Let the glowing begin

Well I decided I would experiment with LEDs and EL wire (Electroluminescent Wire). To make a neat glowing outfit. The hat and the pants I now have but I am still looking for a coat at the local thrift stores to add to the ensemble.

My experience with conductive thread and LEDs for the pants.

I picked up some conductive thread from SparkFun which is normally used to make fencing outfits. It is how they keep score I did not know this before starting this project but thought it a neat bit of trivia I would pass on. The thread has a resistance of about 12ohms per foot. So i figured by going with a 4.5v power supply I would not need to solder resistors to the surface mount LEDs. This worked a bit actually it worked for the first two LEDs on the pant leg but the resistance further down the pant leg caused the LEDs to get progressively dimmer. To fix this I had to run wires down each pant leg to overcome that problem. Which kind of overcame the problem but added wires down the legs which was what I was hoping to avoid with the whole conductive thread thing. After about 16 hours of hand sewing I ended up with working however no quite how I wanted them pants. Which were not as bright as I wanted them.

Things I learned about the thread. It seems ideal for doing smaller scale projects like bracelets conductive thread would most likely work fine. To make it work on my pants I should have used a higher voltage and individual resistors. Also setting them up with some kind of diffuser like in a fauxfur or under a white fabric would help them show up better. Another thing to change would be not to order 1mmx1mm beading crimps to solder to the SMT LEDs in the future. They were to small to get the needle through and it made it take a lot, I mean a lot longer for me to finish the pants.

Now on to the Hat.
I used EL wire. The hat was finished in about two hours far less time than the pants. I used a 4lb tensile strength fishing cord to whip stitch it to the brim of the bowler then poked a hole in the felt to pass the power though and the battery pack/transformer to run the EL wire which fits under the hat in the extra head room. What can I say it was super easy, really bright, and the only things I may add are some Velcro inside the hat and more EL wire. The transformer can handle about 2.5 more feet of EL Wire.

I originally went with the conductive thread for the pants because EL wire is a solid coper wire covered in a phosphorescent coating. As with all small gauge solid core wire if it gets bent a lot it will break. I figured with walking and things the EL wire would not last that long. However now looking at the day and night difference between the hat and pants I think a thicker EL wirer would be ok for the pants. Well I have rambled on about this long enough here are the pictures.

Madison Drive In

Well I finally found a new wall. Now all I have to do is get these Midwesterners to come out at 10pm on a week night. I showed Dementia 13 a 1963 film directed by Frances Ford Coppola. Tori and I were the only ones to show. However we set up on the back side of a vacant supermarket and were able to get a much larger picture than I was ever able to get in San Francisco. There will be pictures of the set up after the break. I hope the if you build it they will come story rings true here. We will see.

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Bee Boop Machine

Well it has been over four months since I built the Wavevessel TV amplifier and the Atari Punk Console(APC) to test it out. Since then I have finally built the other two parts of my final Bee Boop Machine. The two parts of the of the final machine are a Spring Reverb unit and a Delay unit. I built the spring reverb using the schematics from General Guitar Gadgets. I free built its circuit based on the documents I found on their website. I am really going to have to start making circuit boards at home if my projects are going to keep getting more complicated. The delay unit was built with a purchased PCB from Tonepad.com it is called the reboot delay 2.5. Once I finally got all my parts together I built the units in the boxes their parts came in. I have since moved the delay unit into a cool box I am still on the lookout for a box for the spring reverb. I will be embedding a video of the Bee Boop Machine in all it’s glory after the break. I think I may need to build a preamp for the APC because the audio signal is pretty weak after it makes its way through the effects units.

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Comments away

Well I was asked by many people to make the comments work so I did. YAY! Have fun commenting.

Welder I hardly know her

It was either that title or welder welder everywhere but no place safe to weld. After working with Tim over at squid labs in Alameda, CA. on his truck with his microwave oven stick welder I decided it could be done and then be quite useful. Shortly after I moved to Madison, WI. and I decided to put it on my list of projects to do while I had no work.
As many things do it seemed like a good idea at the time. I went on freecycle and in no time I had an army of broken microwaves. It turns out newer broken microwaves don’t work well for this at all. So I finally found two transformers that would work for me. It turns out that the microwaves were so plentiful here because nowhere does free electronics recycling like in the Bay Area around these parts.
Following the microwave welder instructable I built my own stick welder. YAY! After a brief test to make sure it worked I quickly realized there was no where I could safely weld in my apartment. I was reminded of the story where somebody builds a boat in their basement only to find they can’t get it out. I build a welder with no where to weld. Wheels have since been set in motion to rectify this dilemma but for now you will have to be content as I am with just looking at it. Pictures can be found here. Thanks for reading.

Dabling in curuit bending

I have been bored what with the being unemployed and all. So I wandered by the good will and decided to whip up some weired noise makers for Tori’s nephews. Here are some pictures of the noise makers. They are just simple pitch bend mods. If you wanna see some pictures Click Here. Next time we delve into the realms home made welders.

Monday Night Drive-In de mayo

Hey it is that time again. This upcoming Monday I will be showing The Last Man On Earth. This was the first in a series of movies based on the book I Am Legend others were Omega Man and recently I Am Legend. I personally like Vincent Price as the last human on earth. I will actually have enough cartoons to run from 9pm till 9:30pm which is when the feature presentation will begin. Same bat place.

Breaking in the new wall

This upcoming Monday night at 9:00 pm I will be breaking in the new wall I found the other day. I will be showing Attack of the Killer Mushrooms. It is a pretty awesome movie. The main feature will start at 9:15 pm being proceeded by some cartoons and old drive in ads. There is no bathroom at this new wall… so you have been warned. The new wall is located at 56 Rhodes Island st I hope all goes well and there is a good turnout. See you at the movies.

New wall!

I found a new wall tonight. A Drive-In will soon follow.

Wave vessel portable practice amp

Do you believe in fate. A month ago I was poking around Urban Ore over in Berkeley and I came across an old portable TV from the 1970’s for 8 dollars with a working tube but a non functioning tuner. When I saw it I knew what I must do. I had built a Wave vessel Prior to this using the guide put out by Censtron. I had also recently completed building a few cigar box amps using the Little Gem practice amp schematics from Runoffgroove. I knew I needed to make a Portable Wave vessel practice amp. I hooked up the out put of the little gem to the internal speaker of the TV and vertical hold on the tube. Then I used my multi meeter to figure out a place to tap the power for the Little Gem amp. The TV runs on either an 12vdc SLA batteries, power adapter, or 120v AC so it took a fair bit of poking but I found a place that received the 12vdc needed for the amp under any power condition. I made a short video of it which will be embedded after the break.

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