Soldering has brought me so much unexpected happiness, that it's hard for me to believe that I didn't learn how to do it until two summers ago. Better late than never! Thank you, +Craig Lyndes, for teaching me how to solder!
Since a lot of people have asked me how I solder surface mounted LEDs in my projects, I decided to create this video for a class I'm taking.
If you haven't yet tried your hand at soldering, I hope this will motivate you to grab a soldering iron, crack a window and a smile, and have fun! (You may need to change the video settings to HD 720 once it starts.)
I embedded a switch, Attiny85, and a 3V coin cell battery.
This is the front view of the front cover.
After doing quite a few sugar skull prototypes, I have finally used the design in a book binding project! I plan to fill this 8 X 8 inch journal with pictures of my parents and momentos from Arizona.
Something that worked well here was using a copper-colored acrylic ink to paint around the artwork, rather than leaving the Canson mixed media paper a boring white. Sealing the colored pencil sketch with acrylic gel medium gives the cover an additional glow.
While I am generally happy with the way that this book turned out, I've concluded that I may need to use a thicker binder's board if my goal is to do an elegant job of hiding a recessed battery.
In this model, the majority of my focus was on getting the artwork to line up with the circuit. If I could go back and do it all over, I would position the hole for the battery another half inch away from the corner to provide more wiggle room for creating a flap to conceal it.
I had fun soldering the LEDs to the copper tape, but one of the LEDs that I selected for the eyes stopped working after I sewed the signatures into the book!
After bending the cover a bit, it worked again, but now my front cover has a slight bend to it.
I wish the hole for the battery was further from the corner!
This is the back view of the front cover.
Here's how I laid out my circuit.
The inside features a variety of different papers; I plan to decorate them later.
Today was successful in some ways and unsuccessful in others.
Successful
1. I got my soldering equipment out of the bags! (This three-second video took close to an hour to make, because I had to address some space issues on my iPad and set up my new tripod).
2. I discovered that the solder that I bought had lead in it BEFORE I started using it, so I was able to exchange it for the non-lead variety. (This took another hour.)
3. I got some practice soldering Lilypad LEDs to a Twinkle microprocessor. I even attached the wires to copper tapes that lead to a paper batter holder! (This took another two hours.)
4. I discovered that the wire that I bought (intercom wire), has only a single thread of copper at its core, and determined that it may not be the best choice for future soldering attempts.
5. The copper tape and circuit stickers that I ordered arrived today. These will help me make the inside of my project more interactive!
FAIL
1. After all of the the soldering was complete, none of the LEDs lit up when I inserted the battery.
Parting Thoughts:
While, I am disappointed that I wasn't able to maximize my time today by getting further on my project, I realize that screw-ups are part of the process.
Tomorrow, I will attempt to finish a set of book covers using the LEDs that I assembled during Create Make Learn. I will also attempt to find a used book that I can cut apart and experiment with, rather than cutting into books that I've made.
I am thinking about changing my project to an ALTERED book project.
NGSS Framework Practices Addressed
1. Asking questions (for science) and defining problems (for engineering)
2. Developing and using models
3. Planning and carrying out investigations
4. Analyzing and interpreting data
6. Constructing explanations (for science) and designing solutions (for engineering)
8. Obtaining, evaluating, and communicating information
