For this week’s electronics lab we worked on learning to use a breadboard, building simple circuits, and providing power to our circuit with an arduino or power supply. I worked with LEDs in series and in parallel, resistors, switches including a soft button I built with conductive fabric, and a motor. I practiced measuring voltage, current, and resistance, and to create a spinning reflective flower, I did a little soldering.
I built the soft button at soft lab. The conductive fabric at the soft lab is conductive on both sides, which I checked with a continuity test. On the inside, there’s a thicker layer of fabric that keeps two pieces of conductive fabric from touching. A small hole in the center of the middle layer allows you to press and make both sides touch. I also played with combining a switch with a potentiometer.
Soldering on the bottom of a DC motor – positive and negative only change the direction of the spin
I first tested out the motor with just a key switch and then decided to build a little stand to house it. I soldered the bottom of the motor to wire but didn’t solder together the whole circuit (I am borrowing this button from a friend). I thought having reflective material that moved would create a cool visual effect, so I created this flower controlled with a button. It was actually pretty fun to play with.
The final prototype for a spinning reflective flower and a simple button, powered with a 9V power supply
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