HOW TO GET WHAT YOU WANT

Embroidery gone Electronic

admin — Mon, 14 May 2012 08:34:54 +0000

July 28+29 2012, 10am – 5pm, MQ, Vienna/Austria
Info and registration: office@mqw.at Location: freiraum quartier21 INTERNATIONAL

Participants will experience first hand the making of Exquisite Electronics and produce their very own piece of hand-embroidered electronic Haute Couture. The workshop will cover traditional embroidery techniques, using contemporary conductive materials, such as conductive threads, fibers, fabrics and yarns, to create highly decorative circuitry with unique functionality.

Electricity Has Expensive Taste, project website >> http://www.kobakant.at/?p=222

The workshop not only introduces a range of e-textile techniques, but also draws attention to issues surrounding electronic textiles, such as e-waste, diminishing resources, the industrialization of craftsmanship and the impacts of globalization. By raising these topics we hope to start a discussion among the makers of electronic textiles in order to project a more futuristic future vision of skilled craftsmanship as it may be applied to electronics. The workshop will last 2 or more days and will be open to the general public. A maximum of 15 participants will be able to attend the workshop, and while previous experience working with either textiles or electronics is encouraged, the workshop is open to everybody eager to learn and master a new set of skills.

ATtiny Arduino Programming Tips

admin — Sat, 24 Mar 2012 08:08:18 +0000

This post contains a collection of links, notes and references related to programming the ATtiny 45 & 84 chips using the arduino language.

Getting Started…

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

Setting Registers on ATtiny45 and 85

To change the clock speed of an ATtiny type 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/

Dave Mellis’s Touch code that does capacitive sensing on the ATtiny

ATtiny touch code from Dave Mellis >> http://hlt.media.mit.edu/?p=1653

Software PWM on the ATtiny

More >> http://www.kobakant.at/DIY/?p=3393

Leah Buechley’s sound code that will run on an ATtiny (because it does not use the tone() library)

Taken from >> http://web.media.mit.edu/~leah/lilypad/07_sound.html

// 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;
}

Sewing and soldering ATtiny chips into textile circuits

More >> http://www.kobakant.at/DIY/?p=3395

Machine-Sewing Solderable Circuits

admin — Fri, 09 Mar 2012 04:24:50 +0000

Using Karl Grimm’s copper thread to sew solderable circuit traces to fabric. Karl Grimm’s copper thread is very much like wire, but much more flexible and it doesn’t quite look like wire. I haven’t had much luck using it as the bobbin thread in my sewing machine, but you can sew in place using regular thread to sew a zigzag stitch on top of it.

Lights on:

Front and back:

Videos:

Moving Fabric Petals

admin — Fri, 09 Mar 2012 04:22:06 +0000

Using nitinol wire (shape memory alloy) to make petal-shaped pieces of paper and fabric bend, fold, twitch and move.

Nitinol, thread, fabric:

Nitinol, thread, tracing paper:

Nitinol, thread, printer paper (using Jie Qi’s wing pattern):

ATtiny85 Software PWM

admin — Fri, 09 Mar 2012 03:23:07 +0000

PWM (“analog output”) on all five i/o pins of the ATtiny85 in software!

The software PWM code was written by Ernst Christensen, I found it in the following Arduino forum thread:
>> http://arduino.cc/forum/index.php/topic,75334.0.html

Example of fabric circuit using software PWM code >> http://www.kobakant.at/DIY/?p=3395

My slightly edited version of Ernst’s code:

/*Software PWM on Attiny85
Ernst Christensen 16.okt. 2011, taken from >> http://arduino.cc/forum/index.php/topic,75334.0.html
Edited by Hannah March 2012 >> http://www.kobakant.at/DIY/?p=3393
*/

int led[]={0,1,2,3,4};
int count=0;
int delayTime = 18;

void setup(){
for (int z=0;z<5;z++){
pinMode(led[z],OUTPUT);
} //for z
}

void loop(){
for (int x=1;x<254;x++){
spwm(x,led[count],delayTime);
}
for (int x=254;x>1;x–){
spwm(x,led[count],delayTime);
}
count++;
if (count>4){
count=0;
}
}

void spwm(int freq,int spin,int sp){

//on
digitalWrite(spin,HIGH);
delayMicroseconds(sp*freq);

// off
digitalWrite(spin,LOW);
delayMicroseconds(sp*(255-freq));
} //spwm

Electric Embroidery Tuesday

admin — Wed, 04 Jan 2012 01:16:09 +0000

December 13th 2011 and January 3rd 2012, 5:30-8:30pm
This workshop is not open to the public, but will be held as part of One Love Generation‘s mentoring sessions in Atlanta, GA.

The aim of this workshop is to explore embroidery as a contemporary medium, in terms of both content and material. Participants will use conductive thread to embroider and “illuminate” personally meaningful sayings, slogans, phases and imagery.

Also see Electric Embroidery Monday >> http://www.kobakant.at/DIY/?p=3208

Participant Creations

Lo Que Paso, PASO!

I will not draw 4 free

One-Eyed Cat

Anime

Arduino as Bluetooth HID

admin — Sun, 01 Jan 2012 14:04:11 +0000

Using Sparkfun’s Bluetooth Modem – BlueSMiRF HID to interface between an arduino Pro Mini and a desktop Computer as an Human Interface Device (HID). The default mode of the BlueSMiRF HID is as a keyboard (which is very easy to set up), but you can also use it in HID raw mode (see user manual) to send keyboard, mouse, joystick combos. I am still trying to figure out if there is also a standard way to SEND signals TO the HID Bluetooth modem to trigger events, such as force feedback…

Also see the Penguin Interface project >> http://www.plusea.at/?page_id=2700

Setup Instructions

Materials and Tools

About the BlueSMiRF HID

Download Roving Network’s RN-HID-UM manual >> http://dlnmh9ip6v2uc.cloudfront.net/datasheets/Wireless/Bluetooth/RN-HID-User%20Guidev0%2005.pdf
Some useful info on the Sparkfun product page’s comments section >> http://www.sparkfun.com/products/10938
Human Interface Device Profile (HID) >> https://www.bluetooth.org/Building/HowTechnologyWorks/ProfilesAndProtocols/HID.htm
HID Information >> http://www.usb.org/developers/hidpage/
Universal Serial Bus (USB) HID Usage Tables >> http://www.usb.org/developers/devclass_docs/Hut1_12v2.pdf
Arduino as a HID Keyboard code by Andrew McDaniel (did not work for me with BlueSmirf Bluetooth modem!) >> http://arduino.cc/forum/index.php?action=printpage;topic=99.0

For whatever reason the ASCII Codes-HID Report Tables are missing from Roving Network’s RN-HID-UM user manual on page 12. Through trial and error i found that the following HEX codes correspond with the following keys strokes on a Mac OSX:
right arrow = 0×07;
left arrow = 0x0B;
up arrow = 0x0E;
down arrow = 0x0C;
enter key = 0x0D;

Solder headers

Program Arduino

Arduino code:
// test code for sending keystrokes from arduino
// to computer via HID bluetooth module
void setup() {
Serial.begin(115200); // begin serial communication at 115200 baud rate
}
void loop() {
Serial.println(“hello world”); // write hello world
delay(1000); // delay one second
}

Circuit Connections

BlueSMiRF HID >> Arduino Mini:
RTS >> GRN = CTS
RX >> TX
TX >> RX
VCC >> VCC
CTS >> GND
GND >> BLK = GND

Connections on the Arduino:
BLK = black = GND
GRN = green = CTS

RS232 Interface:
TX = Output = Transmitted data
RX = Input = Received data
GND = Signal ground
CTS = Input = Clear to send
RTS = Output = Request to send
VCC = Power supply

Breadboarded Connections

Soldered Adapter Connection

Pair with Bluetooth Device

Pairing Bluetooth device on Mac >> http://www.rioleo.org/setting-up-the-arduino-pro-mini-and-bluetooth-mate-on-mac.php
Pairing Bluetooth device on Windows >> http://jondontdoit.blogspot.com/2011/11/bluetooth-mate-tutorial.html

Steps:
- power your circuit and the light on your Bluetooth modem should blink red
- open the Bluetooth preferences of your computer and opt to pair with a new Bluetooth device
- the circuit should show up as a FireFly Bluetooth device with an address similar to this: 00-06-66-43-A2-29
- opt to connect with passcode, and type “1234″, which is the generic passcode
- The light on your BlueSmirf Modem should turn a steady green
- it will try to identify the circuit as a keyboard, press a button on your real (other) keyboard and the next step will let you skip the step and manually input the type of keyboard you want the circuit to be recognized as
- now that your Bluetooth modem has been recognized as a keyboard you want to quickly open a text editor and it should automatically be printing “hello world”

“Hello World”

“hello world” with breadboarded circuit:

“hello world” with adapter circuit:

Video

Problems Disconnecting

When i disconnect the Bluetooth modem from the power, my computer does not automatically re-connect to it when i re-power it.

I have to go back into the Bluetooth preferences and opt to add a new device, then select “Okay” when asked “Your computer is already paired with that device. Do you wish to remove the pairing and setup the device again?”

HID to SPP to HID to SPP…

The Bluetooth modem can switch back and forth between an HID device and a device with a serial port connection (SPP mode). For this to happen the Arduino needs to put the Bluetooth modem into command mode ($$$) and send the following commands:

$$$ = command mode
S~,0 = enables SPP protocol
R,1 = reboot using SPP
$$$ S~,0 R,1

$$$ = command mode
S~,6 = enables HID protocol
R,1 = reboot using HID
$$$ S~,6 R,1

Technology + Textiles: E-textiles for textile and fashion design projects

Mika — Mon, 19 Dec 2011 09:36:13 +0000

Time: Feb 2nd – March 23rd, on Thursday 13-17, Friday 9-17 weekly
Location: The Swedish School of Textiles, Borås, Sweden
Lecturer: Mika Satomi

This is part of MA study at the Swedish School of Textiles.
The course amis to introduce basic skills and knowledge on e-textile practices such as electronics, programming and e-textiles specific material knowledge. The lecture/workshops are planned to be scheduled on every Thursday afternoon and Friday whole day. Please see the below syllabus to see the detail content of the course. (current plan, it may change)

The course is not open to public, but if you are already in MA study in some university, you may be able to take it as exchange program. If you are interested, please contact Hanna Landin (hanna [dot] landin [at] hb [dot] se), who is a MA study coordinator at the Swedish School of Textiles.

see also >> www.stdl.se

Syllabus

Meeting1 : February 2nd, 3rd
Lecture:
Design process: Step by step E-textile design process
Making-of: We will look into some of the projects (i.e. Intimacy, Laser Dress, Perfect Human) to learn how e-textile projects are realized.
Hands-on Workshop:
arduino 101 (blink LED, serial print, button, potentiometer, buzzer)
(small homework project: Arduino exercise)

Meeting2 : February 9th, 10th
Lecture:
We will look into example projects that has interesting fabric sensor/interaction scheme (i.e. secret keeper gloves, hug shirt, massage me)
Hands-on Workshop:
Introduction to e-textile materials
Sensing: How to make fabric sensors (button, pressure, stretch, stroke, tilt… so on)
Sensing: How to read sensor inputs into Ardino/ computers

Meeting3 : February 16th, 17th
Lecture:
We will look into example projects with light (i.e. loop.ph, see-thru-me, optic fiber weave)
Hands-on Workshop:
LED (fade, controlling multiple LED with transistors)
EL wire ( with TRIAC control from Arduino)

Meeting4 : February 23rd, 24th
Lecture:
We will look into example projects that is using textile movements (i.e. Hussein Chalayan’s 111 collection, Living Pod, Bacterial Motility, Meg’s origami move tutorial)
Hands-on Workshop:
Motor (servo motor)
SMA

Meeting5 : March 1st,2nd
Lecture:
Thermochromic print dynamic design strategy (by Linnea Nilsson)
Ambikraf: computer controlled TC design (by Mili Tharakan)
Hands-on Workshop:
TC design exercise with computer controlled heat fabric

Meeting6 : March 8th,9th
Lecture:
Design Exercise: how you can design critically, how you can conceptually develop a technology projects (by Laerke Andersson)
Hands-on Workshop:
project development discussions, prototyping

Meeting7 : March 15th,16th
Hands-on Workshop:
project development

Meeting8 : March 22nd,23rd
Lecture:
Sustainable design for e-textiles (by Thomas Nystrom / Chalmers university)
Presentation :
the final project outcome

Piezoresistive Fabric Touchpad

admin — Tue, 06 Dec 2011 15:55:28 +0000

This fabric touchpad was inspired by the properties of piezoresistive materials to measure both amount of pressure applied through the materials and increase of resistance across distance. It is made by layering piezoresistive material between two conductive layers and using the piezoresistive layer to alternatively measure position and pressure.

Instructable >> http://www.instructables.com/id/EJKTF3WGV490JGK/

Video

Adrian Freed at CNMAT has made a much better version of this touchpad and written a paper about it:
CNMAT publication >> http://cnmat.berkeley.edu/publication/support_vector_machine_learning_gesture_signal_estimation_piezo_r

Front and back

Video
link >> http://youtu.be/gPYyuuL-o7k

Electric Embroidery Monday

admin — Tue, 29 Nov 2011 06:53:13 +0000

December 5th and 12th, 5:30-8:30pm
This workshop is not open to the public, but will be held as part of One Love Generation‘s mentoring sessions in Atlanta, GA.

Also see Electric Embroidery Tuesday >> http://www.kobakant.at/DIY/?p=3338

Embroidery is a historic craft that is used in many cultures, not only for decorative designs but also as a means of personal expression. More recently embroidery styles and cultures such as subversive cross-stitch, sublime stitching and radical cross-stitch are using embroidery as a medium for portraying more contemporary cultural and personal reflections.

While a range of established embroidery stitch techniques are well documented, embroidery is open to all kinds of stitching and “drawing with yarn”. Although, the time it takes to achieve results similar to scribbling with a pen on paper can be much more involved, thus patience and concentration become part of the embroidery experience that very much shape the outcome.

The emergence of conductive textiles, threads and yarns has meant that circuits can be embroidered using both traditional and contemporary styles and techniques. The aim of this workshop is to introduce participants to the idea of embroidering with conductive thread in order to create designs that are circuitry. When using conductive thread to embroider circuitry, electricity becomes a visual medium.

Participant Creations

“Fuck me gently…”

“Life”

“Anatomical heart…”

“Live, Love, Laugh”

“Are you still there?… and more…” by Ahmara

“Sign…”

“Logo”

“Latin?”

“Pac Man”

“Eat or Be Eaten”

“Cool Bean”

“TV”

“Pushbutton”

“Space Alien”

“Decorative”

Example

Links

Download workshop handout >>
Download Powerpoint presentation >>
Local electronics >> http://www.acksupply.com/
One Love Generation >> http://onelovegeneration.org/

Thermochromic Ink

Mika — Tue, 15 Nov 2011 13:04:09 +0000

Thermochromic inks are pigments that change color to colorless at certain temperature. There are many different types of thermochromic pigments including textile inks for textile screen printing.

Usually you mix normal textile pigments with thermochromic inks so that it looks like the ink is changing from one color to the other. For example, if you mix yellow normal pigment with blue thermochromic ink, you will get green ink that changes from green (under reaction temperature) to yellow (over reaction temperature).

At the Swedish school of Textiles, where Mika is located at the moment, gets thermochromic inks from:

Zenit hantverk
http://www.zenit-konst.se/Servlet
The good thing about this company is that they have smaller quantity (100ml bottles) with affordable price (please ask directly to Zenit about the price list), but they have only 27 degrees reaction temperature inks. The colors come as concentrated pigments and you need to mix with textile binder to print.

B&G color change
http://www.colourchange.com/
They have wide variety of inks with reaction temperature and colors. The bad thing is that their minimum order is quite big quantity (4kg for BPA free ink). Please ask directly to B&G color change for the price list. The ink comes as 1:1 mix with binder.

Conductive Yarns

admin — Fri, 11 Nov 2011 17:20:28 +0000

also see: collective purchase, conductive thread

Plug and Wear

Now offers a small, very affordable (12 Euro!!!) cone of Nm10/3 conductive yarn. Great for knitting and crocheting stretch and pressure sensors.
>> http://www.plugandwear.com/default.asp?mod=product&cat_id=105&product_id=228

Nm10/3 conductive yarn

Schoeller Wool

Schoeller (based in Austria) offers some really nice conductive yarns. We have received samples of their Nm %Inox steel fiber and %PET yarns which all have interesting resistive properties that change (decrease) when stretched or pressured. All yarns are great for both hand and machine knitting. We are currently using them to make stretch and pressure sensors as well as crochet potentiometers. Nm 10/3 is a nice thick yarn, their Nm 50/2 yarns are much thinner and have slightly higher resistance and can be torn easily, but when knitted together with another yarn are very stable sensors.

PRICES
- Nm 10/3 80% Polyurethane, 20% Inox steel fibre @ Euros 36.00/kg (3,333 metres/kg)
- Nm 50/2 60% Polyurethane, 40% Inox steel fibre @ Euros 65.00/kg (25,000 metres/kg)
- Nm 50/2 80% Polyurethane, 20% Inox steel fibre @ Euros 40.25/kg( 25,000 metres/kg)
- Nm 25/1 100% Inox steel fibre @ Euros 145.00/kg (25,000 metres/kg)

The minimum order is 300kg but they have offered a 30kg “mini”-minimum order, which comes with a 900 Euro surcharge (that can be redeemed upon later orders).

The yarns can also be ordered from their UK distributor, but at the same prices as mentioned above. Contact: sales@cedickinson.co.uk

The following images…
The cones in these photos are sample cones, so they are smaller than a 1kg cone!

Nm 10/3 80% Polyurethane, 20% Inox steel fibre

Nm 50/2 60% Polyurethane, 40% Inox steel fibre

Nm 50/2 80% Polyurethane, 20% Inox steel fibre

Nm 25/1 100% Inox steel fibre

Wera Tech

Wera is a New Zealand based company that produces conductive yarn that is pretty much identical to the Schoeller yarn. They also use Inox steel fiber, but mixed with Laine instead of Polyester – Nm 20/2 70% Laine, 30% Inox. The other sample i have from them is called Tex 100/2 BL Trial, SH Undyed.
>> www.weratech.com

Nm 20/2 70% Laine, 30% Inox

Tex 100/2 BL Trial, SH Undyed

Crochet/Knit Squeeze Sensors

admin — Sat, 05 Nov 2011 12:21:00 +0000

This squeeze sensor can be made by knitting or crocheting a ball including resistive yarn. The ball can then be stuffed with different materials to achieve different kinds of squishiness. The ball can also be hand or machine felted, giving the surface a more uniform appearance.

Crochet

This example was crochet from regular pink yarn and stuffed with a spool-knit tube of Nm3/10 conductive yarn. Either end of the spool knit conductive yarn protrudes out from the crochet ball at opposite ends.

How to crochet a ball >> http://www.instructables.com/id/How-to-crochet-a-ball-or-a-hackey-sack/?ALLSTEPS
How to felt a knitted piece in the washing machine >> http://www.instructables.com/id/How-to-felt-a-knitted-piece/
How to felt scraps with dish washing soap in the sink >> http://www.instructables.com/id/Felt-Balls-from-Scrap-Yarn/

Knit

In the following versions of the above, the non-conductive ball is knit on a circular knitting machine, rather than crochet.

In this version a non conductive circular knit tube is stuffed with a spool-knit tube of Nm3/10 conductive and regular non-conductive yarn.

In this version the Nm3/10 conductive yarn is knit on a circular knitting machine alongside a regular white yarn. the tube is then stuffed with non-conductive stuffing and pulled tight at either end.

Felted Pompom

The felted pompom pressure sensor could also be called a squeeze sensor:
>> http://www.kobakant.at/DIY/?p=2395

Fusible Interfacing

admin — Wed, 02 Nov 2011 14:00:32 +0000

also: Interweb, Bondaweb, Fusible, Interfacing, “iron-on“, Fusible web…

1) Fuse the fusible interfacing to a piece of the material (conductive or non conductive fabric) that you will be working with. It is important to do this BEFORE you cut out your final shapes.
Place the fusible interfacing ontop of the material with the glue side (non-paper side) facing the fabric. Iron over the paper side, or alternatively you can also iron from the fabric side with the paper side facing the ironing board.

2) After you have fused the interfacing and before you peel off the paper backing it can be useful to keep the paper backing on, either for drawing your final shapes on, or for using to lasercut your fabric circuit (see lasercut fabric circuits).

3) Before fusing your final cut-out shape to your base material you need to peel off the paper backing and place the glue side between the two materials you want to have glued together.

>> http://www.macculloch-wallis.co.uk/searchresults.aspx?KW=web&PageNo=1 (UK)1)

Hard/Soft Connections

admin — Wed, 02 Nov 2011 12:21:38 +0000

There are a range of different possibilities to connect conductive materials. One of the hardest and at this point very relevant one in textile electronics is the hard/soft connection between conductive textiles and traditional components and circuit boards. Most connections are a combination of permanent and plugable (de- and re- attachable) connections. Here we try to list some of the permanent connections that we frequently use in our own work.

Permanent

Hard/Soft

Machine-sewable Hard/Soft Connections

Using fusible interfacing to connect conductive fabric strips to perforated circuit board. Sewing with top conductive thread to fabric breakouts and soldering wires to perfboard.

Using zigzag stitch on sewing machine to sew top conductive thread over stripped ribbon cable wires.

Sewing to Plug and Wear’s knit breadboard fabric (right: with top thread conductive, left: with bottom thread conductive) and then soldering wires to the breadboard traces which are very thin wires.

Sewing down solderable conductive thread with a zig-zag stitch and then soldering LED lights to it (add hot-glue for strain relief):

Crimp Beads

Crimp beads are solderable, squishable and sewable, making them great hard/soft connectors.
Crimping crimp beads to conductive thread to then solder them to a copper tape circuit:

Leah Buechley solderes crimp beads to surface mount LEDs to then sew them into soft circuits:
>> http://web.media.mit.edu/~leah/grad_work/diy/diy_tank.html

Jie Qi crimps crimp beads to nition shape memory wire to then solder it to copper tape circuitry:
>> http://hlt.media.mit.edu/?p=1448

Perfboard/Conductive thread

This is definitely one of the most reliable hard/soft connections i have found, but it is is very time intensive to sew. After sewing the connections it is good to isolate and protect the threads with a stretchy glue or silicone.

Metal machine popper/Conductive fabric

Pierce through conductive fabric tab. If working with conductive thread, sew with thread to this tab, otherwise continue with conductive fabric. Enforce fabric behind poppers, so that popper does not tear hole.

Hand sewable metal popper/Conductive thread

Wire/Conductive fabric (soldering)

Solderability tests >> http://www.kobakant.at/DIY/?p=1718

Wire/Conductive thread (soldering)

Solderability tests >> http://www.kobakant.at/DIY/?p=1720

Wire loop/Conductive thread

Wire loop/Conductive fabric

Header/Conductive thread

lilypad arduino/Conductive thread

Use some squishy material underneath the LilyPad to help improve the electrical contact between soft thread and hard circuit board.

Magnet clasp/Conductive thread

IDC connector/Thin flexible wire

Tiny IDC connectors >> http://www.newark.com/jsp/Interconnect++Products,+Wire+&+Cable/Connectors/AVX/009175002001006/displayProduct.jsp?sku=40M7660&_requestid=199267

Perfboard/Conductive tape with conductive adhesive

TITV Greiz

There is a nice PDF from Dr. U. Möhring of the The Institute of Special Textiles and Flexible Materials at the TITV Greiz that contains some photos of hard/soft connections.
>> http://www.textile.dk/files/medlemsservice/kurser%20og%20arrangementer/2008/nest-konference0605/TITV_3NEST_Herning.pdf
>> http://www.titv-greiz.de/index.php?id=textile-mikrosystemtechnik&L=0

Hard/Hard

With the difficulty that comes with hard/soft connections, sometimes it can be nice to simply solder things together.

Wire/Calotte

Wire/Popper (clamped)

Wire/Popper (soldered)

Coming soon…

Wire/IDC connector

Tiny IDC connectors >> http://www.newark.com/jsp/Interconnect++Products,+Wire+&+Cable/Connectors/AVX/009175002001006/displayProduct.jsp?sku=40M7660&_requestid=199267

Wire/Wire

Coming soon…

Wire/Perfboard

Coming soon…

Soft/Soft

There are lots of nice permanent soft/soft connections available for use in soft circuitry. Many of these use conductive fabric, conductive thread and conductive velcro. Some are more durable, washable or strainable than others.

Conductive fabric/Conductive thread

Sewing machine or hand sewn.

Conductive fabric/Conductive fabric (overlap with fusible interfacing)

Overlapping conductive fabric traces with fusible interfacing in between, conductive connection goes through fusible interfacing.

Conductive thread/Conductive thread (knot)

It is good to use some glue or anti-fray on top of conductive thread knots as they really like to come undone.

Conductive fabric/Conductive paint

Conductive thread/Conductive paint

Conductive Velcro/Conductive thread

Plugable

Most plugable connections require some soft of permanent connection that connect to the actual plugable part.

Soft/Soft

Conductive Velcro/Conductive Velcro

Conductive thread/Conductive thread (bow)

Hard/Soft

headers to lasercut fabric circuit

Crocodile clip on conductive fabric tab

Photos coming soon…

Wire soldered to header, loop on header sewn to fabric with conductive thread

Wire clamped between male and female metal poppers

Hard/Hard

Hook/Loop

Wire/Metal popper

Female header/Male header

Wire or header/Breadboard

Single female header/Single male header

Suzyi Pakhchyan uses this method in her Smart Mobile project, featured on page 191 of her book Fashioning Technology.

Magnet snap/Magnet snap

Clasp/Loop

Screw fastener

Phone Jack

4-6 connections. Nice because of stretchiness of the cable. Cheap because most 99cent stores carry phone cables and sockets. Although cheap sockets tend to be buggy.

Suppliers

>> http://www.hirose-connectors.com/

Sewable Surface Mount LEDs

admin — Sat, 17 Sep 2011 14:53:56 +0000

If you want to include LED lights in your projects, one of the classic options used to be to wind the legs of a through-hole LED around the tip of a pair of needle-nose pliers, making rings that could then be sewn. Another option introduced by Leah Buechley, was to solder tiny metal crimp beads to the ends of a surface-mount LED, making it sewable. But by now there are some more options out there and this posts tries to collect different solutions for sewable LED lights.

Homemade Solutions for Sewable LEDs

Solderable and Sewable Extensions

An easy solution for surface mount LEDs is to solder a strip of very flexible wire, or even a solderable conductive thread (like the ones from Karl Grimm), to the ends of the LED and you don’t even need to make it into a loop. Simply leave a 2-3 cm long lead and the stitch around it with another (non-solderable) conductive thread. Or you could also sew with the solderable conductive thread and attach the LED afterwards!

Solder LED to Flexible PCB Breakout

Unfortunately the spacing between the strip’s holes is slightly narrow, so it can be hard to solder on a surface mount LED without covering one of the holes. A solution to this is to cut the strip diagonally, giving you a bit more space between the holes.
Flexible PCB strip from Plug and Wear >> http://www.plugandwear.com/default.asp?mod=product&cat_id=95,101&product_id=116

Leah Buechley’s crimp bead LEDs

>> http://web.media.mit.edu/~leah/grad_work/diy/diy_tank.html

LED Bead Jig

>> http://www.instructables.com/id/LED-Bead-Jig/?ALLSTEPS

Commercial Sewable LEDs

StarBoard Flexible LED Strip

Various colours from Sparkfun >> http://www.sparkfun.com/products/10637

lilypad LED (standard)

Various colours from Sparkfun >> http://www.sparkfun.com/products/10045

LilyPad LED Mirco

Various colours from Sparkfun >> http://www.sparkfun.com/products/10753

Fabrickit LED Brick

>> http://www.sparkfun.com/products/10412

Aniomagic Lightboards

>> http://www.sparkfun.com/products/10840

Commercially Available LEDs

Surface Mount LEDs (1206)

Various colours from DigiKey >> http://search.digikey.com/scripts/DkSearch/dksus.dll?Detail&name=160-1737-1-ND

Surface Mount LEDs (Axial)

Various colours from DigiKey >> http://search.digikey.com/scripts/DkSearch/dksus.dll?keywords=516-1402-ND

Square through hole 4 pin LEDs

Bright white from DigiKey >> http://search.digikey.com/scripts/DkSearch/dksus.dll?&keywords=CP41B-WGS-CK0P0154-ND

5mm LEDs

Various colours from DigiKey >> http://search.digikey.com/scripts/DkSearch/dksus.dll?Detail&name=C566C-BFS-CS0W0451-ND

Seam-Ripping Continuity Meter

admin — Thu, 25 Aug 2011 21:10:59 +0000

This seam-ripper has a continuity meter built in. An LED lights up to indicate when an unwanted electrical connection is made between the tip of the seam-ripper and the part of the circuit that you wish to disconnect from. An alligator clip can be connected to different parts of the circuit, so that you can decide where to measure for unwanted continuity. The LED is powered by a 3V coin cell battery. The brighter the light, the less electrical resistance.

Tools for E-Textile Techniques >> http://www.plusea.at/?p=2220
Instructable >> http://www.instructables.com/id/Seam-Ripping-Continuity-Meter/

Videos

Breadboard Pincushion

admin — Thu, 25 Aug 2011 21:07:53 +0000

This pincushion design has strips of conductive fabric adhered to its surface, so that metal pins or component contacts that protrude through the same piece of conductive fabric are electrically connected. This cushion can be used for prototyping electrical circuits as well as for string pins, needles and components.

Tools for E-Textile Techniques >> http://www.plusea.at/?p=2220
Instructable >> http://www.instructables.com/id/Breadbaord-Pincushion/

Vibrating Crochet Hook

admin — Thu, 25 Aug 2011 21:06:59 +0000

This vibrating crochet hook can be used to measure the resistance of a crochet stretch sensor while it is being made. Continuity and resistance can be measured while the sensor is being crocheted. The vibration motor is powered by a 3V coin cell battery. The less resistance, the stronger the crochet needle will vibrate.

Tools for E-Textile Techniques >> http://www.plusea.at/?p=2220
Instructable >> http://www.instructables.com/id/Vibrating-Crochet-Hook/

Video

Knit Accelerometer

Mika — Fri, 22 Jul 2011 21:39:13 +0000

When you knit with conductive yarn, it changes the resistance when stretched. So, I thought of making an accelerometer with same principle. The weight at the end pulls and stretches the knitted structure as it gets accelerated. It works the best when this sensor (more of an object) is turned around like hammer throwing, or thrown.

Here, I am using marbles as weights and bead to isolate the conductive thread connection from the bottom.

Simple testing device. Connected with lilypad and xbee, powered with Lipo battery.

Reading the sensor data from processing sketch. This is a modification of a “graph” sketch. It is showing the input difference.

HOW TO GET WHAT YOU WANT

Embroidery gone Electronic

ATtiny Arduino Programming Tips

Getting Started…

Using FabISP and Arduino IDE for programming ATtiny45 and 85s (Notes to self)

Setting Registers on ATtiny45 and 85

Dave Mellis’s Touch code that does capacitive sensing on the ATtiny

Software PWM on the ATtiny

Leah Buechley’s sound code that will run on an ATtiny (because it does not use the tone() library)

Sewing and soldering ATtiny chips into textile circuits

Machine-Sewing Solderable Circuits

Moving Fabric Petals

ATtiny85 Software PWM

Electric Embroidery Tuesday

Participant Creations

Arduino as Bluetooth HID

Setup Instructions

Materials and Tools

About the BlueSMiRF HID

Solder headers

Program Arduino

Circuit Connections

Pair with Bluetooth Device

“Hello World”

Problems Disconnecting

HID to SPP to HID to SPP…

Technology + Textiles: E-textiles for textile and fashion design projects

Syllabus

Piezoresistive Fabric Touchpad

Electric Embroidery Monday

Participant Creations

Example

Inspiring Work

How-to Embroidery Instructions

Materials and Tools

Links

Thermochromic Ink

Conductive Yarns

Plug and Wear

Schoeller Wool

Wera Tech

Crochet/Knit Squeeze Sensors

Crochet

Knit

Felted Pompom

Fusible Interfacing

Hard/Soft Connections

Permanent

Hard/Soft

Machine-sewable Hard/Soft Connections

Crimp Beads

Perfboard/Conductive thread

Metal machine popper/Conductive fabric

Hand sewable metal popper/Conductive thread

Wire/Conductive fabric (soldering)

Wire/Conductive thread (soldering)

Wire loop/Conductive thread

Wire loop/Conductive fabric

Header/Conductive thread

lilypad arduino/Conductive thread

Magnet clasp/Conductive thread

IDC connector/Thin flexible wire

Perfboard/Conductive tape with conductive adhesive

TITV Greiz

Hard/Hard

Wire/Calotte

Wire/Popper (clamped)

Wire/Popper (soldered)

Wire/IDC connector

Wire/Wire

Wire/Perfboard

Soft/Soft

Conductive fabric/Conductive thread

Conductive fabric/Conductive fabric (overlap with fusible interfacing)

Conductive thread/Conductive thread (knot)

Conductive fabric/Conductive paint

Conductive thread/Conductive paint

Conductive Velcro/Conductive thread

Plugable

Soft/Soft