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Step 3Sewing Inputs and Vcc
Thread a needle with enough conductive thread. Take the piece of neoprene with only one tab, this is going to be the Vcc, the power supply for the sensor where the 5V from the Arduino will run to. Tie a knot in the end of the thread; do not take the thread double. From the back (in my case black side) poke the needle through the neoprene at one of the end dots of the toe strip marked from the stencil. Stitch back and forth in a diagonal zigzag manor until you reach the other end of the strip. From here go bring the conductive thread back to the back side of the neoprene and make small stitches on the back towards the tab. When you reach the tab, still using the same piece of conductive thread, attach a snap. Thread the needle again and work similar on the heel strip, attaching the end of the conductive thread to the same snap.
Take the other piece of neoprene that has two tabs. Essentially you will do the same here with two exceptions.
1) you will connect the pieces of conductive thread to two separate snaps, each on their own tab!
2) you will sew the zigzag pattern back-to-front to the way you sewed the Vcc strips! This way, when you lay the pieces of neoprene on top of each other, conductive thread zigzags facing inwards, they will crisscross each other and make for a good connection. I made a thinking mistake here at first and so that is why the stencil is not correct in the first pictures. The close-up picture of the foot stencil is the correct one!
Which side to sew the snaps on? It doesn't really matter if your Vcc or your Inputs go on the top or bottom when you layer them later on. So at the moment it is still undecided which foot you will be able to use this sensitive sole for. When you attach the snaps you will want them all to be facing upwards and this will determine if this is a left or right sole.
Before going onto the next step, now would be a good time to check your connections using a multimeter. Turn the multimeter to measuring the lowest amount of Ohm, or if it has a beet setting, this works best. Now check that each zigzag area of conductive thread is connected to its corresponding snap and ONLY to that one snap and no other! If any of your connections don't work or you accidentally crossed conductive threads and made a wrong connection, you can quite easily just cut off the popper and pull out the conductive thread and start over again.
Take the other piece of neoprene that has two tabs. Essentially you will do the same here with two exceptions.
1) you will connect the pieces of conductive thread to two separate snaps, each on their own tab!
2) you will sew the zigzag pattern back-to-front to the way you sewed the Vcc strips! This way, when you lay the pieces of neoprene on top of each other, conductive thread zigzags facing inwards, they will crisscross each other and make for a good connection. I made a thinking mistake here at first and so that is why the stencil is not correct in the first pictures. The close-up picture of the foot stencil is the correct one!
Which side to sew the snaps on? It doesn't really matter if your Vcc or your Inputs go on the top or bottom when you layer them later on. So at the moment it is still undecided which foot you will be able to use this sensitive sole for. When you attach the snaps you will want them all to be facing upwards and this will determine if this is a left or right sole.
Before going onto the next step, now would be a good time to check your connections using a multimeter. Turn the multimeter to measuring the lowest amount of Ohm, or if it has a beet setting, this works best. Now check that each zigzag area of conductive thread is connected to its corresponding snap and ONLY to that one snap and no other! If any of your connections don't work or you accidentally crossed conductive threads and made a wrong connection, you can quite easily just cut off the popper and pull out the conductive thread and start over again.
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