A few weeks ago was my favorite holiday event, a #makergiftexchange that a group of friends have now done for 4 years running.
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I will note at this point that I found the "T" was wider than the other letters by 3mm, and the "I" was of course very skinny. So custom widths of the holders had to be made for each of those parts, the "I" really needed to be skinnier so the kerning didn't suck. I might have opinions on fonts.
(4/18)
I iterated a bunch on how to join them - at first I was just going to use jump rings, but this made it too long. The letters are pre-made in one size, so I had to figure out how to link them in a flexible way that could wrap around your neck, but also in a way that added the least amount of space between letters. I still needed to have room for a clasp, battery, and microcontroller in the very back, and I wanted the letters to be as close to the front as they could be for readability.
(5/18)
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I iterated a bunch on how to join them - at first I was just going to use jump rings, but this made it too long. The letters are pre-made in one size, so I had to figure out how to link them in a flexible way that could wrap around your neck, but also in a way that added the least amount of space between letters. I still needed to have room for a clasp, battery, and microcontroller in the very back, and I wanted the letters to be as close to the front as they could be for readability.
(5/18)
I found tiny jewelry hinges but didn't see a way of attaching them to the TPU that wouldn't be visible when the letter was lit, didn't add a ton of thickness to the letters, or space between them. Gluing them in did work, but it was super finicky with so many chances to get glue inside the tiny hinges. So I made my own hinge - I created a boss to either side of the letter holders and used 0.8mm brass wire pushed through them. This used the smallest amount of space between letters.
(6/18)
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A few weeks ago was my favorite holiday event, a #makergiftexchange that a group of friends have now done for 4 years running. You don't make anything for a specific person, you just make something cool and then we swap and steal white-elephant-style. Strap in for a long thread because this year, I made the finest piece of BULLSHIT I've ever made.
(1/18 probably unless it changes as I manually post this)
Outstanding
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Thanks for sharing! -
I found tiny jewelry hinges but didn't see a way of attaching them to the TPU that wouldn't be visible when the letter was lit, didn't add a ton of thickness to the letters, or space between them. Gluing them in did work, but it was super finicky with so many chances to get glue inside the tiny hinges. So I made my own hinge - I created a boss to either side of the letter holders and used 0.8mm brass wire pushed through them. This used the smallest amount of space between letters.
(6/18)
How about power? These are bright enough for indoor and night use at 11-12 mA. BULLSHIT is 8 letters, I want it to last at least 8 hours, so that's 768 mAh min. An 18650 is too big for this and overkill, a 14500 is a bit too long to be comfortable in the vertical orientation (horizontal doesn't conform to your neck and would make the choker too long). I had a 16340 size 950 mAh battery with integrated charge port that was perfect.
(7/18)
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How about power? These are bright enough for indoor and night use at 11-12 mA. BULLSHIT is 8 letters, I want it to last at least 8 hours, so that's 768 mAh min. An 18650 is too big for this and overkill, a 14500 is a bit too long to be comfortable in the vertical orientation (horizontal doesn't conform to your neck and would make the choker too long). I had a 16340 size 950 mAh battery with integrated charge port that was perfect.
(7/18)
I'm really proud of this part, it's one of my more complex models. Again I used TPU for its flexibility and softness. I used off-the-shelf contacts and slotted them into either end at an angle so that the solder tab ends protrude to either side at the bottom of the part. It's printed entirely without supports. The finish isn't perfect, but it's pretty darned good and black hides a variety of crimes.
(8/18)
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I'm really proud of this part, it's one of my more complex models. Again I used TPU for its flexibility and softness. I used off-the-shelf contacts and slotted them into either end at an angle so that the solder tab ends protrude to either side at the bottom of the part. It's printed entirely without supports. The finish isn't perfect, but it's pretty darned good and black hides a variety of crimes.
(8/18)
I took a page from @geekmomprojects book & ran power through the magnetic clasp so that it doubled as an on/off switch. I liked the design and feel of some clasps I ordered, but there was no access to the back of the magnet for soldering a wire. Time for another custom part! I used a bar magnet, printed it out of PETG so it would NOT flex, & made a cutout for the wire and solder on the back. The front has a classy BS embedded in it which glows orange under blacklight.
(9/18)
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I took a page from @geekmomprojects book & ran power through the magnetic clasp so that it doubled as an on/off switch. I liked the design and feel of some clasps I ordered, but there was no access to the back of the magnet for soldering a wire. Time for another custom part! I used a bar magnet, printed it out of PETG so it would NOT flex, & made a cutout for the wire and solder on the back. The front has a classy BS embedded in it which glows orange under blacklight.
(9/18)
And how about a microcontroller for some last-minute hackability and maybe sound reactivity? I'm using an ESP32-C3 Super Mini (it has a chip antenna onboard) because I thought the recipient might want to be able to add a remote switch so they could turn it on from their pocket (I ran out of time for this). And it would just be more fun if it were sound-reactive, so I used an amplified analog mic, the DFRobot SEN0487 board. Plus a FET for LED on/off control.
(10/18)
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And how about a microcontroller for some last-minute hackability and maybe sound reactivity? I'm using an ESP32-C3 Super Mini (it has a chip antenna onboard) because I thought the recipient might want to be able to add a remote switch so they could turn it on from their pocket (I ran out of time for this). And it would just be more fun if it were sound-reactive, so I used an amplified analog mic, the DFRobot SEN0487 board. Plus a FET for LED on/off control.
(10/18)
Finally, there was the worst part of this entire project - the WIRING. I wanted it to be minimal and not extremely visible at first glance. Silicone wire is super flexible but it's also thick and obviously looks like plastic wires. Enameled wire is much thinner, and has much more of a classy, minimal, look to it that makes it look more like part of the jewelry than electronics. But it's not forgiving and can easily work-harden and break if flexed back and forth.
(11/18)
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Finally, there was the worst part of this entire project - the WIRING. I wanted it to be minimal and not extremely visible at first glance. Silicone wire is super flexible but it's also thick and obviously looks like plastic wires. Enameled wire is much thinner, and has much more of a classy, minimal, look to it that makes it look more like part of the jewelry than electronics. But it's not forgiving and can easily work-harden and break if flexed back and forth.
(11/18)
Enter service loops. Service loop everywhere! Service loops for everyone! I wrapped the 30AWG wire around a small drill bit to create them. Here are some shots of wiring - red is +, gold is GND (controlled thru a FET by the ESP32), and a 100 ohm current-limiting resistor on each letter. There's one service loop where the wire enters the holder, through a small hole on the right or left at the bottom. So one loop for red and one for gold, 2 wraps each.
(12/18)
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Enter service loops. Service loop everywhere! Service loops for everyone! I wrapped the 30AWG wire around a small drill bit to create them. Here are some shots of wiring - red is +, gold is GND (controlled thru a FET by the ESP32), and a 100 ohm current-limiting resistor on each letter. There's one service loop where the wire enters the holder, through a small hole on the right or left at the bottom. So one loop for red and one for gold, 2 wraps each.
(12/18)
The enameled wires are each one long piece, stripped in the middle by solder, then wrapped around the letter leg or resistor leg and then soldered to them. Then onto the next letter. For the overall paths: Gold/GND goes from the battery out left, to micro, then letters starting with T to B. Red/+ goes from the battery out right, to clasp, then letters B to T, then micro.
(13/18)
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Finally, there was the worst part of this entire project - the WIRING. I wanted it to be minimal and not extremely visible at first glance. Silicone wire is super flexible but it's also thick and obviously looks like plastic wires. Enameled wire is much thinner, and has much more of a classy, minimal, look to it that makes it look more like part of the jewelry than electronics. But it's not forgiving and can easily work-harden and break if flexed back and forth.
(11/18)
@alpenglow There is a more flexible fine wire like thing of this. It has multiple strings twisted together and doesn't break as easily. I don't know where to buy it but I harvest it from the (cheap) wired earbuds, they often have them inside. Mostly red, yellow and blue, sometimes even green or other colors.
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R relay@relay.infosec.exchange shared this topic
