grahamcrackuh

So here's the plan:

I want to use the extra orange acrylic I had laying around to make a good mousepad for whatever new mouse I decide to finally get, since I like building things and hate spending money. Here are the supplies that I have:

1) USB header from old keyboard I cut off

2) 12" by 12" piece of orange acrylic, 3mm thick.

3) Rubber feet from aforementioned keyboard!

Now, supplies I do not have but plan on getting:

1) These are RED LED's with the same luminous output as your standard red LED, only they are 1.3mm tall!

http://mouser.com/Search/ProductDeta...57-TLSF1060T18

Things I don't know how to overcome:

1) How can I create a nonstick surface on top of the acrylic? I've seen waxpaper used online and people say it worked well. I've also seen people use Teflon from a cookie tray, which I imagine would be very good, but I don't imagine my mother would be thrilled about a big hole in her cooking tray (though the conversation would be funny enough that it may be worth it).

2) http://pinouts.ru/Slots/USB_pinout.shtml

According to this pinout, the USB will supply 5V @ no more than 500 ma. Question is, do the signals need to be connected in any fashion for it to be supplying power?

__________________

Fletcher Carnaby

If you don't mind a solid color surface (usually white, sometimes black), adhesive Teflon sheets are pretty easy to find. Google the same or try "adhesive PTFE sheets" (PTFE = generic Teflon). The stuff is commonly used in the food service industry.

Its more or less available worldwide, but here's a NA example: http://www.rplastics.com/teflon.html

__________________

VCheeZ

Why the nonstick surface? I have ideas...just need clarification...


If it is for the mouseskates/laser...I would say a
1. Sandblast
2. Acid-etched
3. Sanded (most likely and easiest)
Surface might work best. maybe start at something rough and work yourself down to a 500 grit...that may do it.

__________________

xtascox

Sounds like a cool project. I'll be following this one.

__________________

grahamcrackuh

Ok so here's what I decided to go out and do.

I cut out the shape I wanted of the acrylic. Tried melting waxpaper onto it (since it's a great surface for laser traction). That did not work. I painted it with mattte black then sanded the top all in one direction and it still does not work very well. Running out of ideas,

Graham

__________________

xtascox

I have an idea for you. If you have an old mousepad laying around, why don't you take some material out of the acrylic and lay the mousepad in the acrylic. That way you have a good surface and you can still proceed with your mod.

__________________

timxirish

Buh..? Not sure what you mean. Though, if you're asking if the LEDs have polarity, then yes they do.

To briefly explain why, LEDs are Light Emitting Diodes. Diodes that do not emit light (and even the ones that do) limit the direction of electrical current. Power must be given to the positive leg/end to pass through the diode (that is the only direction it will allow). If you added power to the negative leg/end, the electricity would be blocked from passing to the other side, and you would get no light.

There are three ways you can connect LEDs. Single, Series, and Parallel. Unless you only want one LED, you likely won't be using single. Series and Parallel would be what you'd want, but Parallel is usually the most ideal route.

In series, you connect power (red wire in usb) to the first LED's positive end, it travels through to the negative end and connects to the positive end of the next LED. Rinse repeat for how many LEDs in the equation. The last LED's negative end gets wired to your ground (black wire in usb).

Parallel, on the other hand, is where you connect all the positive ends together, and seperately connect all the negative ends together. While keeping everything connected, add power to the positive ends and ground the negative ends.

The MOST IMPORTANT thing to consider here is you NEED resistors!

Go to www.ledcalc.com to calculate what resistors you need, and make sure you select either series or parallel before you enter information for it to calculate. I highly reccomend parallel.. Why?.. To explain it very simply.. You know how with some older christmas tree lights, when one light went out, every light after it went out too? That's an example of wiring in series. The newer lights that keep the rest lit when only one goes out is an example of wiring in parallel.

The resistor should be wired in to the 5v wire before it meets the wire connecting all the positive LED ends in parallel. If you decide to do series wiring, the resistor must be placed between the 5v and the first LED's positive end.

__________________

grahamcrackuh

Haha, I appreciate the effort you put into that post. I'm an Electrical / Computer Engineering double major, so that's not really what I needed help with. I just needed to know which was which on the USB pinout. For some types of connectinos I would have had to connect the signal wires out of the USB for it to supply power.

__________________

timxirish

, haha.

Well in any case, perhaps some random member/googler will learn something from it.

__________________

XFreeRollerX

indeed, + for your fruits of labor, very through response that I would use

__________________
Gaming Laptop FoR SALE! CHEAP!

Computer related imagesFolding Stats REAL TIME Folding monitor!
Benchmarks Social Clubs and MORE!