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its quite correct to say "its wrong to spend money on something in order to win a contest! " but since its only 250 dollars, i doubt there will be few people doing that. i am guessing that the people who are entering have been intrigued with starting a project and just needed a little something to pull them out of their inertia. i am planning a project that will involved el wire. ( i have ALWAYS loved that neon lighting, and now its the TRON visual effect) however, my plans will just be starting as the voting is concluded. but thats okay for me because it will give me ideas on how to make my project better.
I just rec'd mine. Ten days. Now to make something cool in the quick timeness...
Jul 19, 2010. 1:34 PMbillytwix
says:
somebody better make a sweet tron legacy costume using el tape ID disc included
Jul 22, 2010. 10:29 AMschroedc
says:
that was actually my exact idea for Halloween this year. I doubt I can pull it off in a month tho for this contest too...
Jul 22, 2010. 4:37 AMknektek
says:
The abundant source of EL wire on the cheap could be right around the net, ebay. They have lots of wire, from China and Hong Kong. 3M for £3.50.
Jul 20, 2010. 3:45 PMRelientOwl
says:
Its kind of like gambling, you hope that your instructable, involving El wire, that you spent money, on will win. Simple as that.
Or you make something you love and would have made anyway, and get some bonus stuff for a new project. ;)
This.
Making stuff you don't really like just in the hopes of winning a prize is silly - statistically speaking it is unlikely to pay off - and IMHO goes against the main points of DIY (like saving money, avoiding buying things from big companies, enjoying the process, expressing creativity and making unique products for yourself...though not necessarily against the spirit of the site itself, I suppose).
Making stuff you don't really like just in the hopes of winning a prize is silly - statistically speaking it is unlikely to pay off - and IMHO goes against the main points of DIY (like saving money, avoiding buying things from big companies, enjoying the process, expressing creativity and making unique products for yourself...though not necessarily against the spirit of the site itself, I suppose).
Jul 13, 2010. 7:10 AMZyzzyan
says:
They want us to buy their product so we can win their product? This is shameless and deceitful. BLEACK! If I want to purchase their product I will, I'm not going to purchase it to win a contest.
Spite them by buying EL wire from somewhere else then...
L
Jul 21, 2010. 1:30 PMWalke2jd
says:
This is rediculous. What other reason would a company have to sponsor a contest? Its not deceitful or wrong, especially since they dont "force" you into buying from them to enter. You must think that the companies that sponsor Nascar are so deceitful for requiring their logo be put on the cars... If I do order, it will be from them. If these contests work for the sponsors, we as a community will get more sponsored contests. Seems like a win-win situation from my POV.
Yes indeed. But your comment seems to have attached to mine, rather than that other guy... (probably not an error on your part).
L
L
They're not the only people that sell EL wire and nobody is forcing you to buy from them. Relax.
Actually MOST contests are for that very purpose, so "deceitful" it is not. Expected is more the case. Since all companies that run these contests (those that have a product to sell) do so to promote their product in some way, it isn't really shameful either, unless you count all contests shameful. Whether they ask you to buy their product for use, or buy their product to get a code number off it (Pepsi, Coke, products, etc), it all comes out about the same.
I have a lot of experience working with EL wire, and it is certainly more expensive that other popular lighting methods like LEDs or CCFLs. If you're going to do a job, do it right, I suggest using hi-brightness wire, which generally runs around $1.30-1.50/foot. On top of using hi-brightness, go for a relatively high frequency if you can, around 5000Hz or higher. Though they are not the absolute lowest price for raw materials, I suggest using http://shopping.netsuite.com/coolneonstore since they have everything needed to get a project done within the same shipment. The wires are fairly difficult to manufacture due to how complex their construction is: copper wire, paint coating, insulating layer, corona wires, secondary protective layer, and shell, all within 2.5 or 3.2mm, so the high cost is justified.
Jul 13, 2010. 8:44 AMKasaron
says:
Great. The -last- thing I need is another project. I hope you people are happy, now I have even -more-work to do.
Jul 13, 2010. 3:17 PMcdousley
says:
I wonder if ebay has any el wire and a perfect entry for this would be a homemade driver for el wire
Jul 14, 2010. 4:13 AMprotorob
says:
This is a diy el wire inverter!!!! it is rated for el pannel but should work with elwire too http://www.electro-tech-online.com/attachments/general-electronics-chat/27901d1238704179-can-anyone-show-me-simple-el-wire-diy-inverter-inv-p2-fig2.gif I've ordered some elwire from ebay UK from a guy in hongKong called greenandless, i thought that it never arrives (beeing free shipping) but after 15 days i get a singapore post office envelope in front of my door.
Jul 14, 2010. 5:50 PMcdousley
says:
i found some pretty cheap on ebay that diy inverter is something i may try!
http://www.worldaglow.com/rcProdmain.asp?c1=4&id=143 rite there! hehehe :P found it on google.
It can be as expensive as you make it to be. You can get a bright 4 foot piece with a driver for under $20. It may not sound like much, but I've seen people do some cool stuff with even that.
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