Valentine’s day card, DIY style:
A somewhat simple card, powered by Adafruit’s FLORA board and an obscene amount of copper foil tape.
The final completed card.
The second test of a circuit design that was to be used for the project. Copper foil, even with conductive adhesive, is difficult to use alone in a circuit because even contact in tight spaces is inconsistent. Having a consistent electrical connection is required for a stable circuit. The middle section attempted to hold one Adafruit Neopixel, with the bottom copper contacts on the base copper foil, and a small second layer of foil connecting the top copper pad to the base layer. This did not create a reliable connection due to the size and shape of the component.
After experimentation, a test layout was built on the reverse side of an extra print. The foil will be used as base layer, which the components will be soldered to. Prints were sourced from Instant Print in West Lafayette, Indiana. See the footnotes for a full recipe.
Completed design with joints soldered. Note the yellow circle that brings attention to a problematic joint. This is fixed before final construction.
Overhead view of circuit layout, which shows the battery case containing 2 CR2032 batteries with an on/off switch. The yellow circle brings attention to a small piece of paper to act as a dielectric to prevent an unused pin from shorting the base copper foil layer.
Final circuit, ready for programming and then final construction. The yellow circle brings attention to the fixed joint that was causing an unreliable connection that prevented the 3rd white LED from working.
Testing the circuit.
The final construction of the card. The background is based on artwork by zlzhang, located here. Tracing paper was put over the circuit to cut small squares for the NeoPixels, stars of the show (behind Kirby, of course). Small double-sided adhesive squares were used to mount the top face of the card to spacers made from print scraps. The spacers were necessary to give enough clearance for the battery connector to sit more flush. This was not precision manufactured and was built freehand so it’s not exact. The spaces also provide structure to keep the entire card straight. Lastly, it provides parallax to give a small, diffused glow behind the clouds. Small, star shaped sequins were sanded down in the back face to expose the translucent plastic. They were then placed atop a double-sided adhesive square, which was cut to shape with a small exact-o knife, and finally mounted over small squares cut from the top face of the card to expose the NeoPixel LEDs.
The Recipe:
Electronic Components and tools:
All Electronic parts ordered from Adafruit.com.
3 NeoPixels or similar WS2812 RGB LEDs.
3 White LEDs or similar warm LED for use as a star in the night sky.
1 CR2032 battery holder or similar.
2 CR2032 coin cell batteries.
Soldering Iron and solder.
Sand paper
Xacto hobby knife or similar.
Sandpaper
Construction components:
These can be sourced from Joann’s, Michaels, etc:
Enough A5 (5”x8”) cuts of paper to make mistakes with.
Print scraps from those cuts, or enough A5 cuts of paper to cut strips with.
Pencil or pen, mechanical may best.