are there any flexible/bendable project boards?

I have a RC car, and 100 or so bright LEDs that I want to use to
illumate the outline of my car with a projected ellipse onto the
ground. Sorta like the life-size race cars with under lights...

Mounting the LEDs on the chassis of my RC car wouldnt work well as
sometimes rocks will be flying by them. So I'm thinking about making a
ring, or well elliptical ring, of LEDs and mounting them slightly above
the wheels so that they are out of the line of fire.

I just dont know of a good way to make a ring/ellipse that LEDs and
resistors could be soldiered onto. Project boards are not flexible...

Any ideas?

Thanks,
--Farrell F.

 

[John Fields]

On 17 Jul 2005 00:55:03 -0700, upgrdman@mindspring.com wrote:

I have a RC car, and 100 or so bright LEDs that I want to use to
illumate the outline of my car with a projected ellipse onto the
ground. Sorta like the life-size race cars with under lights...

Mounting the LEDs on the chassis of my RC car wouldnt work well as
sometimes rocks will be flying by them. So I'm thinking about making a
ring, or well elliptical ring, of LEDs and mounting them slightly above
the wheels so that they are out of the line of fire.

I just dont know of a good way to make a ring/ellipse that LEDs and
resistors could be soldiered onto. Project boards are not flexible...

Any ideas?

---
Get yourself a piece of perfboard and saw it into the shape you want.
--
John Fields
Professional Circuit Designer

 

[Clint Sharp]

In message <74ukd1h3c1t9l1eh2hjn2a23dd21uq2fa5@4ax.com>, John Fields
<jfields@austininstruments.com> writes

On 17 Jul 2005 00:55:03 -0700, upgrdman@mindspring.com wrote:

I have a RC car, and 100 or so bright LEDs that I want to use to
illumate the outline of my car with a projected ellipse onto the
ground. Sorta like the life-size race cars with under lights...

Mounting the LEDs on the chassis of my RC car wouldnt work well as
sometimes rocks will be flying by them. So I'm thinking about making a
ring, or well elliptical ring, of LEDs and mounting them slightly above
the wheels so that they are out of the line of fire.

I just dont know of a good way to make a ring/ellipse that LEDs and
resistors could be soldiered onto. Project boards are not flexible...

Any ideas?

---
Get yourself a piece of perfboard and saw it into the shape you want.
Http://www.farnell.co.uk and look for stock code 4137978.

--
Clint Sharp

 

[Rich Webb]

On 17 Jul 2005 00:55:03 -0700, upgrdman@mindspring.com wrote:

I have a RC car, and 100 or so bright LEDs that I want to use to
illumate the outline of my car with a projected ellipse onto the
ground. Sorta like the life-size race cars with under lights...

Mounting the LEDs on the chassis of my RC car wouldnt work well as
sometimes rocks will be flying by them. So I'm thinking about making a
ring, or well elliptical ring, of LEDs and mounting them slightly above
the wheels so that they are out of the line of fire.

I just dont know of a good way to make a ring/ellipse that LEDs and
resistors could be soldiered onto. Project boards are not flexible...

Poke the LED leads through a flexible rubber sheet, cut from an old
bicycle inner tube or something similar. Solder wires to the leads, then
clip them. Probably easier to put the current-limiting resistors in the
body of the car.

--
Rich Webb Norfolk, VA

 

[John Popelish]

upgrdman@mindspring.com wrote:

I have a RC car, and 100 or so bright LEDs that I want to use to
illumate the outline of my car with a projected ellipse onto the
ground. Sorta like the life-size race cars with under lights...

Mounting the LEDs on the chassis of my RC car wouldnt work well as
sometimes rocks will be flying by them. So I'm thinking about making a
ring, or well elliptical ring, of LEDs and mounting them slightly above
the wheels so that they are out of the line of fire.

I just dont know of a good way to make a ring/ellipse that LEDs and
resistors could be soldiered onto. Project boards are not flexible...

If you want to use surface mount LEDs on a flexible board, you can fet
FR4 fiberglass copper clad down to something like 6 mil thickness.
Digikey has some 5 mil, double sides 1/2 oz. copper with positive resist:
http://www.digikey.com/scripts/DkSearch/dksus.dll?Detail?Ref=411792&Row=427841&Site=US
and I recently got some of this single sided, bare 1 oz copper on 6
mil FR4 from Ebay:
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=7520658448&category=4660

You will have to be careful to place the LEDs and any resistors
axially, with respect to the curve, or they will fracture when you
bend the board. They might, anyhow.

 

[Rich Grise]

On Sun, 17 Jul 2005 00:55:03 -0700, upgrdman wrote:

I have a RC car, and 100 or so bright LEDs that I want to use to
illumate the outline of my car with a projected ellipse onto the
ground. Sorta like the life-size race cars with under lights...

Mounting the LEDs on the chassis of my RC car wouldnt work well as
sometimes rocks will be flying by them. So I'm thinking about making a
ring, or well elliptical ring, of LEDs and mounting them slightly above
the wheels so that they are out of the line of fire.

I just dont know of a good way to make a ring/ellipse that LEDs and
resistors could be soldiered onto. Project boards are not flexible...

Any ideas?

Well, you get a tortilla big enough to go all the way around the
car...

;-)
Cheers!
Rich