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Electroluminescent Dog Collar

January 11, 2016 By admin Leave a Comment

Electroluminescent Dog Collar

EL Tape has become a popular and inexpensive way to add lighting to any DIY project, even sewing projects.  Since EL Tape, like EL Panels, can be punctured, cut and sewn and still work, it’s a great medium to work with for a sewing experiment.  With our dog collar experiment, we set out to make an inexpensive Electroluminescent Dog Collar using a store bought collar, EL Tape and a sewing machine.

We see EL applications as a big component in the next generation of safety gear.  Today, EMS workers, fire and police are all wearing reflective gear that is manufactured with reflective taping. Reflective taping is a great medium to use for safety gear but it requires a separate light source to be effective.  On it’s own, reflective taping does not provide any visibility.  Moonlight, head lights a flash light or other external source of lighting, even the moon, is needed for reflective taping to be an effective source of protection. EL tape illuminates under it’s own power source, and is a great alternative for safety gear. With it’s great principals of being able to adhere to almost anything and light up under it’s own power, it’s a great option to keep emergency workers safe at night, we believe it could do the same for dogs.

If you are a dog owner and are use to walking your dog at night, you’ve likely thought of the danger of passing cars and the low visibility of your dog near the ground.  Reflective collars and carrying a flashlight can help keep your dog safe.  While reflective dog collars and flashlights are a great start to protecting your pooch, an Electroluminescent Dog Collar that can flash or stay lit is a great alternative.

In this experiment we took a standard dog collar and sewed a piece of EL tape to it, then using zip ties we attached a small inverter to provide a portable energy source to light the EL tape.  The result was an inexpensive Electroluminescent Dog Collar that can be made in under an hour.

Filed Under: Wearables Tagged With: EL Panels, EL Tape, Electroluminescent Dog Collar

Applique with EL Panels

January 8, 2016 By admin Leave a Comment

Applique with EL Panels

One of our first experiments with with wearable technology was using a traditional garment decorating method called applique. Appliqué is a process where fabric is cut in a specific design and sewed onto a garment. You would typically see this type of decoration on a fraternity or sorority letter sweatshirt.  For garments of that type, two pieces of twill are cut for two different colors and then each sewn on separately.  In this experiment we’ve used Applique with EL Panels to create a unique effect on the front of a sweat shirt.

Applique with EL Panels

Applique with EL Panels

In the example letter “E” shown to the right, there are two pieces of fabric being used to create the letter effect.  The bottom piece of fabric is a white twill, the top piece of fabric is a patterned blue twill.

The patterns, in this case the letter E is typically laser cut, although it’s possible to cut by hand, and then sewn down in layers.

We decided to experiment with a EL Panel a piece of applique and a sweatshirt.  Using the same methodology used for traditional applique decoration, we cut out a smile face from yellow twill, laser cut the eyes and mouth and then sewed an EL panel below the applique.  In this case, the applique hid most of the EL panel and where we wanted the EL to show through we cut holes.

EL panels can be cut and punctured without concern that they will stop working.  You just need to be careful to not cut the electric leads that power the EL. In our experiment, we didn’t cut the panel, we simply punctured it with our sewing machines to hold it below the applique.

The experiment was a success, but the EL panel was too bright and you can see the panel shining thought the applique itself.  Meaning, you can see a square of light below the applique vs. just being able to see the eyes and mouth.  So while a success in concept, future experiments using this method would require careful cutting of the EL panel to eliminate the show through and/or using a thicker twill to block the light that we don’t want seen.

Applique with EL Panels is something that you can experiment with at home using any standard EL panel.  The ones that we used for this project were ridged panels.  Since applique itself is a stiff material, using Applique with EL Panels on any wearable project beneath applique should not result in an uncomfortable garment.

Filed Under: Wearables Tagged With: Applique with EL Panels, EL Panels, EL Tape, Electroluminescent Panels

AMBRO Labs Launched

January 4, 2016 By admin Leave a Comment

AMBRO Labs Launched

AMBRO Manufacturing, a screen printing and embroidery company located in Flemington, NJ announced today the launch of a new division of their company, named AMBRO Labs.  AMBRO Manufacturing provides contract screen printing, dye sublimation printing and embroidery service to a wide range of schools, organizations and companies.  With over 25 years of experience in the garment decorating and embellishment industry, AMBRO Manufacturing offers the highest quality textile printing and embroidery to our customers.

As Makers and avid fans of the DIY and maker movement, the launch of AMBRO Labs signifies a first step forward towards research and development of wearable technologies, with a specific focus on smart textiles. It also marks our commitment to the future of wearables and smart cloths and fabrics.

AMBRO Manufacturing will continue to focus on expanding and improving our core competencies of screen printing, sublimation and embroidery while dedicating resources to the development and growth of AMBRO Labs gives us a vehicle to add the additional elements of wearable technologies and smart cloths to our manufacturing capabilities.

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AMBRO Labs (DBA AMBRO Manufacturing)
6 Kings Court
Flemington, NJ 08822
(908) 806-8337 P
(908) 806-8337 F
Darren[at]AMBROmanufacturing.com

 

Filed Under: Featured Tagged With: AMBRO Labs, Conductive Thread, Conductive Yarn, EL Panels, EL Tape, Electroluminescent, wearables, Wearble Electronics

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