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Adrian McEwen

Today's task: find out if you can plait LED noodles with old gear/brake cables.

First off, I need to dismantle the last quick LED noodle experiment, my quick-and-dirty rear bike arrow.

A white desk with a couple of old bike brake cables and some pliers, next to a disc of cardboard with some wires and a battery connected to it. On the disc there's an arrow made from three lengths (actually it's one length looping round from behind) of illuminated pink LED "noodle"
#weeknotes#LED
Adrian McEwen

So, it seems that you can plait noodles and brake cables 😀

Shortens the length of the LED quite a bit, and gives it an interesting wavy pattern. A little tricky to get a tight weave on the plait given the difference in strength/flexibility of the brake cable versus the noodle.

A loop made of plaited LED noodle and bike gear/brake cable, held by a set of long-nosed pliers. The handles of the pliers are resting on the edge of a table with the nose hanging over the edge. The loop is vertical in free air, and the LED noodle makes a wavy pattern due to the plaiting.
#weeknotes#LED#plait
Mar 08, 2025, 12:15 PM·Public·Web
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Dec.tar.gz

@amcewen
Does the end result need to have the strength of 2 steel cables? If not, you could plait with something less opaque like strimmer wire or (thick) fishing line.
I'm assuming that it needs to be high visibility.

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Adrian McEwen

@dec23k doesn't need the strength, but I found the stiffness to be useful to have them stand up on their own.

Trying something else is a good call, although I also like using the brake cables as they're a readily available (given my bike workshop mates) waste material 😀

I got interrupted by other folk arriving for Maker Day yesterday, but I think the next step will be some more practicing of my plaiting - maybe with just the cables at first. It's been many, many years since I last did any!

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