are there any flexible/bendable project boards?

Question

I have a RC car, and 100 or so bright LEDs that I want to use to illumate the outline of my car with a projected ellipse onto the ground. Sorta like the life-size race cars with under lights...

Mounting the LEDs on the chassis of my RC car wouldnt work well as sometimes rocks will be flying by them. So I'm thinking about making a ring, or well elliptical ring, of LEDs and mounting them slightly above the wheels so that they are out of the line of fire.

I just dont know of a good way to make a ring/ellipse that LEDs and resistors could be soldiered onto. Project boards are not flexible...

Any ideas?

Thanks,

--Farrell F.

John Fields · Accepted Answer

---Get yourself a piece of perfboard and saw it into the shape you want.-- John FieldsProfessional Circuit Designer

John Popelish · Answer

If you want to use surface mount LEDs on a flexible board, you can fet FR4 fiberglass copper clad down to something like 6 mil thickness. Digikey has some 5 mil, double sides 1/2 oz. copper with positive resist:

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?Ref=411792&Row=427841&Site=US and I recently got some of this single sided, bare 1 oz copper on 6 mil FR4 from Ebay:

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You will have to be careful to place the LEDs and any resistors axially, with respect to the curve, or they will fracture when you bend the board. They might, anyhow.

Rich Webb · Answer

Poke the LED leads through a flexible rubber sheet, cut from an old bicycle inner tube or something similar. Solder wires to the leads, then clip them. Probably easier to put the current-limiting resistors in the body of the car.

Clint Sharp · Answer

In message , John Fields  writes and look for stock code 4137978.-- Clint Sharp

Rich Grise · Answer

Well, you get a tortilla big enough to go all the way around thecar...;-)Cheers!Rich

are there any flexible/bendable project boards?

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