Introduction: Final Project: Progression of the Wearable LED Glove

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This Final Project is a progression of my Wearable LED Glove, as featured in the link below. As such, the instructions to be featured in this Instructable will follow up on the finished product of the original project. In my final project, I have made these changes: lighting Adafruit LED Sequins through circuits completed through hand gestures and extending the wire connection between the Circuit Playground Express and the power supply through soldering.

https://www.instructables.com/Interactive-Assignment-Wearable-LED-Glove/


Supplies

Materials and Tools

  • 1 knit glove
  • Adafruit Circuit Playground Express (CPX)
  • 4 Adafruit Neopixels
  • 1 JST 2-pin cable
  • 1 AA Battery Pack (and 3 AA batteries)
  • Conductive stainless steel sewing thread
  • Sewing kit (specifically needle and scissors)


  • Adafruit MakeCode


  • Soldering kit
  • Conductive cloth
  • Copper tape
  • Wires
  • 3 Adafruit LED Sequins

Step 1: The Thumb: the First Half of the Switch

Using steel conductive thread, sew a piece of conductive cloth to the front of the glove's thumb. Then, run the thread from the conductive thread on the thumb to the bottom-left Ground (GND) pin on the CPX, as shown in the picture.

This creates the first half of the switch to the circuit(s) that will power LEDs on the fingertips of the glove.

Step 2: The Ring and Middle Fingers: the Second Half of the Switch

Again, using conductive steel thread, sew a piece of conductive cloth to the back of the ring and index fingers.

This creates the second half of the switch to the circuit(s) that will power LEDs on the fingertips of the glove.

Step 3: 'Peace Sign' Circuit

  1. Starting from the conductive cloth on the back of the ring finger, sew--along the side of the glove finger--conductive steel thread to the front of the ring finger.
  2. Attach one LED Sequin on the fingertip of the middle finger, with the negative side (-) pointing up and the positive side (+) pointing down.
  3. Continuing from Step 1, sew thread to the negative side of the middle finger's LED Sequin. Be sure to sew along the outer side of the glove's finger, as to keep later threads separate.
  4. Attach one more LED Sequin on the fingertip of the index finger, again with the negative side (-) pointing up and the positive side (+) pointing down.
  5. Sew a connection between the negative sides and the positive sides of the two LED Sequins. Negative to negative. Positive to positive.
  6. From the positive side of the index finger's LED Sequin, run thread down the finger to the top of the palm. Then, run that thread to the right--heading perpendicular to towards the pinky.
  7. Wrap the thread to the backhand, and attach it to the 3.3 V pin, as shown in the picture.

This creates the 'Peace Sign' circuit.

Step 4: 'Rock and Roll' Circuit

  1. Starting from the conductive cloth on the back of the middle finger, run conductive steel thread down to the top of the backhand. Then, run that thread to the left--heading perpendicular to the pinky--and wrap the thread to the front of the pinky.
  2. Attach one LED Sequin on the fingertip of the pinky, once more with the negative side (-) pointing up and the positive side (+) pointing down.
  3. Continuing from Step 1, sew thread to the negative side of the pinky's LED Sequin.
  4. Sew a connection from the negative side of the pinky's LED Sequin to the thread going towards the negative side of the middle finger's LED Sequin. Then, sew a connection from the positive side of the pinky's LED Sequin to the thread running down from the positive side of the middle finger's LED Sequin. This step connects the pinky's LED Sequin to the 'Peace Sign' circuit.

This creates the 'Rock and Roll' circuit.

Step 5: Extending the Connection Between CPX and Battery Pack

To extend the connection between the battery pack and the CPX, specifically the JST 2-pin cable, first, wrap the ends of two wires together with copper tape. Then, solder the two ends together.

Make sure the soldered wires connect the red wire of the battery pack to the red wire of the JST 2-pin cable; the same goes for the black wires--black to black.

Step 6: Finished Product: Lighted Hand Gestures

The finished product is a wearable LED punch glove with added lights 'powered' through the peace sign and rock-and-roll sign. Celebrate a victory with these lighted hand gestures.