Introduction
Who said to make a circuit you need wires, PCBs, and soldering machine and stuff? You know what, you don’t even need a breadboard! All you need is some paper, conducting tape, and a dash of creativity. And poof! Your very own ingenious DIY Paper Circuit is ready! There are endless possibilities to what you can bring to life with this simple yet thrilling e-craft – right from origami and greeting cards to unique paintings and home decor! And as mentioned, it is super duper easy. Here we’re going to show you how to make the paper circuit of a Solar System.
Sounds exciting? Then what are you waiting for?
Ready. Set. Create!
Making
We will be making a paper circuit where the LED corresponding the planet lit if you press the name of the planet on the right.
Let’s start with taking the cutouts:
You can download any image you want or can download the image we have used here.
Once you have it, take the cutouts from the sheet.
Next step is to complete the chart paper part.
Take A3 paper and fold it in from the middle. Take any color of your choice.
Make sure that there is enough room for the circuit as the circuit is going to be a bit bigger, but don’t worry it will be easy once you understand it.
Now, it’s time to assemble them.
Place the Sun at the beginning and make the circular path around it. Each circular path will be holding one planet. Stick Sun and Planets at any random position on the path using glue.
We have taken out the names of the planet from the same cutout, glue them on the rightmost edge leaving distance between each of them.
Thus, the basic part is completed.
Assemble LEDs
This part is the most important part of the project.
Take LEDs and insert in such that legs of the LEDs stay behind the paper.
Once, you have inserted the LED, you need to bend the LED legs.
You cannot bend it in the way you want. Make sure that you keep all the positive leg in one direction and the negative one in the opposite direction.
Thinking how to check which leg is positive which is negative?
The positive terminal of an LED will be the one with the longer leg, and the negative terminal will be the shorter one.
Draw the Circuit
Once you have bent the legs on the LEDs in the respective direction, it’s time to draw the circuit.
Take a pencil and draw the rough circuit on the paper, where we have inserted the LEDs.
We have made the circuit such that all the negative terminals of the battery connects to the battery via a single channel.
And we have made a parallel circuit for the positive terminals.
Make sure that the positive side of the circuit of a particular circuit passes exactly through the name of the planet but on the back end.
We have made a square where the circuits overlap.
The use of this square is discussed in the below step.
Thus, complete the circuit for all the planets.
Circuitry
The conducting tape that we are going to use is made up of Cooper.
We will be completing the negative channel first.
Take the copper tape and remove the white backing paper.
Stick the copper tape along the lines drawn.
At the corner, fold the copper tape in the opposite direction and then fold in the direction we want to go.
Stick the tape, till the negative terminal of the battery. Now, to the remaining LEDs, we will be adding a piece of copper tape to the negative channel of the battery.
Time to add the battery. Place the battery such that it’s negative terminal touches the copper tape. Fix it using normal tape. Make sure you do not cover the entire positive terminal.
Start sticking the tape from the positive terminal of the battery.
While making the positive channel, we will first be completing the first half of it. Till the name of the planets.
Once you reach the name of the planet stop sticking the tape.
Leave some space and start sticking the tape again till the time you reach the positive terminal of the LED.
When you come across the boxes drawn, where circuit overlaps, leave the white paper of the tape as it till on the square portion. And remove the white paper for the remaining portion.
Those you have made a broken circuit on one of the sides of the card.
Making Switches of Paper Circuit
You must be thinking of completing the entire circuit.
But, we need to make switches so that the LED of the planet glows only after touching the planet’s name.
It’s time to complete the circuit.
Cut small pieces of the copper tape and stick in on the opposite side of the circuit, such that the blank portion of the circuit and the small piece of circuit overlaps.
Repeat the same portion for all the planets.
Logic
The small gap in between the circuit acts as a switch.
Thus, as there is space in between the circuit, the circuit is said to be broken.
As you press the name of the planet, that portion of the circuit is pressed and the circuit gets completed as the small piece of copper tape touches the circuit and completes the circuit.
Conclusion
With this, your Solar System Paper Circuit is ready! Have fun lighting up the planets!
