Category: Innovative Switch/Sensor

For this innovative switch, I decided to take my plush LED project and change it into a table lamp. The concept was to create an equally proportioned coin cell battery to place between the legs of the LED to make it turn on. I began by ripping apart my plush project and prototyping the wiring for the circuit.





After I got the circuit working, I decided to work on creating the battery. I ordered a 6″ diameter block of aluminum from McMaster Carr and decided I would CNC etch the lettering into the surface. In working with the staff at the VFL, we realized that the CNC costs would be prohibitive. I still wanted to move forward with the etching however so we decided to try a technique that they hadn’t attempted before: electroetching with salt water.

I began the process by cutting out the shapes I wanted to etch on the vinyl cutter.




After painstakingly cutting out the vinyl negatives for both sides of the LED, I sanded the block of aluminum to prepare it for etching.

I used transfer paper to apply the vinyl onto the battery surfaces.



I added a wire to the block to connect to the hot lead of the battery.

And then I wrapped the rest of the block in electrical tape.

A plastic tupperware was borrowed and filled with salt water. I grabbed a tiny scrap of galvanized steel and attached a wire that ran to the negative lead on the battery.


When we finally connected everything, the exposed galvanized steel immediately began bubbling.

After a couple minutes, the water became pretty black and gross as the galvanized coating was removed.

I checked on the etching multiple times and eventually moved to a larger trashcan so I could stand the block up during the process. We also tried using a scrap of aluminum as we feared that the fumes from the galvanized steel were toxic. As the bubbles became less frequent, I changed out the battery to a fresh one. This definitely made the process move along faster. After about 5 hours, I was happy with the state of the etch.

After the battery was complete, I applied some conductive aluminum tape around the edge to complete a circuit also made from the same tape.

I realized that it was fairly silly to use “conductive aluminum tape” as the aluminum itself should be conductive enough to make the circuit work. Trying the circuit again with only aluminum rods as the LED leads and the battery to connect them, I got the project to work as I intended.

I then worked on refining the look of the LED and wiring it up for my presentation. I’m pretty happy with the final result.

I hope to continue working on this project and finish it up as a standing desk lamp.

For my innovative switch I created a yarn tassle that triggers a LED strip when spun. The inspiration behind the switch came from my background in figure skating. I imagined this to be used when skaters spin and LEDs in their outfits would be activated.

To start, I looked at Leila’s J-Lo spinning toy and did some experiments with springs to understand how to make a connection with centripetal force. Then I learned how to crochet with Natsuki and worked with her to create templates that made stretchy yarn tubes. To make the switch I crocheted conductive yarn into regular yarn and attached hex nuts to give weight at one end. When pulled the resistance in the yarn tube’s conductivity decreases because the yarn is more tightly held together.

 

From there I used the yarn tube as an analog switch to monitor the change in resistance. When pulled the resistance of the switch went from 1000 to under 900. I programmed the change to signal the turning on of an LED. Then I altered the code on a NeoPixels LED strip to create a color swipe.

int ledPin = 9;
int sensorPin = 0;
int threshold = 800;

void setup()
{
pinMode(ledPin,OUTPUT);
Serial.begin(9600);
}

void loop()
{
Serial.println(analogRead(sensorPin));
if (analogRead(sensorPin) < threshold) {
rainbow(20);
}
}

void rainbow(uint8_t wait) {
uint16_t i, j;

for(j=0; j<256; j++) {
for(i=0; i<strip.numPixels(); i++) {
strip.setPixelColor(i, Wheel((i+j) & 255));
}
if(analogRead(sensorPin) > threshold) {
// Set all LEDs to black
for(i=0; i<strip.numPixels(); i++) {
strip.setPixelColor(i, 0,0,0);
}
strip.show();

break;
}
strip.show();
// delay(wait);
}
}

The best part of this process was bringing together the NeoPixels LED strip and the analog stretchy switch. I learned to how for loops work and how to break them so that the LED strip turns off once the switch returns to its original, un-pulled state. Because my main goal for the class is to better understand code, I felt like this part of the process was the most challenging and rewarding.

I also learned to hard wire my wires and switch, but ultimately failed to make the full connections. For the final demo, I ended up using masking tape to hold down all the wires on my breadboard and quickly sewed a pocket belt to encase the parts.

To move forward I’d have to find a way to make this switch wearable and stable so that the centripetal force from the spinner causes the switch to pull. For now, swinging the switch works just fine.

<p><a href=”http://vimeo.com/111701202″>Making Studio: Centripetal Force Switch</a> from <a href=”http://vimeo.com/edenlew”>Eden Lew</a> on <a href=”https://vimeo.com”>Vimeo</a&gt;.</p>

Communicate with others without having to speak… According to Lou van’t Riet, in Belgium potable is slang for date-able and not potable means not date-able!

I designed pants with conductive fabric above and below the knee areas. When you cross your LEFT leg over the right, you can signal YES (potable) with a green light. Cross your RIGHT leg over the left leg, and signal a NO (not potable).

For the final prototype, the lights on the belt were changed to blink every half second to be more noticable.

<p><a href=”http://vimeo.com/111078810″>20141106 012543</a> from <a href=”http://vimeo.com/user32259124″>J C</a> on <a href=”https://vimeo.com”>Vimeo</a&gt;.</p>

We have a shoeless house. My wife tends to wear her house shoes out of the house to take out garbage or run down to the laundry room. We both are in agreement that this shouldn’t happen but sometimes she forgets. This mat will help remind her in a magical way!

I began first investigating her foot placement on the mat when she exits our place. 

I worked with Becky Stern on a simple design that might work.

Then I got busy on the sewing machine. CONDUCTIVE FABRIC IS DA BOMB!!!

I attached conductive fabric to the base of the shoes and added copper tape to connect the entire sole. 

I have prepared a video to please you all…

<p><a href=”http://vimeo.com/111062520″>House Shoes</a> from <a href=”http://vimeo.com/storiesforpaloma”>Stories For Paloma</a> on <a href=”https://vimeo.com”>Vimeo</a&gt;.</p>

The future of this project would be to add my voice to the mat, possibly encouraging her gently to  “go and grab your outside shoes”. I had also thought about rumblers being attached to vibrate the users feet when stepped on.

This week I was tasked with designing an innovative switch.
While at brunch in Park Slope I saw a person put out a set of glass and metal espresso mugs with metal saucers.  I put down my mimosa and went to retrieve them.   The metal and act of removing the espresso mug from the saucer make the perfect parts of a switch.

I used alligator clips to connect the batter place and led to the espresso saucer and mug.  When the mug is on the saucer it completes the circuit turning on the led.

Check out the instagram video below!

View this post on Instagram

Simple #innovative switch #led #gayarduino #arduino #espresso

A post shared by Heath Wagoner (@heathbones) on Oct 20, 2013 at 8:13pm PDT