I was at the local makerspace in Portland last Tuesday helping a friend with his 3D printer, and I overheard some young guy telling his buddy he used lithium grease on a polycarbonate cyberdeck case. I had to step in and stop him. That stuff eats through certain plastics like acid. He was about to ruin a months worth of work. Has anyone else seen someone make this kind of mistake with lubricants on their builds?
I was at a cyberpunk night in Austin last month, wearing a vest I'd sewn EL wire into. Some guy comes up to me, says 'your sleeve is smoking.' Looked down and a cheap battery pack I'd bought for 9 bucks had shorted out and melted a hole through the fabric. He just handed me a business card for a guy who does custom LED work. Anyone else have cheap components almost ruin a project?
I blew about $60 on a starter kit with bad molds and it took me 4 tries to get one clear gear shape right... The resin never set properly because the ratio was off. Anyone else have luck with a specific brand that actually works?
I built some EL wire jacket panels last October for a Halloween party and they were super bright then, but after just three months of regular wear the green wire is almost dead already, has anyone else seen this kind of quick fade with cheap EL wire kits?
The way it outlined the panels without looking bulky or cheap honestly changed my mind, but I'm wondering how hard it is to keep the connections from breaking after a few wears - anyone got tips on that?
I ran a thin strip of hot glue along the entire length before sewing it into the seam and it hasn't flickered or broken once, anyone else tried this with their builds?
I was making a cyberpunk jacket for a con in Seattle last month. Spent 3 hours sewing EL wire into the sleeves, looked great at first. Then after about 20 minutes of wearing it around the house, the glow dropped by half. Turned out the cheap 3V button cells I bought on Amazon can't sustain the load longer than 15 minutes. Picked up some 4.5V battery packs from a local electronics shop for $8 each, now it stays bright for hours. Anybody else run into this with their wearables?
I was so proud of my first cyberpunk vest with all these EL wires and LED panels sewn in. Took me like 3 weekends to get the wiring right. Then this older dude at the Baltimore DIY meetup just looks at me and goes 'it's a good start but it looks too clean. Real cyberpunk has some grit.' Honestly I was kinda annoyed at first. But I looked at it again and yeah he was right. It was just shiny plastic and neat rows of lights. So I started scuffing up the fabric with sandpaper, added some rust-colored paint splatters, and frayed the edges of the panels. I even swapped out some of the perfect EL wire for a broken looking strand that flickers randomly. It made the whole thing feel way more lived in. Has anyone else gotten feedback that totally changed how you approach a build?
I was walking through the vendor hall at FanimeCon on Saturday and suddenly smelled something burning. At first I thought it was someone's vape or food truck, but nope it was my own backpack. I had hot glued all the LED strips inside the lining and apparently one connection came loose and shorted against a battery wire. The glue melted and a little smoke started coming out of the zipper. I had to duck into a bathroom and rip the whole lining out with my multitool right there. Thankfully the battery pack had a fuse so nothing caught fire, but I lost about 20 hours of work. The worst part was walking around the rest of the day with this ratty looking backpack full of loose wires while everyone else had cool glowing gear. I'm redoing it now with proper solder joints and heat shrink instead of glue, but has anyone else had a project literally go up in smoke like that?
I was at this warehouse show last weekend, the one off Division, and some dude's cheap battery pack caught fire in the pit. His whole vest went up in smoke. That's when I realized I've been using those unprotected 18650 cells from old vape pens for my jacket's lighting rig, and if that happened to me I'd be toast. Anyone know a good source for those protected battery packs that don't cost $50?
I keep seeing people paint their EL wire casings to match their jackets or bags, and I think it's a bad idea. Last month I painted a 15 foot strand with standard acrylic paint for a Blade Runner vest, and it dried crusty and cracked within three days. The wire still works but the flex broke the paint into flakes that get everywhere. Has anyone else tried a different paint type that actually stays flexible?
I was dead set on making a glowing jacket for a local con in Portland, spent $60 on EL wire and a driver from a shop online. Three hours in I realized the wire kinked and went dim, and my soldering on the connections was garbage. Turns out those smooth YouTube builds skip all the real troubleshooting. Anyone have luck with fiber optic cable instead of this stuff?
I sewed EL wire onto an old denim jacket last week for a Night City vibe, but the connection point got corroded after a rainy evening and now half the strip flickers. Has anyone else had luck waterproofing these things with something simple like clear nail polish?
I stumbled on this guide from some guy in Berlin who used a $10 sewing kit and a 2 meter EL wire strand to light up the seams. He ran the battery pack through the lining so it's hidden. Anyone tried doing EL wire on denim instead of nylon?
Got curious after my cyberpunk desk build started giving me a sunburn feel after a week, so I downloaded some random radiation detector app on my phone and held it up to the strips and the numbers jumped way higher than the ambient reading, does anyone make RGB strips that won't slowly cook you?
Bought one of those no-name EL wire packs off Amazon for a jacket project. Worked great for about 10 days, then the driver box started humming weird and the wire went dim. Took it apart and the solder joints were garbage. Wish I just spent the extra $20 on a branded kit upfront. Anyone else get burned by cheap lighting components?
After losing my transit card signal through 3 layers of denim at the Tokyo subway gates last summer, I finally grabbed some of that blocking material and now I can't believe I waited so long - has anyone else had a specific moment where the tech actually proved itself useful?
His jacket had this soft glow instead of harsh spots, so I grabbed a 5 meter EL wire kit for $12 and now my coat lights up even through fog without blinding anyone, anyone else find a cheaper alternative that actually looks more natural?