Making A Glove Work With A Touch Screen

Step 3 Use

Go ahead and give it a try!  Put on your glove and see what you can do with your phone.

No, it won't be as accurate as using your bare hands but it is good enough that I was still able to type on the iPhone keyboard without too many errors.  And now I don't have to take off my glove just to answer a call or read an email. 

Comments

[guntemar]

This will be a great thing since I use my iPhone as a GPS/Music Player on my motorcycle...I always wear gloves and have to pull over to do anything on the screen..

[philauris]

 LOL! i use my nose or chin in the winter for my ipod and iphone lol

[akoutdoors]

that is epic... never thought of that....

[Ryutso]

Cool! Now I just need to find gloves, which are very uncommon down here in Florida, even though it's gotten pretty cold this year.

[toddmax]

Great instructable, and a must for us Vermonters.
Enough about that.... have any details about the gloves? Make, model? I want.. :)

[Grathio]

Thanks!

The gloves are definitely Burton, I think they're the Pipe Glove (link) though the new model replaces the swirly pattern on the palm with a big logo. :/

[Kirstie2000]

On ebay, Toby_147 has totally ripped your text content.
See item 270670055150

The cheeky bugger.

[Grathio]

Dang. I had a nice talk with the guy and he said he'd change the listing. Looks like he re-listed it with all my images and text though.

*sigh*

Folks, I don't care how many times you tell people about this hack. I don't care how much conductive thread you sell. Hell, I WANT you to sell conductive thread and tell people about this trick!

But just give me some credit, okay? Don't rip off my images, which took me a lot of time and equipment to take. Don't rip off my text which took me a lot of time to write. Feel free to link here. It costs you nothing and doesn't violate the (very permissive) license this is published under. And doesn't tick me off. (I'm pretty hard to tick off.)

In short:
- Selling conductive thread: Yay! I want you to become very rich!
- Ripping this Instructable: Boo. Ticks me off, makes you a thief. A simple email from me will get your auction closed, etc.

And if you think you can get away with it, well, I've had three different nice people like the Kirstie2000 tell me about this one guy. And,seriously, just link here. It's quicker and easier than ripping my content.

[bornahorse]

Would these gloves work with a classic ipod wheel? That'd be great, cause then I wouldn't have to keep taking off my gloves to adjust the volume.

[chicagoandy]

Why is being a messy sewer a good thing?

[Grathio]

Leaving extra dangling bits, knots, long tails, etc on the inside of the glove helps make a better connection between your finger and the front of the glove. (Because there's more thread touching your finger inside the glove.)

[AKskate907]

thanks brah, i live in alaska and snowboardings gonna be alot better now that i did this, nice instructable

[jono456]

 Your comment that a capacitive touch screen "completes a circuit" is not true. I realize that it does not matter that the reader understands the technology of a capacitive touch screen but it is just wrong to tell a falsehood. That does not serve a useful purpose. It only perpetuates the current situation of so few people understanding how things work.

For instance, if completing a circuit were all that is required then the finger would never have to contact anything. A metal stylus would do the job and of course it will not.

[WeepinAngel]

… Granted that the iPhone is programmed to ignore small touches, so the stylus example wouldn't work, conductive or not.

[jamesccostello]

Jono456, to be fair, you are more thoroughly completing the circuits in a touch sensor when you use a capacative touch device, and yes a metal stylus will work if it has a larger tip (touch sensors are usually optimized for larger objects).

I'll press the "post comment" button with my metal pen on my capacitive touch pad just to be sure.  I'll also use a sock (I don't own gloves) to isolate the pen from my hand.

[Ben The Builder]

 If this worked you don't have a capacitive touch screen, if it is like a Palm pilot or a treo or something of the sort it is NOT a capacitive touch screen, if it's an ipod touch or Iphone it was just a fluke that it worked, it will not work, trust me I've tried

[jamesccostello]

I don't have a capacitive touch screen, I have a capacitive touch pad below my keyboard, and the part is branded as such by both Dell and Synaptics.  Also, the drivers state that it is a capacitive touch pad.  It does work with metal, but not as well as it works with fingers, and if you look up how capacitive touch pads work, you'll find that they should be able to sense most metals.

here is a proof of concept:
www.instructables.com/id/How_to_make_a_DIY_iPhone_iPod_Touch/

[Grathio]

 Your description is much more accurate than my description.

However I wrote these instructions not for regular people with no special knowledge.  How capacitive touch sensors work isn't important to doing this. Explaining it properly would have doubled the length of the 'ble, and filled it with a lot of technical jargon.  That would have turned off a lot of people.  So I made a choice to keep it (too) short.  Meanwhile I did provide a link to the correct information for those few that are curious.

But that's the joy of making an Instructable. No mater how hard we work to share something, someone's always a critic.  If I can think of a better way to explain it in 3 words, I'll update it.

Thanks for signing up just to comment on this.  I'm looking forward to reading your Instrucables.

[mikevanky]

 haha u owned him! and nice simple solution to a major annoyance!
Thanks!

[freemanoid]

 a very admirable comment grathio.

Great instructable too :)

[Sir Hodges]

 He made a mistake. You don't need to attack him and accuse him of lying to everyone.

Rather, Explain how it works. 

[hughscott5]

Agreed!!

[electrocat]

Thanks! i'll try

[Mapkys999]

pretty cool, I'll probably try that with my HTC

[idesignstuff]

Unusually nice photography too. Good job. I'd like to try this just for the touch music player controls on the outside of my dumbphone.

Thanks.

[Kosmic Blu]

Brilliant! Makes a world of difference. Cool. Thanks