Connections

A snap connection not only makes for a robust e-textile electrical connector, it also make for a great pivot point. When you have a single electrical connection to make the snap can double as both electrical connection and pivot point. But what when you have more than one electrical connection?

Inspired by this upcoming workshop during E-Textile Spring Break titled “Body to Body: RFID + PAN Workshop, where Ingo + Nicole will “…introduce a DIY implementation of these systems to pass data through bodies to other bodies”. To make the connection between the body and the breadboard, this bracelet has conductive fabric on the back/bottom […]

In order to create our own version of a “Northbelt” built into the elastic of a jumpsuit waistband, we developed a technique for laying out the circuit’s traces along the length of the elastic, and then jumping inside to tight-fitting pouches that fit vibration motors mounted on 2x5cm boards. The traces from the circuit run […]

When making eTextile circuit, the solder joint between hard component and conductive textile material tend to break as it get the most strain from flexing. To avoid this, the whole circuit can be placed on a fabric button so that it does not get bent. Here is the test LED embroidery circuit on a fabric […]

As part of thinking about robustness and durability in our e-textile tailor shop, I’m revisiting some of the ways we’ve been making permanent and detachable connections between hard and soft components of e-textile circuits.

Stereo audio jack socket: USB power: Upgrade: JST LiPo:

Using beads to insulate multiple conductive threads next to one another coming from an e-textile circuit, ending in male header pins.

in progress… Inspired by Vaclav’s Magic Shoe connections… Poke wires through strips of conductive fabric and soldered them to stripy protoboard. Solder quickly at low heat to avoid that the heat of the soldering will melt the stretch conductive fabric and burn the conductive layer of silver.

— work in progress — Making electrical connections and not making electrical connections are the most common challenges when working with electronic textiles. This chart lists a variety of materials and ways of making connections (making contact) and not making connections (insulating) between them.

Breadboard to Metal Snap Converter The worlds of electronics and textiles are separated by their inability to connect across shared connections. But in the world of electronic textiles you want to be able to share power, data, GND. To bridge this gap, and make electrical connections between these separated worlds, I made this breadboard to […]

An example of how to make a metal snap connection between a hard (circuit board, speaker, component…) and a soft (fabric, thread….) element.

This design was made as part of the Stulpe Circuit Project To keep the circuit flexible, parts and functionality are groups into small areas with flexible areas in between. one option is to make the hard nodes from hard PCB material and solder wire connections in between (see photos). Another option would be to design […]

Concept: Process:

Making a really simple loom to weave bands with multiple conductors.

All kinds of hard-soft breakout boards.

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 […]

Conductive fabrics and threads can be plated without having to first coat them in conductive paint because they are already conductive! It can be a great way to make a conductive fabric solderable to then make a robust solder connection to a soft fabric circuit. Here are some examples of different conductive fabrics and threads […]

This conductive fabric breakout circuit is also an example of a plugable hard to soft connection.

Tips on how to improve your electrical contacts between various materials. It is always good practice to test a certain connecting technique before applying it to more than one connection.

also see: Materials >> Conductive Threads You can’t solder to most conductive threads, but there are conductive threads that are actually made by spinning very thin flattened wire around a soft, flexible core, and these are great for soldering to.

also see: Materials >> Conductive Fabrics Of the conductive fabrics I tried soldering to, only the copper FlecTron fabric distributed by LessEMF was very reliable. There was another silver fabric that worked, but I don’t know the source. The Laird conductive fabric tape was also good, so were copper mesh and copper foil tape with […]

I had hard time soldering DIP pin legs to conductive fabric. It becomes always crumbly and does not stick to the fabric good. (Also I am using lead free solder, that makes it look crumbly too)

A series of custom made plugs to be sewable or soft.