Geeky Circuit Board Earrings

My sister saw a set like these in a catalog for about 20 bucks. I'm cheap, so I didn't let her get them and made my own. The catalog is sold out now, anyway.
I should mention that this is my first Instructable, I'm new to the site.

Update June 21, 2007: I just found a great bracelet that would match nicely, courtesy of llama13, who I just noticed links to here. Thanks, llama13!

Another update, September 24, 2007: Make a processor belt buckle while you're at it! Wow, we're getting an entire wardrobe here! Who volunteers to make the IC chain mail?

Step 1 Collect Materials

The first step is to get all of your stuff. You will need:
Materials:
Circuit Board
Earring Hooks (two)
Jump Rings (I used four, but didn't decide to until later)

Tools:
Bandsaw (or similar device to cut the circuit board)
Needle nose pliers--it's waaaay easier if you have two pairs
Drill press with 1/16" bit
File or Sandpaper

Comments

[argentin]

This guide inspired me a lot to make a pair of earings for my sister
I used a HDD circuit board and 2 clips to make my set and a CD case to make the support for them
They came out great
Thanks for the idea

[CameronSS]

Those look great! I love to see pictures from people who used my Ibles. :)

[theXmaker]

Btw people.. i appreciate whatever u say about the toxity of the solder.. but i REALLY USED TO EAT SOLDER!!! ALL TYPES!! (and even lead solder.. if lead is that brown thing inside the solder!!!!!)

[sr1sws]

Eat solder - not smart. Old school solder is generally an alloy of lead and tin. Lead is a heavy metal and accumulates inside the body. Eat enough over a period of time and you WILL have health problems. "The brown stuff" inside solder is flux - generally rosin (hence the name "rosin core solder"). I can't imagine it being too good for you either, but at least it's organic ;-) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rosin P.S. people DO understand that just because something is organic does not mean it won't kill you - right??

[bassclarinet23]

You used to eat it? Why?

[crummett]

I tried this with a wood blade like that and rendered my blade unusable after cutting 4- 5" circles. Of course, I was cutting through some pretty heavy duty components! Next time I'll try a hack saw blade.

[brooklynlord]

Maybe you can coat the edges with a layer of clear epoxy? Just asking.

[mackintoshlinessless]

anyone notice how when u scroll past picture three it move smaller and bigger!!!!!!!!!

[higgledypiggledy]

Loved this! I have completed thsi project, and made a necklace to match - I murdered my old gameboy, lol. Lovely, no?

[David Cousins]

I like it. I going to make some for my daughter.

[NetReaper]

Make sure to protect her from any lead solder in the circuit board.

[Bitsi]

I bought a pair of circuit board earrings on etsy for $4 (the store is gone now, sorry). Turned out that they were not actual pieces of a board, but LAMINATED PICTURES of circuitry. At first, I was really disappointed. After wearing them several times, though I kind of like the idea. They are lighter than actual board would be, and indistinguishable from 2' away. Also, from a crafter's point of view: laminated pictures are easier to cut, and easier to reproduce, and easier to match for earrings. I might try shrinky dinks too. :-)

[Lithium Rain]

If you can't/don't want to wreck a nice computer, try the board out of an old cheapie $1 calculator.

[deadalchemist]

This is a neat idea; i totally want to make a pair of these!!!

[Punkguyta]

Now,..Tell me, who in their right mind would wreck a pentium 3 processor (from the looks of it)????

[Mojo_JoJo]

Well... I did make a key chain using a 486 for a friend of mine before I discovered instructables but he managed to break it by the time I discovered this site. I also made another one using a 40 pin IC, had to bend all 40 pins into a "J" shape like one of those SMD's so that it doesn't poke me. Come to think of it, other jewellery items could be made e.g a bracelet, by stringing a few 1" square PCB's and it would be even cooler if they had working LED's on them. Anyone want to give this a try?

[CameronSS]

Someone has--reread the Intro.

[Punkguyta]

I would keep the 486 and play dos games on it, those things are wicked.

[CameronSS]

me. I took that out of an ancient computer. It ran Windows 98, had a huge 4.3 GB HD, and it was the deluxe multimedia center version with a whopping 64 MB of RAM. This was from a machine with 128KB standard memory. Oh look, I still have the spec panel from the box: Intel Celeron 333MHz processor. Still, that 56Kbps modem occasionally gave me glimpses of the fabled "World Wide Web"...

[minfu2]

Hey! I have a celeron. But it is the new version with an acceptable 2.2 ghz processor.

[Punkguyta]

oh, a celeron? Then it deserved to be cut up, do be a favour and cut the actualy core in half for me, just in lue of me hating celerons, thanks.

[bmlbytes]

Not a processor. Just the board. The processor has been taken out. I'll PM you tommarow on how to add yellow boxes.

[CameronSS]

No, it is a processor. The shiny square in the middle is the processor. It was mounted sideways with a giant heat sink.

[bmlbytes]

Oh, my bad it looked like it wasn't there to me.

[kqrpnb]

Great instructable! I just made some for my daughter, and then had the bright idea to look on Instructables for thoughts on how it's done!

A suggestion for jump rings: twist them open instead of spreading them. Pulling them apart (Making an "O" into a "C") fatigues the metal, and can introduce folds marks.

Check out mine below ( SugarTeen52 modeled them for me).

[CameronSS]

Nice!

I don't quite agree with your statement about the jump rings. Pulling them apart...fatigues the metal... Any bending action will fatigue metal. That's one of the obnoxious laws of nature: If you have a piece of metal, and you bend it repeatedly, it doesn't matter how quickly you move it, how frequently you move it, or how far you move it. After a certain amount of motion, the metal will break. Fold marks I don't know about, and they;re too small to see anyway, so I didn't care. :-)

[les_SD_3386]

LOL 2 CUTE!

[iamnotsancho]

I like, keep up the good work. I'm wondering what else I could use to cut circuit board?

[CameronSS]

Well, a waterjet would work well, as would a laser cutter. But I think that if you don' have a bandsaw, you probably don't have either of them either. A good hacksaw, a Dremel tool, a good knife and a lot of time, a tablesaw if you were very optimistic, a sabersaw/jigsaw, a scrollsaw, tinsnips, boltcutters, teeth (not recommended), diagonal cutters, etc. Shall I go on? About anything that's tough enough would work. Silicon is pretty tough stuff.

[dan]

just a hacksaw works great. you want fine tooth blade for cleaner cut.

[Aud1073cH]

I use my mini hacksaw, like this one You can find them at the local "home center"/hardware store. I got mine for $3 with extra blades. - talk about cheap :)

[CameronSS]

True. However, you can always sand it down.

[Jeema]

I applaud you CameronSS!!!! I saw similar earrings on some rocker dude and fell in love with the concept. Your sister is lucky to have an artistic brother like u! I'm gonna make MY own!

[CameronSS]

And I just fell out of the chair snickering. HA! ME! ARTISTIC! You're funny... Seriously, I hacked an Intel Celeron up on the bandsaw, smoothed the edges on the belt sander, drilled a hole, and put on earring hardware. The hardest part about this project was either a) getting the stupid macro to focus or b) getting my sister to enter my lair so I could take the ear shot.

[RaNDoMLeiGH]

Hey, you stole my idea!! As for the lead solder issue, feh. Coat it with urethane and get on with it. I do stained glass and the flux is WAY nastier than the solder or lead came. However... Be SURE to wear lung protection (a respirator with a particle filter) while chopping out your pieces. Silica dust is carcinogenic and you don't particularly need any kind of metal dust in your lungs, either. Even if you don't get cancer (odds are you won't get it) you can end up with a lung irritation that will leave you wondering why you've had this minor congestion for months on end... and it's a very good chance that you will inhale enough to give yourself a yukky condition. Unfortunately this is one of those things that I hope you will learn from my experience rather than from your own. A bench grinder that is able to take small amounts of water dripping on the whetstone will work a treat. Either run it outside or with a good dust collection system as the particles stay airborne for a couple of days. If you can wet-grind the edges (or wet-sand them under running water) that will help keep dust particles out of the air. I would use my lapidary grinder but then not everyone has one of those. I would surmise that you could wet-sand with a dremel with a flexible shaft as long as you were MIGHTY careful about getting shocked. At the very least plug it into a GFIC outlet and try to keep splashing carefully controlled. My two cents... RaNDoMLeiGH

[CameronSS]

I did NOT steal your idea. I stole that magazine's idea. :-)
Well, I haven't had congestion since last July, so I think the vacuum I have hooked up to the belt sander/bandsaw table worked. I really have it there because it is in the basement, which houses this computer in the other room. sensitive/expensive electronics+sawdust=not good

[RaNDoMLeiGH]

Good girl. I'm glad someone has some sense around here!

[CameronSS]

Girl?

[RaNDoMLeiGH]

Girl? Guy? [other?] Guess I was thinking about Cameron Diaz, but I suppose that Cameron is a guy's name too, like in Ferris Bueller's Day Off.

Sorry! =)

[jessyratfink]

Considering I just had to destroy my DVD player since it sucks and tried to eat my disc, I might as well do this. :D