Classes + Assignments

Week 7: Computing Materials Seminar

liza
January 10, 2020

Class Resources

The extensive resources below should provide a good jumping off point for learning more about conductive materials, crafting sensors, and Arduino basics.

Other courses/Tutorials

  • eTextile Fabricademy Lecture. This is a great place to start. It contains all of the material I would have lectured on in a watchable format (Full course wiki here).
  • Wearables Fabricademy Lecture. This covers wearables and an extensive range of outputs like LEDs, fiber optics, soft speakers, muscle wire, etc. It is good survey for working with these materials and components.
    • Slides here.
    • You can access an extensive list of links to more resources here.

Materials

Below is the information from the materials you received last class. Here are a few more resources:

Conductive + Resistive Fabrics

Eeontex Stretch

  • Composition: Knitted nylon/elastane fabric with a conductive polymer formulation. Stretches in both directions.
  • Classification: Conductive / Resistive / Insulating
  • Resistance: 46k Ohms per inch at rest (roughly); 17k Ohms per inch when stretched (roughly)
  • Producer: Eeonyx

Pure Copper Polyester Taffeta

  • Composition: Pure copper with a tarnish resistant finish
  • Classification: Conductive / Resistive / Insulating
  • Resistance: 0.05 Ohms/sq
  • Distributor: lessEMF

Conductive Stretch Fabric (MedTex 130)

  • Composition: Silver plated knitted fabric; 78% Ag/Nylon + 22% elastomer. Stretches in both directions.
  • Classification: Conductive / Resistive / Insulating
  • Resistance: ~3.7 Ohms per inch
  • Producer: Statex
  • Distributor: V Tech Textiles
  • Note: There are lots of stretch conductive fabrics. LessEMF also has a good one.

Eeontex Non-Woven

  • Composition: Polyester/nylon with a conductive polymer formulation
  • Classification: Conductive / Resistive / Insulating
  • Resistance: 11k Ohms per inch (roughly)
  • Producer: Eeonyx

Velostat

  • Composition: Carbon impregnated black polyethylene film (4 mil thick); great for pressure sensors
  • Classification: Conductive / Resistive / Insulating
  • Resistance: <500 Ohms per cm 
  • Producer: 3M
  • Distributor: lessEMF, Sparkfun, Adafruit

Conductive & Resistive Threads & Yarns

Conductive Wool (Bekinox® W 12/18)

  • Composition: 82% wool, 18 stainless steel fiber. Good for spinning, felting.
  • Classification: Conductive / Resistive / Insulating
  • Producer/Distributor: Bekaert

Conductive Gimp (15% Metal Gimp Fantasy)

  • Composition: Brass metal wrapped around a cotton core.
  • Classification: Conductive / Resistive / Insulating
  • Resistance: >0.5 Ohms per inch
  • Distributor: Bart & Francis

Silverspun Yarn

  • Composition: 87% Combed American Cotton / 5% Silver / 5% Nylon / 3% Spandex
  • Classification: Conductive / Resistive / Insulating
  • Resistance: 10 Ohms per inch
  • Producer: Feel Good Yarn Company
  • Distributor: Jimmy Beans Wool Company

Copper Conductive Thread (Karl Grimm High Flex 3981)

  • Composition: Fine copper plied with synthetic fiber core; Solderable; Very conductive
  • Classification: Conductive / Resistive / Insulating
  • Resistance: >0.005 Ohms per inch
  • Distributor/Producer: Karl Grimm

Conductive Yarn

  • Composition: 80% polyester, 20% stainless steel; Small batch spun.
  • Classification: Conductive / Resistive / Insulating
  • Resistance: 17 Ohms per inch

Hard to Soft Connections

Sensors

Sensor Demo Videos

Curated Collections

Switches

Momentary

Toggle

Tilt

Stroke

Sensors

Pressure

Bend

Potentiometer

Stretch

Accelerometer

Code + Circuits

Here is the sample code and circuit from the course slide deck:

Light sensor circuit

Basic

Making Your Data Meaningful