This is a materials-focused course. The Required section contains all of the supplies and materials you must acquire to complete the course. I have provided links to distributors where you can purchase your supplies through Adafruit or Amazon, but you can find these materials or tools through other distributors if you like. The Given section lists the project-based kits I will give you. The Shared section details the materials and tools available to you in the class locker.
You are expected to bring all required
materials and tools to every class.
Required
The total cost of required materials will depend on what you already have from prior courses or interests. If you need to purchase ALL of the supplies new, the total cost will be approximately $180.00. I do not want the cost of this course to prevent anyone from taking it. If you are unable to purchase some of the supplies, I have a small library of supplies that I can lend out. Please reach out to me individually over Slack to discuss.
Electronics Kit
You can also source these locally from Tinkersphere in lower Manhattan.
- CR2032 Coin Cell Battery (Amazon)
- Arduino Uno REV3 (Amazon)
- USB 2.0 Cable Type A/B (Amazon)
- Lead-free Solder (Amazon)
- Jewelry Plier Kit (Amazon)
- Diffused 5mm LED Pack – 25 Pack (Adafruit)
- Coin Cell Battery holder (Adafruit)
- 220 Ohm Resistors (Adafruit)
- 10K Ohm Resistors (Adafruit)
- Half-sized Breadboard (Adafruit)
- Speaker (Mini Metal Speaker w/ Wires – 8 ohm 0.5W) (Adafruit)
- Small Alligator Clip Test Lead (Set of 18) (Adafruit)
- Digital Multimeter (Adafruit) OR Pocket Autoranging DIgital Multimeter (slightly more expensive but smaller and easier for beginners)
- Jumper wires (Adafruit)
- Lithium Ion Polymer Battery – 3.7v 350mAh (Adafruit)
- Optional but highly recommended
- Optional
- 9 volt battery (Amazon) – optional
- For later in the course / more experienced students: Another board such as a TeensyLC, Flora, Arduino Nano 33 IoT
Craft Kit
You can also find many of these supplies locally at Gotham Quilts, Michaels, Blick, and Brooklyn General.
- Needles (Amazon)
- Thread (1-2 spools in your fav color)
- Scissors (Amazon)
- Masking or artists tape (Blick)
- Beeswax threader (Amazon) (you can buy one and break in half to share with a classmate)
- Embroidery hoop 6 inch (Amazon)
- Fabric Glue (Amazon)
- Optional
- Household iron (this is helpful but possible to do without)
- Seam ripper
Given
I will give you a kit of the following materials at different points throughout the semester to complete project-based activities.
Conductive Materials Pack
You will receive these in Week 3. These are materials that are rarer and not as well stocked in the locker. See the Materials page for more information and a full list of materials used in class.
- Karl Grimm Thread
- Eeontex Stretch Fabric
- Conductive Yarn
- Heat’n’bond (not rare, but want you to have some 🙂
High Current Load Kit
- 1N4001 Diode
- FQP30N06L Mosfet Transistor
- JST connector
- Cardstock
- Copper tape
Used in Class
Here is a list of components we have used in class in case you want to purchase them on your own.
SMD Components
Resistors
Below are the part numbers that you can use to look up the components on Digi-Key. If you need other resistance values but want the same size as the ones we used, be sure that the size or package is CR1206.
- SMD 5.1K OHM – Part #: CR1206-JW-512ELF
- SMD 10K OHM – Part #: CR1206-JW-103ELF
- SMD 20K OHM – Part #: CR1206-FX-2002ELF
- SMD 100K OHM – Part #: CR1206-FX-1003ELF
- SMD 220 OHM – Part #: CR1206-FX-2200ELF
LEDs
There are a range of SMD LED sizes. Be sure to check you are getting the right one!
![](https://www.pcboard.ca/image/catalog/products/leds/smd/smd-led-size-comparison.jpg)
I like to use size 3528 LEDs and generally get them from Chazon on Amazon because of the color range. Due supply chain shortages from Covid, there are currently not as many options. Here is another great 1206 multipack from them if you want to go smaller.
Adafruit has DotStars that are addressable in 5050 and 2mm x 2mm (a little smaller than the 3528 but there are three lines to solder!).
Misc
Other parts we’ve used:
- MOSFET N-CH 60V – Part #: FQP30N06L
- Transistor for our high load circuit
- JST connector – Part #: SWR201-NRTN-S02-SA-WH
- LiPo battery female connector