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Project Notes

#350 CircuitScribe/LiteWings

Learning about conductive ink with the CircuitScribe LiteWings kit.

Build

Notes

There seems to have been quite a boom in conductive paint/ink applications in recent years. From the (google) research I’ve done - see Conductive ink on wikipedia for example - I don’t see any particular reason for “why now” .. no great materials breakthough seems to be driving the trend. Perhaps it is more a market-pull situation - more people interested in wearables and flexible tech for example.

When I saw the latest Circuit Scribe kickstarter campaign, it was a perfect opportunity to try some out.

I received a simple LiteWings kit recently, and was impressed. After making the wing kits I still have ink in the pen, so now looking for novel applications;-)

Unboxing

It is pretty simple!

kit_parts

instructions

Construction

Depending on how densly one colors in a “wire”, the resistance can range from 35Ω to 75Ω (as measured on my attempts).

The batteries supplied were CR1216 3V, so no extra current-limiting resistance required for the LEDs.

The circuit is as simple as you can get:

Breadboard

Schematic

Build

Credits and References

About LEAP#350 Conductive InkCraft
Project Source on GitHub Project Gallery Return to the LEAP Catalog

This page is a web-friendly rendering of my project notes shared in the LEAP GitHub repository.

LEAP is just my personal collection of projects. Two main themes have emerged in recent years, sometimes combined:

  • electronics - usually involving an Arduino or other microprocessor in one way or another. Some are full-blown projects, while many are trivial breadboard experiments, intended to learn and explore something interesting
  • scale modelling - I caught the bug after deciding to build a Harrier during covid to demonstrate an electronic jet engine simulation. Let the fun begin..
To be honest, I haven't quite figured out if these two interests belong in the same GitHub repo or not. But for now - they are all here!

Projects are often inspired by things found wild on the net, or ideas from the many great electronics and scale modelling podcasts and YouTube channels. Feel free to borrow liberally, and if you spot any issues do let me know (or send a PR!). See the individual projects for credits where due.