Silkscreen Your Own EL Displays

So, I’m at MakerFaire NYC and my friend John (Sarik) comes up and says he’s got something he wants to show me at his booth. Before I get into what the deal is, some background: John is best known to makers as the creator of Nixie Sudoku (also Hackaday 1, 2). When he’s not solving number puzzles with retro display tech, he’s a member of the Columbia Lab for Unconventional Electronics (CLUE) at Columbia University. He and his colleagues had a booth set up at the Faire to show off their stuff.

I get to his booth and he shows me this awesome screenprinted EL display (see photo above). John was nice enough to make an Adafruit logo in EL, along with a Hackaday logo and several others. The best part: the CLUE crew have put all their research online (.brd, .sch, docs here) so that you can print your own EL displays.

The down side (from a DIY standpoint) is that the luminescent ink required is somewhat difficult to obtain: it’s rather expensive and has a large minimum order. Fortunately, the CLUE folks sell a kit with everything you need to get your EL on.

And here’s Jeri Ellsworth at MakerFaire 2010 in CA, interviewing CLUE member Jon Beck about the process:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jPclj5lbz48


Have an amazing project to share? The Electronics Show and Tell is every Wednesday at 7:30pm ET! To join, head over to YouTube and check out the show’s live chat and our Discord!

Join us every Wednesday night at 8pm ET for Ask an Engineer!

Join over 38,000+ makers on Adafruit’s Discord channels and be part of the community! http://adafru.it/discord

CircuitPython – The easiest way to program microcontrollers – CircuitPython.org


New Products – Adafruit Industries – Makers, hackers, artists, designers and engineers! — New Products 11/15/2024 Featuring Adafruit bq25185 USB / DC / Solar Charger with 3.3V Buck Board! (Video)

Python for Microcontrollers – Adafruit Daily — Python on Microcontrollers Newsletter: A New Arduino MicroPython Package Manager, How-Tos and Much More! #CircuitPython #Python #micropython @ThePSF @Raspberry_Pi

EYE on NPI – Adafruit Daily — EYE on NPI Maxim’s Himalaya uSLIC Step-Down Power Module #EyeOnNPI @maximintegrated @digikey

Adafruit IoT Monthly — The 2024 Recap Issue!

Maker Business – Adafruit Daily — Apple to build another chip at TSMC Arizona

Electronics – Adafruit Daily — SMT Tip – Stop moving around!

Get the only spam-free daily newsletter about wearables, running a "maker business", electronic tips and more! Subscribe at AdafruitDaily.com !


No Comments

No comments yet.

Sorry, the comment form is closed at this time.