Build Your Own Arcade Controls Forum
Main => Main Forum => Topic started by: mccoy178 on August 14, 2007, 03:34:52 pm
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I ordered this stuff for the poker table I'm building. I think it would be an awesome way to light instructions or characters on your cp or bezel. You can cut the sheet to whatever you want and you can power it with either 12v dc or 110 ac. Anyways, I think some cool things could be made with this stuff considering how thin it is. :cheers:
EDIT: Old links are dead, here is a new one with some pics of various products.
http://electroluminescence-inc.com/ELsheets.htm (http://electroluminescence-inc.com/ELsheets.htm)
(http://electroluminescence-inc.com/images/idea1G.jpg)
(http://electroluminescence-inc.com/images/eraseBoardOn.jpg)
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Let us know if this works for you. I fiddled with the idea myself almost ten years ago. Before any of the commercialized stuff became readily available and you had to build your own transformers.
If I recall, the AT&T technology was really interesting but the sheets were pretty brittle. They behaved more like thin sheets of metal. You can bend and cut them so much before they crack and break.
The material from AGFA was far more interesting. It was immune to infinite bending (as long as the plastic did not break). You could either cut it to shape or "etch" patterns onto the material with a chemical solution or household bleach. But the resistence for the AGFA material was into the MegaOhms. I couldn't get any of the sheets to light up no matter what I did to it.
I even handed samples of both the AT&T and AGFA sheets along with the datasheets to a resident electrical engineeer who tried without success. The problem at the time was that the datasheets were loaded with obscure information making it difficult to interpret exactly what kind of circuit was needed to power the sheets.
Whatever the power requirements was, the examples cited included wrist watches, cell phones and HUD's.
I gave up eventually and put the sheet samples I had left away. :(
I think a third capacitor type was developed but it was after I stopped researching.
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I will report back. The stuff looks very promising. I'm worried about the brightness, but I guess I'll find out.
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To report back, I am very happy with the product! It was expensive, but it worked as advertised.
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:pics
Ok, let's see what you did with it!
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:pics
Ok, let's see what you did with it!
Seconded! PICS PICS!!