separate conductors to the cathode of your rectifier. Beware that alligator clips and any other metal items that get in contact with the plating solution will corrode over time unless you rinse and dry them after use.

The following images show a seashell coated in carbon paint. The plating attempts were less successful than with the silver paint. While in the image on the left the homemade plating bath did not achieve a nice layer of copper, it did apparently coat almost the entire shell. In the image on the right the shell only plated close to there the alligators clips were attached, even after being left in the plating bath for longer periods of time. Most likely the copper paint that I was using had too high a resistance.

Plating bath

You want your plating bath to be in a container suitable to the size of the object you are plating as well as the piece of copper metal that will be your anode in the plating process. If you are using a rod then you can bend it in the shape of your container so that it surrounds the object you are plating as shown here.

When I first started electroplating I was set on making my own plating bath. I had read on various online tutorials that it is possible to create the plating solution yourself. When etching copper fabric in slat and vinegar the solution turns green and crystallizes as it is left to dry. I had been saving these crystals because they are poisonous and should not be poured down the drain. Reading up on copper sulfate it sounded like these crystals were a form of copper sulfate that I could dilute in water to make a plating bath. The following images show my attempt at diluting the crystals and plating a coin. This was not successful, though I am not sure of the exact reasons, I suspect is might have to do with the purity of the solution.

The second homemade solution I tried making was to dissolve citric acid in distilled water. After noticing that it did not work, I ran low voltage across two copper electrodes for a while until the solution turned turquoise. I proceeded to plate in this turquoise bath and my attempts were finally somewhat successful.

The problem was that the copper buildup was very rough and looked like it was rusting as it was plating as seen in the following pictures. Whatever copper buildup I achieved would wash away under running water.

After all these unsuccessful attempts at creating my own plating solution I finally ordered some professional Midas copper sulfate jewelry plating solution from Rio Grande as well as a bottle of replenishing brightener and these worked wonderfully. The following procedures were all done with this commercial plating solution.

Power settings and connections

Set your rectifier to supply a very low voltage, less than 1 Volt and do not limit the current. Connect the copper metal (Anode) to the positive pole of your rectifier. And the object you are plating (Cathode) to the negative pole of your power supply. If you look up the copper plating process online you will find lots of illustrations that indicate what to connect to what as well as what exactly is happening with the copper electrodes in the plating bath.

Submerge the object completely in the plating bath and make sure the areas coated in silver paint do not touch the copper anode. When the plating process begins it will draw current and if your rectifier has a display then you can watch the amount of current it draws increase. Check the object within the first minute to insure it is plating, if all is going well then you should see a tint of copper forming on top of the silver paint.

Continue to plate the object until you’re satisfied with the copper layer. This might take anywhere from a few minutes to much longer, depending on the size and conductive surface area of your object. If the copper does not look shiny you can add a few drops of the brightener solution to the bath.
When the plating is complete, remove the object and rinse thoroughly with water to remove all of the copper sulfate solution. Copper sulfate is poisonous so make sure not to get it in your mouth or in contact with any utensils that you use for food!

Rinse!

Re-assembling the circuit

You can begin to reassemble the plated pieces of your circuit. The great thing about plating is that you build up a layer of copper metal that you can then solder to, creating extremely robust connections.

I decided to add a magnet so plated it again after inserting magnet.

Close-up images taken with a USB microscope of the soldered connections to the microcontroller as well as the plated connection to an LED.

The final result

The following images show the final result as well as close up images taken with a DinoLite USB microscope. While the connections to the microcontroller were soldered, the connections to the LED lights were painted and then plated. You can see how to the right side of the LED the plated copper seamlessly covers the Fimo as well as the right led of the LED.

Video

Notes

Besides sculpting and plating acrylic clay you can also plate a variety of other objects. Including seashells, and even flexible and porous materials such as paper and fabric. When plating on slick surfaces your copper traces will easily come off the surface. Though I have not done this (yet), you could use this feature to cast circuit elements off of existing structures. A process in which the electroplated metal is self-supporting and can be removed for the base structure is called electroforming.

Links

In learning how to successfully plate copper circuits I found the following instructions and documentation most helpful.
Sherri Haab’s website contains extensive and well-prepared PDFs on how to plate natural materials for jewelry. She also sells kits and supplies that include her own electroplating regulated direct power supply.
E3 Etching Kit >> http://www.sherrihaab-shop.com/craft-supplies/metal-etching/e3-etch.html

The following two publications by Oppi Untract contain great information about all the materials and tools involved in electroplating as well as on the process and variations of it such as electroforming. “Metal Techniques for Craftsmen” and “Jewelry: Concepts and Technology”. You can view parts of the books online through Google books.
>> http://www.amazon.com/Jewelry-Concepts-Technology-Oppi-Untracht/dp/0385041853#reader_0385041853f

A great Instructable by Maggie Js:
Instructable >> http://www.instructables.com/id/Electroforming-an-Iris-Seed-Pod/

I was really encouraged to try electroplating after seeing and reading Cassy Muronaka’s blog post on electroplating with Sherri Haab’s E3 kit.
Cassy Muronaka’s blog post >> http://cassymuronaka.wordpress.com/2010/08/09/easy-electroforming-with-e3-etch-2/

Kit-of-No-Parts

Electrolibrary

Copper Tape Connections

Paper meets SMA

Curl:

Fold:

Crinkle:

Sculpted Solenoid

Barebones Connections

Beautiful circuits by Karl Klomp

Beautiful circuits by Peter Vogel

Knit Radio Transmitter

Pencil Drawn Sensors

3D Printed Circuit

Lasercut Conductive Paper Piano

Electroactive Polymers

Sculpting and Assembling Gears

Cardboard Gears

Links

Molded Circuitry

carving soft rubber and casting conductive epoxy

Carved mold with flexible casting materials

Making a flexible castable material

Materials and tools

Liberated Circuits

Paper Power Pouches

Vinylcut plastic pouch with copper tape conductors

Vinylcut paper pouch with copper tape conductors

Lasercut coin-cell pouch with conductive fabric tape conductors

Paper coin-cell holders

Hand-cut paper pouch with copper tape conductors

Links

Assembled Coin-cell Holder

Press-fit Battery Holders

Taped Traces

Links

Painted Pressure Sensor

Cast Pixels

Carved Pixel

Video

Pixels

Seashellphones

Press-Fit Components

Various Components

Coin-cell

9V battery

Casting Setup

Silicones

HARD

SOFT

Mold Making

Machinable Materials

Polyurethane/urethane modeling foams

Balsa-foam

Fountain Pens

Conductive Gel Sensors

Limoleum Printing 101

Sculpted Battery Holders

Tilt Sensing Bell

Precious Metal Parts

Sculpted ball socket switch

Coin-cell Holder

Painted Resistors

Demo Wall

Slide-show

Vinylcutting 101

Step-by-step

Inkjet Printed Traces

Stencilled Traces

Related work

Squeeze Bottle

Calligraphed Traces

Extracting paint from a conductive pen

Silver paint and fountain pen with different tips

Silver paint in squeeze bottle with needle point tip

Silver paint in cartridge fountain pen

Links

Traces and Connections 101

Plated Fabric Traces

Step-by-step