Paris Eiffel Tower lights
Materials:
battery
alligator clips
voltage meter
Chemical Etching:
(Usually 80% C2H4O2), Plastic or glass dish to etch in (sized based on number of etches
occurring at the same time – best not to have them overlapping), Paper Towels (to dry
etched fabric/place tongs on), Water bath (to wash etched material, to remove all acid bath
liquid once it is prepared), Gloves (to reduce risk of people touching etchant and then
skin/face)
Step 1:
Find a picture of the eiffel tower by googling images of “Eiffel tower.” Choose an image with not too much detail, but enough to display the eiffel tower. Save the image to your computer and open it in software. Edit it in the software, then prepare the machine to cut it onto the vinyl.
Step 2:
Take the detailed pieced of the eiffel tower off the vinyl and stick them on the copper fabric. To make both sides of the fabric conductive, place some vinyl on the back. Make sure it aligns with the important pieces of the eiffel tower and do not make the tapes touch. Make a mixture of hydrogen peroxide and vinegar. Use a 2/3 ratio of hydrogen peroxide/vinegar in volume to create the etchant solution in
glass/plastic bowl(s). Have paper towels ready to one side, ready to lay the etched material on to.
Take conductive material and place inside etchant, then liberally sprinkle table salt over thefabric. If the material doesn’t sink under the surface, use tongs to push the material so that
the liquid covers it. You should see a slight bubbling. The reaction should take between 5-10
minutes, although it may be faster or slower depending on the solution/amount of salt used. The material should begin to lose its “copper” color and begin to become grey. Once a
consistent grey color has been attained, the material can be removed, dried, washed and
then dried again.
Step 4:
Take an exo-scissors and cut right down the middle of the eiffel tower vinyl. Be careful not to cut through the fabric. Just make little cuts enough to be able to peel off the vinyl pieces in the middle. (We cut the middle because we do not want the positive and negative energy to collide into each other. If they do, the energy will just go around and the lights will blow up). Peel off the rest of the vinyl pieces from the fabric, both the front and back. Then, take a voltage meter and try to measure the parts of the fabric that are conductive, both front and back.
Step 5 (Building the circuit):
Decide which side on the back will ground (negative) and which will be positive. Take a needle and put conductive thread through it. Sew one side of the led light to ground and the other side to positive. Make sure the threads do not touch and that each side is still separate. Now try to see if the LEDs light up by clipping each alligator clip to the battery and the fabric. Clip the negative side to the negative and the positive to the positive.
Step 6:
If the LEDs do not light, try to make the fabric more conductive by placing conductive tapes in-between each led light and make sure the copper tapes are vertically separated like the eiffel tower. Now try placing the alligator clips, attached to the battery, on the fabric. Notice if it lights, if it doesn’t, try placing the alligator clip around the lights to see if it works.