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Tribbles. Who doesn't love tribbles? They purr when you stroke them and are cuter than gerbils! Don't worry though, unlike the ones on TV, these guys will be no tribble at all (sorry, couldn't resist). At the end of this tutorial, you'll have a cool little toy that vibrates when you either touch it or push its switch.
Decide if you want tribble to be turned on by squeezing or by a metal
button switch. If you select a button switch, you will need a piece of
leather in addition to the button switch. If you want your tribble to
be turned on by squeezing, you will need a fabric switch.
Decide the shape you want for your tribble.
Pick up one each of things in your material list except for the last three items.
Trace your pattern onto your paper. If your pattern has a fold line, this will be a good time to trace the whole thing out.
Cut out your paper pattern. You should now have a shape that looks similar to what your final shape will be.
Place your fur on the table with the furry side down, trace your pattern onto the fur with a marker.
With your scissors, cut the faux fur so you are only cutting the
backing and not the actual fur. This method will be least messy.
Do the same (trace and cut your pattern) to your backing fabric. You do not need to cut your middle layer fabric.
If you are installing a metal switch, on the back of the fur fabric, mark out where you want the button switch to be.
For metal switches only:
Trace the back side of your button switch onto the leather piece. This
will be where you will fit in your button switch. So make sure to not
make it too big.
With your markings on the leather facing up, hot glue your leather
piece onto the back of the fur fabric, where you have marked for the
button switch.
Cut out your marking on the leather, through both the fur and the
leather.
The idea behind making turning on the vibrating motor is simple. You
have a power source (batteries) and you're sending power to the motor
by connecting them with some kind of conductive metal. So, you have
something like this.
Diagram 1
But the way electricity works is via a closed loop. So you need to complete your circuit like so.
Diagram 2
Electricity also has polarity. This just means that electricity can
only flow a certain way. We've all seen + and - markings on batteries
before. All you have to remember is to flow from the pluses to the
pluses and the minuses to the minuses. This is especially easy for this
circuit, because they are clearly marked by colors. The red wires are
the positives and the black wires are the negatives. So, you just need
to connect like to like.
Diagram 3
You will also want to add in a switch, which is just a break in the circuit that you can control.
Using a wire stripper, strip the wires on the motor.
Take the wire (item 5 in your parts list) onto the red wire of the motor.
Hand twist the exposed parts of both wires together.
Make sure the soldering iron is on and heated.
Clean the tip of the soldering iron on the damp sponge.
Hold the tip of the hot soldering iron against the twisted part of the
wires for about 3 seconds. This heats up the wires so the solder will
flow better on it. It will be easier if you hold the soldering iron
behind the wires.
With your other hand, bring the solder to the twisted wires and touch
them gently. Try not to touch the soldering iron with the solder. You
want the solder on the wires, not the iron.
Continue until the two twisted wires are joined together.
Solder the black wire on the battery holder to the black wire of the motor using the same technique as in 2.2
Next we need a place for the motor to sit; we have found the back of
the battery pack a good place for this. With the wires of the motor
pointing the same directions as the wires of the battery pack, hot glue
the motor onto the back of the battery pack.
Because the motor turns when it vibrates, we will also need to put
something over it to prevent it from getting cut in the stuffing. We
will be using the top of a plastic spoon for this. Cut about 2/3 off
the top of your spoon. Fit it over the motor; make sure there is enough
room for the motor to turn.
Hot glue the spoon over the motor. Test by touching the two red wires
together (make sure you have batteries in) and see if the whole thing
vibrates.
If you are doing a metal switch:
Remove the screws from the bottom of the switch, you don't need them.
Sew the loops of the screw to your middle layer fabric with conductive
thread. Tie off and sew the loops separately. Do not connect them with
conductive thread. Because the threads are conductive, if you connect
them, it will cause electricity to flow in areas we don't want.
If you are doing fabric switch:
Sew both ends of the fabric switch (the sliver parts) to the middle
layer with conductive thread. Tie off and sew each end separately, do
not use sew from one end of the switch to the other using conductive
thread. Because the threads are conductive, if you connect them, it
will cause electricity to flow in areas we don't want.
Using conductive thread, sew the red wire from the battery holder onto one end of the switch (it does not matter which). If you are using a metal switch, it is sometimes easier to sew the red wire onto the middle layer fabric, and then sew a connecting line from that to the end of the switch.
Using conductive thread, sew the wire that is connected to the red wire of the motor onto the other end of the switch. Again, you can either sew the wire to the fabric first and then make a connecting line from the wire to the switch or just sew the wire directly to the switch.
You should now have a working circuit. Test it again. Does it all work??
We have found that with the conductive threads acting as wires, there
is no insulation. So, it's quite easy for the threads to touch each
other and cause shorts. A good way to prevent this is run a little bit
of hot glue on everything as insulation.
Decide where you want to place the Velcro on the furry piece. This
section of Velcro will be the opening for your stuffing and
electronics. Make sure to space out the Velcro so your opening is big
enough to easily place and remove your electronics. Also, it will be
easier to sew if you pick an area with a nice straight seam.
Sew the Velcro in the seam allowance with a zigzag stitch on the furry side of the fur.
Match the fur with the backing piece, with the furry side face down on the backing piece.
Mark on your backing piece where the Velcro is on the fur.
Sew the Velcro in the seam allowance with a zigzag stitch.
Match the fur with the backing piece again, with the furry side face down on the backing piece.
Sew the two pieces together with a straight stitch. Do not sew over the
Velcro. It's easiest to sew to start from one end of the Velcro, sewing
away from the Velcro until you come in full circle to the other end of
the Velcro.
Turn it inside out. You have the shell!.
Fit the electronics inside.
Stuff it.
And you are Done!!!
(Diagrams coming shortly)