Make: Wearable Electronics, 2nd Edition

213Chapter 8: Actuators

HOW TO: Fiber-Optic Textile

To light up a fiber-optic textile, all you need is a single LED (preferably a

super-bright one). Let’s look at one method for attaching an LED to a fiber-

optic bundle.

1. On the textile, look for where the fiber-optic strands are gathered into a

bundle (Figure

A

).

2. Position the LED and the fiber-optic bundle with the helping hands

such that the LED points into the strands. Cover the LED and the fiber-

optic bundle with an appropriately sized piece of heat-shrink tubing

(Figure

B

).

3. Use a heat gun to shrink the tubing. Be sure to aim the heat gun toward

the heat-shrink tubing but away from ...