LDK Experiment 1: Lighting Up a Basic Circuit
Positive Trace
The positive trace will take power from the power supply to the positive side of the LED.
Start with your battery pack; this will supply power to your circuit. Donât put the battery in yet; we wonât do that until the end. While youâre sewing, youâre liable to create small short circuits, just by touching across the circuit with your needle or the length of your thread. If the battery is on, these âincidental shortsâ will drain it.
Place the battery pack near where you would like to put your LED, making sure that youâve got one hole with a plus sign and one hole with a negative sign pointed towards the intended LED location. These holes are called âpins,â and youâre looking at the positive and negative pins of your battery pack. When youâve got your battery pack placed where youâd like it, you can start sewing. Push the needle up through the fabric, bringing it through the positive hole furthest from where youâd like to put your LED. Pull the thread all the way through until the knot you made is firmly against the back of your fabric. Pass the needle back through the top of the fabric to the bottom, just outside of the hole, so that you form a small loop that the edge of the board is trapped in. Pull the thread tight again- your board should now be attached to the fabric by one stitch. This is your first stitch. Youâll repeat this process three times on this pin and on every pin you sew down in this circuit. Go ahead and tack this pin down with two more stitches, and it should look like this:
Next you need to sew to the second positive pin of the battery pack. You donât want one big stitch between these two pins. Large stitches are loose, will move around, touching parts of the circuit theyâre not meant to touch, and will cause shorts. Instead, put several small stitches between pins, making sure youâve pulled them tight before you begin to stitch down the next pin. The easiest way to do this is with whatâs called a running stitch.
Once youâre at your second positive pin, sew it down with three tight stitches, repeating the process from the first pin.
From here, itâs time to sew to the positive side of your LED. Continue with the same thread youâve been using and sew a straight line from the second positive pin to where you would like the positive pin of your LED to be.
Double check that youâve got the positive LED pin- LEDs are polarized, so if you sew it in backwards, it wonât light up. The good news is that this wonât damage your LED at all; youâll just have to cut it back out and put it back in the other way.
Once youâre sure youâve got the orientation right, you can sew down the positive pin with three stitches, just like you did with both positive battery pack pins.
This is the end of the positive trace! Weâre half done, and you can tie off your thread and cut it. Do not continue around the LED and sew down the next pin!