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    Content by Mika Satomi and Hannah Perner-Wilson
    E-Textile Tailor Shop by KOBAKANT
    The following institutions have funded our research and supported our work:

    Since 2020, Hannah is guest professor of the Spiel&&Objekt Master's program at the University of Performing Arts Ernst Busch in Berlin

    From 2013-2015 Mika was a guest professor at the eLab at Kunsthochschule Berlin-Weissensee

    From July - December 2013 Hannah was a researcher at the UdK's Design Research Lab

    From 2010-2012 Mika was a guest researcher in the Smart Textiles Design Lab at The Swedish School of Textiles

    From 2009 - 2011 Hannah was a graduate student in the MIT Media Lab's High-Low Tech research group led by Leah Buechley


    In 2009 Hannah and Mika were both research fellows at the Distance Lab


    Between 2003 - 2009 Hannah and Mika were both students at Interface Cultures
    We support the Open Source Hardware movement. All our own designs published on this website are released under the Free Cultural Works definition
    Traces

    knitted stretchy cable

    For knitted sensors and interfaces, it will be great if there were also knitted cables. So, I tried it!
    By using Spool knitting tool (Strickliesel in German), you can make a knitted tube easily. For more easier and faster solution, you can also use automatic Knitting Mill (Strickmühle). This tube is an isolation layer for the knitted cable. Insert conductive thread inside the tube, connect the each end to conductive fabric and poppers.
    The result is quite satisfying. It is stretchy, highly conductive (depending on the kind of conductive thread used in the middle), and it is well isolated.

    First, make a knitted tube using Spool knitting tool. If you have an automatic Knitting mills, it is much faster. I made it about 20 cm long each.

    All the other materials needed is following:
    -conductive thread (tube length + 20cm)
    -conductive fabric (1cm*1cm)
    -1 set (male/female) of poppers (10mm ∅ in this example)
    -normal thread (not necessary)
    -needles (thick yarn needle maybe handy for threading the tube)

    Thread the conductive thread through the knitted tube. It makes it easy to use thick yarn needle to do this.

    Add a small piece (5mm*10mm) of conductive fabric on each end. Connect the end of the conductive thread to fabric by sewing through it.

    Pull the yarn on the each end of the tube to close it tight and make a knot. Cut off the extra yarn.

    Fix poppers on each end, placing on the conductive fabric pieces to get the connection. In this example, I used male and female poppers on each side. This will differ depending on your project plan. It can be other kind of conductive connecters as well.

    Here is the Isolation test. I am twisting and pulling two cables together to see if you get a short circuit.

    These cables are used in the knitted interface project (still in process, post coming soon). It connects knitted sensors to the microcontroller (lilypad) circuit (inside the circular knitted pocket).

    4 Comments so far

    1. […] Satomi and Hannah Perner-Wilson beamed up at ‘How to get what you want‘ a nice technique on how to create eTextile cables that provide a new way of designing cable […]

    2. […] Filed Under: Uncategorized by juliaschreiber — Leave a comment March 11, 2010 watch out Comments RSS […]

    3. Wearables | techcrafters on July 29th, 2010

      […] Knitted stretchy cables […]

    4. […] herkömmlichen Strickliesel erstellen – schneller geht’s mit einer Strickmühle . Eine Anleitung zur Erstellung der Strickliesel-Drähte findest du bei […]

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