feeling productive…iPhone glove
after another rough week of classes, planning and discussions about projects without actually making anything, i needed a quick productivity break. iPhone gloves.
some quick background. the touchscreen on the iPhone and iPod Touch (as well as the older click wheel iPods and trackpad on Macbook/Pro’s) use the capacitance of skin to track touches. gloves generally prevent these type of sensors from reading (except perhaps very thin gloves). taking off a glove to use the phone is frustrating, especially when trying to momentarily check something that would only take a few seconds (text messages, e-mails, etc).
there are gloves currently available which work in a variety of ways, but i already have gloves which i use – specifically glove liners that i wear under my flip-back mittens when riding a bike in the cold. (of course, i’m not advocating using the device while riding, but it’s nice to check an incoming message while waiting at a traffic light).
the solution i used was to sew two pads of conductive thread into the tips of the forefinger and thumb. they are simple, knit polypropylene gloves from performance bike but any material would likely work just the same. the thread goes through the cloth and touches the skin of the fingers inside the glove. anyway, they work as expected – super convenient.
February 23rd, 2009 at 14:44
Do you think the conductive thread would still work if I spun it with other fibers into yarn? I’m thinking if it’s possible to make conductive yarn, then it could be used to knit into a pair of gloves.
February 23rd, 2009 at 17:02
hey there crystal! i hope you’re well. you were at TCNJ, if i’m not mistaken, correct?
i’m not sure about spinning the conductive thread into yarn; i’m quite inexperienced in working with it. i’ll certainly ask around and let you know what i hear. in this particular application, the thread needs to bridge a connection between the screen and skin. i had issues when there wasn’t enough thread touching either the finger or the screen…so i suppose that it could work if there is enough contact. i’d look at commercial gloves to see that their solutions are.
this worked for me with what i had on hand. good luck!
January 3rd, 2010 at 22:15
Go ITP. I should’ve known better that SOMEONE had to have done it from our community before I saw it posted elsewhere on Instructables. I’ll have to hit you up on sewing tips.