\n Boundless is an ongoing work combining high fashion aesthetics with hardware and wearable technology. The goal of this project is to create wearable, programmable circuit boards that also have a strong aesthetic sense, and utilize jewelry-making and craft techniques to solve electrical engineering problems. This series includes a chainmail-style dress made out of PCBs, an LED pulsing PCB necklace, and a piece that accesses data via wifi to display the moon's current phase through LEDs. <\/p>\n
\n Software Used
\nAutodesk Fusion
\nBantam Othermill driver
\nArduino IDE
\nAdafruit LED Backpack Library<\/p>\n
Equipment Used
\nSoldering iron
\nBantam Othermill
\nPliers
\nWire strippers
\nTweezers
\nManual pick and place machine
\nSurface mount solder
\nHeat gun
\nHot plate<\/p>\n
Dress materials:
\n250 PCB boards
\n10 yds nonconductive chain
\n60ft clear speaker wire
\nsingle-sided copper-clad boards
\nArduino uno
\n2x HT16K33 led matrix driver backpacks
\n7v lipo battery<\/p>\n
Wired and programmed primarily through following adafruit's guide for the HT16K33 use – https:\/\/learn.adafruit.com\/adafruit-led-backpack\/downloads<\/p>\n
Moon Board Materials:
\nLeather
\nRivets
\nNonconductive chain links
\nClear speaker wire
\nSingle-sided copper-clad board
\n57 .01 uf capacitors
\n1000 uf capacitor
\n56 neopixels
\nESP 8266 Module
\n5v voltage regulator<\/p>\n
\nStar board materials:
\nSingle sided copper clad board
\nATTiny 85
\nClear speaker wire
\nGold chain
\nLobster clasps
\nJump rings
\n48 blue surface mount LEDS
\n48 470 ohm resistors
\n10k ohm resistor
\n.01 uf capacitor
\n1000 uf capacitor
\nNPN Transistor<\/p>\n
Schematics can be found here: https:\/\/kayitp.wordpress.com\/2024\/05\/01\/technical-details-for-boundless\/ <\/p>\n
\n This project began as me exploring a method for creating a wearable LED grid through linking rigid backing together using jewelry-making techniques (as opposed to mounting the LEDs on a flexible piece of plastic or fabric, which is the method used by most readily-available flexible LED grids). This was initially inspired by a dress created by the designer Guo Pei created entirely out of a mesh of rhinestones linked together with jewelry backing. It occurred to me that this was a technique that could work quite well with LEDs and started my work from there.
\nI explored a few methods of backing the LEDs to link them together (3D printing and laser-cutting), and eventually settled on creating PCBs to do so. This allowed me a high level of precision with shape, the ability to embed electrical traces for the LEDs directly into the backing material, and the benefit of the raw copper finish of DIY PCBs being an added aesthetic touch to the work that I really came to appreciate. After several rounds of tests, I settled on a design for the PCBs that functioned for what I needed (support, aesthetic, and assembly) and built a 8×8 grid prototype with hand milled PCBs. The prototype was very successful for the most part, with the biggest hurdle to overcome being determining the connection type and type of material that would give me the best combination of strength, aesthetic, and ease of assembly.
\nI tested several options for connections moving forward, including using the chains themselves to conduct current, and using conductive thread insulated by beads and settled on clear speaker wire for its combination of durability and aesthetic. <\/p>\n
\n Inspiration and essential resources:
\nGuo Pei: Couture Fantasy
\nGuo Pei: Couture Beyond
\nGlitch Feminism – Legacy Russel
\nTraintrakr – https:\/\/www.traintrackr.io\/product\/mta2
\nPaco Rabanne's 12 unwearable dresses – https:\/\/fashion.rabanne.com\/en-us\/pages\/the-12-unwearable-dresses
\nAlexander McQueen's led collection for Givenchy in 1995
\nBrian Oakes' PCB sculptures – http:\/\/www.brianoakes.xyz\/
\nHomemade Hardware PCB creation guides – http:\/\/homemadehardware.com\/
\nGreat tutorial for basic LED grids – https:\/\/www.circuitspecialists.com\/blog\/build-8×8-led-matrix\/
\nKobakant soft\/hard connections – https:\/\/www.kobakant.at\/DIY\/?p=1272
\nKobakant beaded conductive thread – https:\/\/www.kobakant.at\/DIY\/?p=7041
\nFantastic tutorial on accessing API data through an ESP8266 – https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=HUjFMVOpXBM
\nArduino JSON assistant – https:\/\/arduinojson.org\/v7\/assistant\/#\/step1\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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