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  • Author Author: Former Member
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"Get Closer Challenge"  - Navigation Glove

Former Member

Just a quick little update.

 

Sewing with stainless steel is an interesting experience. I used super glue instead of clear nail polish to keep the fraying in check. I think that the stitching itself looks pretty good. I left the tails very long and just made large running stitches to get them out of the way (and to make sure that they didn't short to one another).

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I connected the FLORA using the alligator clips to the needles still holding the stainless steel thread. Then I took this action shot.

image

Yes, my fabric is a little strange. I picked up some black canvas with gold-colored strands some time ago, I used it as a backing material since I had it around.

 

I have a few questions for the readers. My LEDs have been somewhat unreliable. I attempted to seal the contact by applying more superglue to the whip stitched pads (after a successful lighting), but the problems persist. Is it possible/good practice to solder the thread to the pads? Would some sort of conductive ink or paint be better (waterproof of course)? Is this redeemable? I am assuming here that my DI/DO connections are at fault. For those connections, I wove back and forth between the adjacent pads in a figure '8' pattern before tying as securely as I could with a square knot. If I was to do this again, I might try whip stitching one pad and then the other.

 

So, where are we at?

  1. Review and test parts - I'll verify that the electronics work and I will run the code from the Adafruit tutorials.
  2. LED Array - I'll take my first shot at sewing with stainless steel and build a circular, 8-NeoPixel array sized to fit in the palm of my hand
  3. Accelerometer - The accelerometer will be used to determine if I am holding my palm up or down AND to signal my LED array to turn on if I shake it hard enough.
  4. Compass - The magnetometer will be used while the LEDs are active to indicate my bearing, compensating for hand orientation
  5. GPS - The GPS unit will be used to help calculate initial bearings and possibly distance as well. I'll have to see how the device reacts to different orientations and fabrics.
  6. Physical Layout - I will have to figure out how to fit all of those goodies on the front and back of a glove (while not sacrificing wearability)
  7. User Experience - This is probably a good time to make the lighting pattern more interesting or informative, iron out bugs, test accuracy and a few failure modes.
  8. Sewing - This will be an interesting experience, I hope that local fabric stores will allow me to test the light diffusion/transmission of different fabrics I will encase the finalized electronics in. I also have never sewn gloves before but look forward to practicing. A lot. I really want to make this look like a real/well-finished product.
  9. Light Balancing? - The Lux sensor might help me adjust the brightness level for appropriate day/nighttime use.
  10. Low Power? - If I have time, I will try to see if there are ways to reduce power consumption.
  11. Capacitive touch buttons? - If I have time, it would be nice to be able to change destinations.

 

Just for fun: I see that Leslie is a Game of Thrones fan. I always have pictured myself as more of a Stark.

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I have always thought an Iron Man / Game of Thrones crossover could be interesting.

  • Alex,

     

    Not only do I love Game of Thrones, but I'm a huge fan of IronMan.  I've already told people that I would love to be a female IronWoman -- complete with zapping one-liners and LED blue circle (might use the Adafruit one LOL).  BTW, nothing wrong with Stark -- it's just they don't get the dragon!  Anyway, back to your project.   I tried to zoom in on your LED's and the only thing you might want to consider is adding more stitches in the holes of the LED's.  I know Becky says when using the FLORA, that you fill the hole/pad until you almost can't see it anymore.  So, I would do the same to the LED's.  Also, this is something I learned from Lynne Bruning's tutorials, when stitching hardware like controller pads or LED pads, it's best to stitch up and down through the fabric and pad each time, rather than moving once through the fabric and then continuing to just do the thread whipped around the pad.  I think that might be what you were trying to explain when you said something about the figure eight pattern.  Eventually that whipping starts to loosen because it doesn't have a good anchor. I don't think you have to take the stitching out to fix it, but I would definitely add more, through the fabric, stitches.  Hope it helps -- and feel blessed that you don't have shorts!

  • in reply to DAB

    Alex/DAB

    It seems that an acidic flux is required to clean the stainless wire first

    http://www.bikeforums.net/archive/index.php/t-350508.html

     

    You may be able to do the acid and solder tinning away from the garment, then do the final assembly/sewing, before finally soldering.

    The alternative might be careful twisting to complete the joint, and a spot of superglue to hold the twist.

     

    Mark

  • in reply to Former Member

    Hi Alex,

     

    Yes it does.  The Stainless Steel wire is probably developing a layer of oxide on the surface or possibly even oil from your hands.

    It does not take much to break the connection when you are just trying to do a pressure fit for contacts.

     

    You should be able to solder to the wire, it might take a little longer to heat up the wire, but being braided, you should be fine.  Just make sure you clean the wire and contacts before you start.

     

    As for good practice, I am unaware of any "approved" methods for integrating electronics with clothing, but then I have not looked either.

     

    As I stated earlier, if you make sure you have good connections and your wire is flexible, you should be OK.

    If you run into problems, use your DMM or Oscilloscope to look for voltage drops along the circuit.

     

    I would be careful wearing the electronics in the rain.  You might run into a problem with the cloth wicking moisture to the wires.  The environment can be a real pain sometimes.  Insulated wires would be best, but you run into the stiffness issues when trying to thread the wire through the cloth.

     

    You might want to consider running most of the wire along the seams.  You can get more cushioning from the added cloth and it makes the wire runs look less obtrusive.

     

    Have fun,

    DAB

  • in reply to DAB

    Hi DAB,

     

    I have not soldered anything yet - I was wondering if this was considered a viable or even good practice for wearable electronics using conductive stainless steel thread. I don't know how solderable stainless steel is (an experiment for tonight, perhaps). The glue is probably non-conductive. A continuity test with my DMM suggests that everything is in contact (with resistances between 1.5 and 8 ohms between each pad-to-pad connection); at least when I am pressing the probes on the pads. The stainless steel thread is braided from very fine wires, specifically this product: http://www.adafruit.com/products/641.

     

    Hope that clears some things up!

     

    -Alex

  • Hi Alex,

     

    If your LED's are unreliable, then you probably have a cold solder joint.

    Use your DMM to verify the connection of each of your wires and look for connections where the solder looks beaded instead of a smooth flow over the connection.

     

    You also need to look at the glue and waterproof material.  Are they non-conductive?  It takes very little material for conductive threads, sometimes just molecules thick, to build under the compounds to short out the connections.

     

    You might also consider using small braided wires instead of solid wires.  Braided wire is more tolerant to flexing.

     

    Hope this helps.

    DAB