Build Instructions

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• 1

  Mark led positions

  
  (The dog inspected, and approved my work)
  

• 2

  Pull fishing wire

  Since I wanted all the electronics to be attached to the inside of the heel, all the wires for the leds had to get to this spot. So I tried to drill a hole, right in the center of the sole. Not a great idea, as apparently there's a piece of very hard metal embedded in the sole, to prevent flexing. Two drillbits later, I figured this out, and decided to drill more to the side of the sole.

  Using a small drill bit in my hand, and made a small hole in the leather where each of the leds were going to be. Using a dremmel, with an engraving bit I removed tiny bit of the thickness of the leather, so each leds would sit slightly below the surface. This will make the leds blend in more, and reduce the risk of getting damaged.
  

  Using needles and pliers I ran a piece of fishing line from each of the leds positions, between the leather and the inner lining, to the heel. This took a lot of effort, and broken needles.

  But afterwards I ended up with this:

  And a whole tangle of wires of the other end.

• 3

  Prepare the leds

  I measured out lengths of 0.1mm enameled copper wire. Folded the wire in the middle and twisted the two parallel wires together. This way you end up with a loop at one end, which is used to pull it through the shoe in the next step. I then soldered a 0805 white led to the other end. I applied a bit of nail varnish to prevent shorts and to strengthen the connection.
  

  I created different lengths, since there was a nearing deadline, and I was running low on enameled wire. Not ideal.
  

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