Whenever I bring my TV-B-Gone out to restaurants, I look suspicious pointing it around. Mitch Altman, the device’s creator, concealed his by putting it inside a hat (see the TV-B-Gone Hat project), but I rarely wear hats and wanted a more subtle and dinner-appropriate solution.
So I bought a zippered hoodie sweatshirt from a thrift store and turned it into a wearable TV silencer. For the switch, I sewed paths of conductive thread to 2 little pads that are bridged by the metal zipper pull when it passes by, so all I have to do is zip the sweatshirt up or down to activate the TV turning-off action. It works great, and you can just unsnap the circuitry to convert it back into a normal sweatshirt for washing — or for avoiding trouble.
Steps
Step #1: Mount the circuit board onto the fabric swatch.
Next


- Assemble your TV-B-Gone according to the kit instructions, but omit the push-button switch, and mount the 4 infrared LEDs perpendicular to the printed circuit board.
- Solder short wires to 2 of the 4 holes for the switch in the PCB. Pick the 2 that are visibly connected to the rest of the circuit. Strip the other ends and solder each to one half of a sewable snap. In the same way, attach 2 short wires to the board’s power connections and snap halves; these will connect to the battery holder.
- The fabric swatch will sandwich the circuit board to the hoodie and protect your skin from any pokey metal bits. Position the PCB in the middle of the swatch and use regular thread to stitch the 4 wired snaps along the swatch’s corners and edge.
- Also stitch the wires and the board itself onto the swatch; I looped thread around component leads and through holes in the board, and reinforced the LED leads with hot glue.
- Finally, stitch 2 more snap halves onto the 2 empty corners, just for holding the other side of the swatch. Check that your TV-B-Gone still works properly by bridging the switch snaps with a piece of wire.
Conclusion
This project first appeared in MAKE Volume 22.



































