How to Go Postal

How to make your own PCB on free postal labels using conductive ink, epoxy and a few parts. By PCB I mean, Post-Circuit Board: as in enter the age of circuits painted on walls. And also because its on postage. Neither snow nor rain nor heat nor law nor gloom of night stays these couriers from the swift completion of their self-appointed rounds. Lets all Go Postal.

Another old project out of the dust bin of 2006 from the Graffiti Research Lab and The Eyebeam OpenLab.

Confront your fear of the hi-res video by clicking here.

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Step 1: The Ways and Means

The essential ways and means to build a PCB:

1. a USPS Priority Mail postal label
2. a multimeter
3. 5-minute epoxy
4. conductive epoxy
5. conductive paint or ink
6. fine tip paint brush
7. copper tape
8. Whatever specific electronic components you need for your circuit.

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Comments

[westfw]

Someone should experiement with the various powdered conductive substances to come up with a formula for "conductive enough" paint that costs less than $150/quart...

[rednbokker]

it has a little more resistance, but regular pencil graphite works well. from what i've found, the harder the graphite the least resistance.

[Q-Branch]

true dat to a DIY recipe. While trying to ship or buy this stuff in Norway I found a company in the U.K. that would try to match the formula and sell it as a multi-part powder to mix. I'll try to dig up that link.

[Bongmaster]

trying to find any shop that sells electrical components here in Norway is next to impossible :( (this part of Norway anyway). My components box is made entirely of harvested parts mainly.

[jianqiang]

Oi, was wondering what the song was in the first video. cool stuff, keep it up.

[Fyat]

Agreed , I have no clue what so ever either been waiting just as long for an answer

[biofueljunke]

is the resistor sticker yours

[agis68]

Ok but so.me comments -for how long gonna be working this with so little V/A -Too expensive for sparing money on the streets - Too exposed in malicious manipulations and weather - What's the necessity of this? I realy couldn't get it....

[raikut]

but how long the circuit will operate with 2 * CR2032 batteries, I doubt????

[agdollison]

so damn expensive

[Gjdj3]

So... how did this work out? Anyone get arrested? Nice job. 5 Stars.

[RevZ]

Q, I have a question for you. I'm going to buy some parts to make a PCB like this, but I stumbled upon two (maybe important) matters: (For your information, I will get the parts online from Conrad, so maybe you can look for the right parts for me) 1. The only elco's I can find are either 10µF 63V or 10UF 16V for a SMD elco. 2. how many watts do the resistors need to be? i can choose either carbon-layer resistors or metal-layer resistors, and i can choose from 1/10 Watt to 1Watt. Thanks in advance for your help, this is great stuff!!

[imarzouka]

The resistor wattage is calculated based on the current and voltage going through them. Check out this calculator it will do that calculations for you
http://ledcalculator.net

[servant74]

Given these circuits, the smallest resistor wattages you can find will be OK. (1/10W is fine, I like to keep 1/8W around for misc stuff, and get larger when I need them).

[kadris3]

about any electrolitic will work as long as the voltage is 3x the supply voltage. observe polarity. long lead is plus+ just like the led. get the cheapest. i use 1/2 watt resistors almost exclusively, but a 1/4 watt is more than adequate. draw on the led is 20 mils at 3v. almost no pwr

[kadris3]

while building is cool, leds already exist w the flashing chip built in. all u need is the led itself. these come in white, blue, red, and the multi-color r/g/b/ flashing leds. i can't knock building though. i have been doing it fr years. love it. i use little squares of circuit board, routed out w a brand x dremmel tool. stuff left are the traces. drill the holes and stuff and solder. funfun.

[curlyfry562]

P=VI
Watts = Voltage x Amps

[mia.305]

I am not that savy with circuits and what not I did find these www.flashingblinkylights.com/jadejadeblinkingpins-p-1041.html in my usual daily searches. The batts only last 8 hours according to the site, can these have battery life extended.

[cruz1]

so are these labels also pipebombs? man, stupid people are stupid

[Brennn10]

I do not know about you, but in today's society, most people will think that is a bomb if you put it in to the public.

[locofocos]

I know there are certain Christmas (gasp : ) ) tree light bulbs that you replace a normal one with at the beginning of the string and it makes all the lights, including itself, blink. I'd like to see someone make a throwie from one of those.

[dataphool]

I have been out of the industry for 28 years, so I did not know conductive epoxy was available. Can you get it at RadioShack? That is a standard US Post Office postcard? The USPO doesn't provide anything esoteric, does it? Looks like a really neat idea.

[tenex]

OPM says: the old Polaroid film had its own flat paper battery to 'develope' the picture. This was the part of the photo that you threw away. If Kodak still makes this stuff, a cheap(?) power source might be availble. I've gone digital, so I've lost track.

[lemonie]

Kodak had a surplus of these some years ago, they built a cheap torch around them to shift 'em. The design of the thing was awful, having to fit around a cell which was (very roughly) 50x70 mm. These batteries (they drove the motor & flash) extracted from Polaroid film-cartridges used to have a fair amount of charge left in them, plenty for LEDs anyway.

[paintpaintpaint]

This looks like a super awesome way to get put in jail. Regular graffiti lands you in jail for the night, this shit makes you look like a terrorist. Once you start involving blinking lights and makeshift wiring cops aren't going to give a fuck how artsy fartsy you think you are.

[fotd]

lmao, I bet your saying "see told ya so" after yesterdays events.

[bvicarious]

Amen. Blinking lights have no place in a post-9/11 world.

[tezcatbus]

Thanks to this instructable, you can install blinky lights in the bunker under your back yard. We can't do much to pretty up a bunker mentality though, sorry. :(

[star35]

"Blinking lights have no place in a post-9/11 world"
Wow! That has to be one of the saddest things I've ever heard :-(

[Rectifier]

Agreed. There is plenty of space for blinky lights in this world. I doubt a real bomb has ever had blinky lights on it, unless it was made by a kid to show off to his friends. Post-9/11 world? Try post-9/11 USA... the rest of the world is doing just fine, thank you. Police overreaction to stuff like this is just that, dumb cops thinking they are hot shit. Nothing to do with "the state of the world".

[qwerty90210]

I agree but, where do you live?

[kix]

luvverly job. would paint more elaborate shapes of circuit.... mmmhh.

[samurai1200]

I freaking love your guys' work. Just getting into DIY electronics myself (and being a street artist), this is perfect. Keep up the good shit, GRL!

[crapflinger]

i know it's not as "fun" or "l337"..but couldn't you just use the copper tape to make your traces as well? same effect (i would think slightly "prettier") with less cost? also wouldn't it have less resistance than the conductive paint?

[Q-Branch]

Yes you can def use the copper tape to make the traces. I guess the appearance is a matter of taste, but I like the look of the copper tape myself. We made this:

http://graffitiresearchlab.com/?page_id=51#video

using copper tape under paint as the traces. The tape isnt too cheap. It ranges from tens to hundreds of dollars per ~ 60 yards depending on the conductivity and quality. The problem with the copper tape is that the cheaper stuff isnt conductive on both sides so you have to double it over to make connections between pieces of tape. On certain brands of copper tape the adhesive is actually conductive as well. This is problematic in that if you pull it up you lose conductivity. Also the adhesive is subject to changes based on temp and humidity, etc.

[technick29]

Sweet instructable! Very detailed and creative. Good job.

[Crash2108]

Kind of like my printed PCBs idea.