Tron Legacy Costume
- Thread starter Rook 3
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- tron legacy
Man that was quick, it arrived this morning 
OK, so my first impression of this thread is way above what I expected. It really is as soft and flexible as normal thread, and DOESN'T kink anywhere near as easily as normal wire.
I'll test the soldering and isolating side of things tonight after work and see how it performs in a 3ft length running at 12v to power a 23cm diameter EL panel as it should be more than sufficient to simulate a long trace.
OK, so my first impression of this thread is way above what I expected. It really is as soft and flexible as normal thread, and DOESN'T kink anywhere near as easily as normal wire.
I'll test the soldering and isolating side of things tonight after work and see how it performs in a 3ft length running at 12v to power a 23cm diameter EL panel as it should be more than sufficient to simulate a long trace.
OK folks, here's my report and findings.
<my setup>
First off, regardless of what any info says about it , this stuff just won't accept solder. It doesn't melt mind you, but I had the tip on the first attempted join for about a minute and only the normal wire would soak it up.
Tying it was the solution , but I found a standered double granny wasn't good enough as the thread's got a bit of spring and has a tendancy to undo itself.
Here's how I ended up connecting thread to wire :thumbsup
First strip a decent length of sleaving from the connector wire and make a hoop (tack solder the tip of the wire to the base so it doesn't open up while tying).
Then pass the thread through the wire hoop and tie it off. I simply went with an extra twist through the thread hoop (almost a half blood knot)
Once pulled tight, it stays there (which is all that matters at this point)
I then closed the wire hoop, added a touch of liquid flux and gave it a generous amont of solder
I used some wire to trace the thread through some heat shrink tubing and tied up the last two connections. After hooking everything up, I turned it on and........TA DA...
Unfortunately there's no pic of the large EL panel as somewhere between unplugging it from the kitchen and plugging it in the shed where it's sufficiently dark, either my inverter died, or my 12v power supply
Luckily I had a 9v pack I'd made for the wife's costume on hand, but only had a bit of reject tape left to take pics of, but the principle is the same.
The reject EL tape actually started smoking a few moments after taking the pic. The reason? It wasn't sealed properly and had absorbed moisture from the atmosphere over time highliting the necessity to "ALWAYS seal your tape, sheet or wire after you've made your cuts!"
Conclusion:
While soldering is OK, its not very elegant, and somewhat fiddly (I got myself in a right tangle for a minute or two, but managed to sort it out). Luckily, the conductive thread is more than happy to soak up wire glue so will be going that route in future as I can get very low profile connections that way.
<my setup>
First off, regardless of what any info says about it , this stuff just won't accept solder. It doesn't melt mind you, but I had the tip on the first attempted join for about a minute and only the normal wire would soak it up.
Tying it was the solution , but I found a standered double granny wasn't good enough as the thread's got a bit of spring and has a tendancy to undo itself.
Here's how I ended up connecting thread to wire :thumbsup
First strip a decent length of sleaving from the connector wire and make a hoop (tack solder the tip of the wire to the base so it doesn't open up while tying).
Then pass the thread through the wire hoop and tie it off. I simply went with an extra twist through the thread hoop (almost a half blood knot)
Once pulled tight, it stays there (which is all that matters at this point)
I then closed the wire hoop, added a touch of liquid flux and gave it a generous amont of solder
I used some wire to trace the thread through some heat shrink tubing and tied up the last two connections. After hooking everything up, I turned it on and........TA DA...
Unfortunately there's no pic of the large EL panel as somewhere between unplugging it from the kitchen and plugging it in the shed where it's sufficiently dark, either my inverter died, or my 12v power supply
Luckily I had a 9v pack I'd made for the wife's costume on hand, but only had a bit of reject tape left to take pics of, but the principle is the same.
The reject EL tape actually started smoking a few moments after taking the pic. The reason? It wasn't sealed properly and had absorbed moisture from the atmosphere over time highliting the necessity to "ALWAYS seal your tape, sheet or wire after you've made your cuts!"
Conclusion:
While soldering is OK, its not very elegant, and somewhat fiddly (I got myself in a right tangle for a minute or two, but managed to sort it out). Luckily, the conductive thread is more than happy to soak up wire glue so will be going that route in future as I can get very low profile connections that way.
ookid
New Member
One thing I found while searching the webs was to use a crimp pin connector on the end of the thread which you could then solder to. So it would be something like: Thread-> Crimp pin-> EL wire/ panel. It is nigh impossible to solder to stainless steel and if possible it would require a special solder so making a mechanical connection to something easier to solder is definitely the way to go. Something like -this-.
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ookid
New Member
Oh, check this out as well. Its a conductive ribbon that claims .5 ohm/meter max... and its apparently solderable... https://www.sparkfun.com/products/10172
I was just using what was on hand for the experiment, but that is a very good call and the ideal solution, nice one :thumbsup
That's a cool find, it's a shame that it only comes in short lengths. Still, might try a piece of it though, could be very useful in some circumstances.
ookid
New Member
I'm fairly certain that you can buy it in longer lengths from the manufacturer but it seems that their online store is down at the moment.
You can solder stainless steel it requires a high temp flux, torch and silver solder
something to looking into is . conductive paste..conductive paint.
this is a good example
https://www.sparkfun.com/products/11521
Products - Bare Conductive
[url]http://web.media.mit.edu/~plusea/?p=183
[/URL]
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HowardAxiom
New Member
Here's the latest Young Kevin Flynn jacket I've made a few months ago. 
Still wear it to Disneyland!
Still wear it to Disneyland!
EvilTron
New Member
Hey Guys, I'm in the middle of making my Evil Tron suit as seen her.. EVIL TRON LEGACY SUIT 2014. I'm shooting for getting this done by dragoncon this year but I've got my hands full with Leather Alterations and EL TAPE and the Massive amounts of battery backs to install down the spine, what would you guys suggest on the Tron Gloves? Is there anything available on the forums that people know about?
I'm assuming your on about the El stripes down the fingers?
There's a couple things you could do:
1. run wire/conductive thread from the spine packs down the arms to the gloves (perhaps with some low profile quick connects of some sort) similar to mittens.
2. use a 1.5v peacock driver and button cell combo for each glove. The driver will run 1ft of El wire so should be more than sufficient.
1.5v peacock driver:
Here's how I used them:
There's a couple things you could do:
1. run wire/conductive thread from the spine packs down the arms to the gloves (perhaps with some low profile quick connects of some sort) similar to mittens.
2. use a 1.5v peacock driver and button cell combo for each glove. The driver will run 1ft of El wire so should be more than sufficient.
1.5v peacock driver:
Here's how I used them:
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Dracoo9
New Member
I wonder if anyone can help me on this. So I used Luminous Film's split electrode light tape. I used their eyelets as well but I did not have an "official" eyelet closer so I would basically crush both sides. The suit does light but it flickers A LOT. I'm sure its a connection issue. Is there a better way to connect the wire to these light strips? Thank you in advance.
Have anybody been following this years Gumball 3000? A group called Team Wolfpack is driving multiple sportscars covered in reflective tape, and are wearing clothing with LED tape, all inspired by TRON.
TeamWolfpack
I must say it is epic.
Instagram
TeamWolfpack
I must say it is epic.
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Spent some time out from making stuff and put my learning cap back on to increase my electronics knowlage base. So armed with better understanding and options, I'm going to purchase some componants and such at the end of the month to knock up a prototyp for something I'm designing especially for us Tron costumers.
New kind of low profile, flexible inverter
Plug and play low profile power packs (several options).
Will update when I have more
New kind of low profile, flexible inverter
Plug and play low profile power packs (several options).
Will update when I have more
