Circuit T-Shirt

Googfan here, and this is a DIY on how to make a T-Shirt with a built in circuit. No, I am not going to build a circuit and slap it on with hot glue. No, the circuit is built right in the fabric. I've noticed the cloth-electronics fad and decided to go all the way. This is an original idea.

Well, if you're interested, don't sit there like my cat; click ahead!

Check out my MiniTV {featured on HackADay!} and my Can Of Sound instructables!

UPDATE:::
This got featured on HackADay! Sure, I could have used the lillypad ardunio, but this was meant to be made with parts you can get from an old radio or the like.

Also, I know the cap symbols are wrong. If shirt white-out was in invented id gladly fix it.

Visit my website at mrgoogfan.com

Step 1 Supplies

A list of things you will need.

+ An extra large White Tshirt
+ Spraypaint
+ Sewing needles
+ Enamel wire, >24 gauge
+ Razor knife
+ Solder Iron & Solder
+ Cereal Box
+ Food to eat

Not shown---
+ A glue gun w/ glue
+ A Pen

***You will need to choose a circuit you will want to make. I used a two transistor astable oscillator {led blinker}. You will also need the components to make your chosen circuit. Look online to find an easy circuit.

Comments

[movieman97]

Would this be washable if I water sealed all of the components and removed the battery prior to washing?

[brooklynlord]

To decrease the speed of the blinking resistors, can you use higher resistance resistors in the middle and larger capacitors?

[AdamMunich]

you dont have to change the caps, but you could use a larger or even variable resisitor if you like.

[brooklynlord]

"blinking resistors"

Sigh. i meant LEDs

[cree888]

No problem, Lobo. I went to school during the head punching days as well. As a result. I was the dictionary, thesarus and White & Strunk's Grammar with two legs and at work. I am disabled now and prefer not to beat up myself or anyone else with grammar. I do understand, however, as one of disabilities is loss of cognitive ability. I have to type & re-type constantly. But I still compulsively diagram sentences. Does any one have a cure for that?

[ceramiceye]

speaking of diagraming. Have you noticed that student's in school today don't diagram sentences anymore? They just don't do it at all. And then we wonder why their grammar and spelling suck. People blame it on IM and the Internet, but I think its more than that. Kids don't know how to construct a good sentence because they don't diagram. I personally don't care about spelling much, but I hate a poorly worded sentence or just plain bad writing.

[cree888]

Now, you've got me on my soap box. They no longer teach children how to do an outline for an essay! When I take notes or plan a project that is how I think--very logically. Today outlining a subject is done by drawing a big circle with connecting lines to smaller circles, and so on, ad finitum. The center circle is the subject, the smaller circles are sub-aspects of the subject and smaller rings of circles are added as needed. Looks like great pop art. What I find confusing about the first ring of circles is that they are equally weighted. How does one then know the most important sub-aspect or sub-plot of a story when it is all equal? It is about as good as new math! My daughters could not learn the concept of percentages until I taught them how to compute a percentage using old math and further explaining how they correspond to fractions and decimals. With new math, they had no idea that each expression (25%, .25, 1/4) all meant the same thing. We need to get the youth of America thinking logically again. This has nothing to do with the circuit T-shirt. Then again, maybe it really does.

[ceramiceye]

see, now the soap box thing is just getting contagious. You are SO right about the logic. I am a (young) science teacher. I attended a private school myself that still did things a little old school, so I learned in the older, more traditional way. I am only about 12 years older than most of my students now, and when I started I was only 8 years older than most of my students. So, I would have thought that there wouldn't have been much of a difference in the way I learned to the way that they learn, but it is so obvious that they are so much further behind now. But I always thought (and still do to a point) that the old school way required too much memory and not enough free thinking. However, my students (8th grade now, 9th grade before) couldn't think themselves out of a cardboard box. Most of them have no problem-solving skills. Something I thought "outcome-based" stuff would have promoted. The problem with that is there is no real "wrong" answer when it's outcome based, so some kids learn that they can pass a class just by doing alot of stuff instead of actually doing it right. I think outcome based education theory has alot of good qualities, but its never implemented properly because of inconsistencies in teacher-ability and because the districts keep changing their policies and curriculums every 3 years. Once again, off of the circuit shirt, but does apply to Instructables and DIY culture. Most kids have no problem-solving skills and can't think outside of the box. Technology and innovation will meet a steep decline if the trend continues. Yea, and they have the attention span of a fruitfly, which adds to the problem, because they can't stick with a problem long enough to try to solve it. Recently, I've been teaching a few of them how to solve Rubic's cubes. All of them are fascinated by it, but only a couple have had the patience to stick to it long enough to get good at it.

[cree888]

I supplement my grandsons' education with gifts of books from Dover Publishing. You can buy classic literature cheap and they have a plethora of history, science and math books. www.doverpublishing.com
Check it out. I have given them so far, Huckleberry Finn (no longer taught in schools), my 17-yr-old received Franz Kafka's Metamorphosis and as a family gift they we given Everything you did not know about American History. Our schools are severely lacking in teaching the basics of the Constitution and how the three branches of government work. Children are born with brilliant brains and then we teach them how not to use it. I have a brother, 12 yrs younger than I, who was taught on a "contract" system with the teacher and there were no classrooms just pods. He hated it. He became a discipline problem because he was bored to tears and he made his contracts to do as little as possible. However, he is extremely brilliant because starting at age 5 when he learned to read, he always went in the bathroom with a volume of our Encyclopedia. My mother taught us many things through card games and board games. A deck of cards is how we first learned our numbers. Board games taught us strategy and to think our decisions through to the end result. There was forever a Scrabble game going to increase vocabulary and jig saw puzzles for problem solving skills and patience. She was a brilliant woman and fabulous mom. I taught my children how to add and subtract fractions by baking with them. There are so many ways to get around how children are taught these days and they are easy and fun and the family spends quality time together. Mah Jong is fabulous for discovering patterns, working a strategy and teaching persistence. We have to be involved as parents. Is there a forum somewhere we can take this discussion so that we can get our soap boxes out of Googfan's T-shirt?

[AdamMunich]

What does any of this have to do with t-shirts?

[brian250]

i am wondering the same thing as the comments have no bearing on what someone is demonstrating to the real people who are interested.

[bikerbob2005]

wow be proud you got deep discussions going on here that is an accomplishment in it's self also its a cool T-shirt .maybe next one could have a logic ciruct than would show your shirt is smarter than ok wont go there i promise to be nice

[cree888]

Nothing. Ceramiceye and I got into a side discussion about education. After two comments I asked him if there was another forum to which we could take our onversation. I did not receive a reply, so I dropped it. However, I think your T-shirt design is very educational to youngsters interested in electronics. Rest assured there will be no more comments from me about education on your instructable. I do apologize for the intrusion. It was not my intention to be rude; our conversation about a question on electronics just took a turn to science education.

[DYLEGO]

I don't think he was asking you to quit, just wondering what inthe world was going on...

[AdamMunich]

exactly

[nimitz]

They no longer teach quite a bit. Math, language, science, and many others are all lacking in today's schools. My soapbox notes tell me that it's all related to the original "outcome based education" stuff that started many many years ago. Where the hell did this box marked "soap" come from under my feet?? ;-)

[ceramiceye]

PS - this instructable is very cool! I am going to have to try this someday.

[Goodhart]

Nope, sorry there is no known cure for OCD _{I know, from first hand experience} :-)

Nice project and idea. I wonder how long conductive paint would last, if used for the wire (and covered by the paint shown in the instructable)?

[Goodhart]

Oops, just read through the rest of the comments, and discovered someone else that mentioned conductive paint......if kept to a minimum, it might not be too bad though :-)

[nimitz]

Carp. I keep telling myself to read before posting but sometimes I just don't heard myself. ;-)

[frickelkram]

Hmmm, really "smelly" project .... I like the idea of clothes that MUST NOT be washed .... ;-)

[AdamMunich]

lysol

[Lego man]

I prefer Febreze.

[AdamMunich]

Does it kill 99.9% of bacteria? Hmm?

[nimitz]

I'm curious as to if you looked at conductive paint at all for this project. I have some actual conductive silver paint here in my workshop that I think I'll now test for flexibility. Hmm...maybe if I cut it with a latex clear base...

[cree888]

CeramicEye and I were talking about education as a result of a comment I made somewhere along the line. I know nothing of science & electricity except having a frogs gallbladder squirted in my face and my brother playing a nasty trick with a magneto. Conductive paint sounds like it would work and clear coating it would certainly help it adhere to the fabric longer. However, if you really want a paint to stay permanently on a fabric you need to add a medium to it so that it will not craze such Golden's GAC 800. It is a liquid acrylic polymer emulsion. You can find it at art and craft supply stores. Or you can add a simple fabric paint medium from the craft store which makes the paint more pliable and move with the shirt. But what would this do to the paint's conductivity? Circuitry is not my forte, but wouldn't the reason the shirt would be unwashable the circuit components rather than the wire? You can knit and weave wire into clothing decoratively. But basic electricity tells me a transistor radio doesn't work if you throw it in the tub. (Do not try this while bathing if connected to an AC outlet.) If someone can help me with an answer, please. It would be great if these shirts could be washable. My plan is to paint a skull on the t-shirt and use the LEDs as eyes. Nice Christmas present for a couple of teenage boys. Another thought, what if the wiring was run through very thin plastic tubing from the aquarium shop? Could you not then seal the ends with super glue? The circuitry could be put on the inside of the shirt and sew around the tubing to adhere it with a thread that matches the paint. Simple buttonholes or slits for LEDs to pass through to the design side. Comments, suggestions welcome. I really want to do this project.

[nimitz]

Actually provided the battery is removed and the solder joints themselves are sealed with something like clear nail polish then washing shouldn't hurt it really. I have a 17" CRT monitor that works just fine but sat in flood waters for about a week or more before I got it. I let it dry for two weeks and it just came up without issue. As long as these things are completely dry before starting it back up there shouldn't be a problem. The thing you don't want to do is put it in the clothes dryer. The heat is bad for the transistors at the very least. You might get away with it for a while but in the end the heat will wear the parts down early.

[cree888]

Many Thanks!

[zimmemic25]

why can't i wash it? i think if i use safety pins to stick it between 2 other "un-electified" t-shirts of same size, it would work

[cree888]

I think this is too cool. I know nothing about electronics, but I know someone who can help me. I am a starving artist (emphasis on food stamps.) I always make my Christmas gifts and I can make these for my grandsons. Thanks for the great idea. I don't care if there was a typo. This is not Mavis Beacon's typing class. Get a grip some of you. Share in the spirit of creativity rather than criticism.

[AdamMunich]

YES!

[lobo_pal]

We just feel that correcting typos helps the understanding and respectability of the project. How would you feel if one of your art pieces were marked with a line or paint mark that didn't belong?

[cree888]

gotcha! i am somewhat new to the site and i thought some of comments sounded like the person writing felt superior in knowledge. i understand your point. thanks for making me aware of the protocol.

[lobo_pal]

It's understandable. I've always had correct grammar punched into my head, but it is a peeve of mine. But when you see a instructable that is unclear, maybe has a typo that changes the meaning, like or instead of and, or just has a lot that make it hard to read, it really ends up like this sentence. See.

[Ph3nomin0n]

Absolutely agree lobo_pal. This site has taught me how to use good grammar, I used to type all abbreviated and lazy but thanks to the grammar Nazis here, people now get annoyed because I type too well. Thanks all.

[lobo_pal]

I like to think that we combat the stupid children who actually write 'u' and 'lol' in school assignments. I mean how stupid can they possibly be?

[IdrisB]

I can understand writing "u" by accident (although it is pretty careless), but when would anyone ever need to write "lol" in a school assignment? Any type of laughter (unless it is part of a creative writing assignment) should not be part of a paper.

[lobo_pal]

Truly.

[Ph3nomin0n]

I type "lol" but only in IM with people I know, like my sister or whatever. But then for school assignments? I mean you honestly have to have been dropped as a baby to write like that in school.

[xproplayer]

has anyone made this with this exact circuit i want to make this but need to know that you can make it just from the shirt