DIY soft electronics: Sew-through circuit board

Meredith Scheff, self proclaimed artist, writer, mechanic and fabricator posted a really cool design of a soft, sew-through circuit board using DuPont’s Pyralux Copper Clad Laminate, a very thin and flexible sheet of polyimide which has copper on one side.

If you are familiar with making your own PCBs you will know how to make this soft version and if you are not experienced in DIY PCBs – just follow the nicely organized overview from Meredith over at SteampunkWorkshop.

Using this technique to create design demonstrator that need to be somewhat robust when handling, modeling a technology enhanced garment can help to retain the softness and flexibility of your garment design but allows to integrate electronic components quickly by attaching them conventionally via soldering on a (flexible) PCB substrate.

The beauty of the sew-through soft circuit is the possibility to cut the component holding circuit board to any shape you want either to allow a snug fit inside a garment or to use it as a style element visible from the outside.

Another method of fabricating traces on polyimide/copper foils like this one is described in the Instructables ‘DIY Flexible Printed Circuits‘.

[via: Fashioning Technology]

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