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Assembling your face-mounted lucid dreaming mask

All > Tech > Inventions > Assembling your face-mounted lucid dreaming mask by natetrue

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This guide contains step-by-step instructions on how to build a Face-Mounted Lucid Dreaming Mask.

You can buy the mask as a fully assembled, working mask (via Paypal, $60), as a kit ($30), or the programmed PIC chip ($10) alone, or just scrounge up the parts from your miscellaneous parts bin! Head to the Stuff you can buy from me page to buy.

This guide assumes you bought the full kit from me, for simplicity. It really doesn't matter where you got the parts from, so long as know you have the right ones.

First of all, make sure you have a clean, uncluttered workspace (see above).

Next, dump out the kit and have a look at the parts. You should have received (from left to right, top to bottom):

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- 2x 1x1x2" foam pieces (one extra, in case you mess up)
- 2x 1 kilohm resistors (brown-black-red-gold)
- 1x 10 kilohm resistor (brown-black-orange-gold, or brown-black-black-red-brown)
- 2x 3mm white LEDs (fancy!)
- 3ft 1/8" elastic cord (one size fits most!)
- 2x CR1616 3v Lithium batteries
- 1x 18-pin IC socket
- 1x PIC16LF628A chip (pre-programmed)
- 2ft Generic hook-up wire, 26 gauge
- 1x Sliding power switch
- 1x Tactile pushbutton
- 1x Long brass piece
- 1x Square-ish brass piece
- 1x Perfboard PCB

Your kit may vary slightly from the parts shown (especially if you made your own kit!), but they should all look the same, more or less.

You'll need to gather some basic tools, too:

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At a minimum, you'll need:
- Pliers (needlenose or otherwise)
- Wire cutters
- A soldering iron
- Solder

You may also want to have a wire stripper on hand, just to make things easier. It's not terribly necessary though (the wire cutters can do the job).

Uh, I guess some basic knowledge of how to use these tools is also required. But you wouldn't have bought the kit without knowing how to build it, right? Right? You at least know how to solder, I assume.

Anyway, moving on.

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Grasp the perfboard firmly between your digital appendages. Make sure the non-metal side is facing you (and screwholes to the left), and place the IC socket as shown in the image. Make sure the notch on the socket is facing toward the bigger side of the board.

Congratulations! If you've made it this far, you're not functionally deficient!

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Bend the pins of the IC socket on the other side to hold it in. The edge of a table works great for this.

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Place the button and switch in a similar fashion. Try to get the positions exactly what I have on there.

Important: The button has a 'vertical' orientation to it - the pins should be coming out of the top and bottom (as the button faces you), not the left and right sides!

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Take one of the LEDs and stick it through the board from the bottom, folding it over so it kind of sticks in place. Make sure that the longer lead is on top! If it's not, the LEDs will not light.

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If you're color-blind, this next step may defeat you. Locate the two 1-kilohm resistors. They will have a brown-black-red-gold stripe pattern on them - beware! The red on these and the orange on the 10k resistor is very similar! Make sure you have adequate light before making your decision.

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Place the resistors through the board as shown.

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Bend their leads so they fold over the nearest LED lead or IC socket pin. Then cut off the excess!

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Now set the board aside and locate the square-ish brass piece and take out one of the CR1616 batteries. Lay them atop each other in a manner consistent with the depiction of the above photographic diagram.

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Grasp the corners of the brass piece with your pliers and fold them up so they hug the CR1616 battery just so.

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Optionally, cut the corners for a less pointy feel.

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You can file them down to smoothness if you'd like.

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Position the brass piece (now a battery holder!) on the perfboard so as to locate two of the perfboard holes near two opposing corners of the battery holder.

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Take a couple of cut resistor leads (you did keep them, right?) and put them in the board, folding them over on both sides to hold the battery holder in firmly.

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Grab the long brass piece and fold / cut it into this particular shape (CR1616 battery here for scale). If you don't quite get the shape, check out the next couple of pictures.

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Take a piece of tape and wrap it around the small fold - this will insulate the batteries from shorting out.

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Put this piece on the board, over the battery holder. Its springiness should hold it on there. Position it so that the end is right in the middle of the battery holder.

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Grab the 10k resistor now (brown-black-orange-gold, usually - yours might be brown-black-black-red-brown with a cyan-colored body), and place it on the board as shown. Fold one lead over the adjacent button lead but leave the other side disconnected - we'll hook that up later.

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By now your board should look like this. Power up your soldering iron and apply solder to all of the leads coming through the board (and also to the brass strip on the bottom).

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The bottom of your board should look like this now. Turn it over and solder the wires to the battery holder:

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Then bend up the wires and cut them off so they don't interfere with the battery.

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Go on and bend up the rest of the LED leads and cut them off at the board.

Presto! Now comes the fun part.

By fun I mean tedious.

You'll need to cut sections of the black hookup wire to connect parts of the circuit. Let's start with the connection between the power switch and the battery holder.

Start by looking a few photos down to see where the connection needs to be made. Check against your own board and cut a piece of wire that is at least that distance.

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Use your soldering iron and solder to 'tin' the ends of the wire (heat it up, add solder, wait until it flows into the strands of the wire).

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It should look something like this when you're done.

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For each end of the wire, touch the end to the solder point you wish to attach to. Heat the end of the wire with your soldering iron, pushing towards the perfboard pad you want to connect it to. The solder on both will melt and fuse. Perfect solder joint!

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Now do that for all of these connections. Wasn't that easy?

No?

Here's a list of all the connections that must be made:
- Battery holder wire to the middle of the power switch
- Power switch pin 3 (towards LED) to PIC pin 14
- Power switch pin 3 to button (see photo for which side)
- Each of the LED cathodes to PIC pin 5, then to the long brass piece (battery cathode)
- Battery cathode to 10k resistor
- PIC pin 7 to button (see photo for pin)

Fortunately there aren't that many connections. Double-check to make sure you have everything absolutely perfect. I'll wait.

Surprise! You're almost done!

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Insert the batteries in the holder, plus side down. The brass should be pressing quite firmly against the batteries. If necessary, use some tape to hold the batteries in place against the brass arm piece.

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Insert the PIC in the socket. You may have to bend the pins inward for it to fit. Be sure the notched end of the socket and the notched end of the PIC line up.

That's all for the circuit board! Flip the power switch and make sure the LEDs flash at you (six times, pause, six times) and then stop flashing (for about 5 hours). If they don't, you screwed up somewhere! Double-check your work.

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Now grab one of the foam pieces. You'll have to sculpt it so it fits your own face. Don't be scared - I included an extra one just in case you screw up!

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Fold two of the corners back, and cut off the edge that sticks out, using scissors.

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You'll notice it makes a curved cutout in the foam.

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Now keep cutting into the foam, creating a place both for your forehead and the bridge of your nose. Keep testing it on your face to make sure it fits.

You should end up with something akin to this:

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Now comes the attaching part. You will want to make some little eyelets on the circuit board to hold the foam on. It rests like this:

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Note that the top of the circuit board generally protrudes above the foam. This makes sure there's enough room on the bottom so the board won't touch your nose. You can also see the eyelets I've constructed to hold the foam on - the elastic will go through the eyelets and through a hole in the foam to hold it on.

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Grab a spare piece of the hookup wire (or a needle, or what have you) and make a hole through the foam. Twirl the wire back and forth as you push through so it doesn't get stuck in the foam. Leave the wire in there.

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Tape the elastic to the end of the wire (making sure the side of the tape facing the foam is as flush to the wire as you can) and pull the elastic through the foam. It's easier if you crush the foam sides together, so that the distance the piece of tape has to travel is as short as possible.

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Now the elastic is through the foam. Wonderful!

Thread the elastic through the eyelets thusly:

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Then tie the ends of the elastic together, and you have a finished Face-mounted Lucid Dreaming Mask!

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Congratulations! Now to use it!

Using your Face-mounted Lucid Dream Mask

I tried to design the firmware to be as simple as possible to use.

For the most basic operation, just turn it on, strap it onto your face, and go to sleep!

A couple of more advanced features are built in. If you aren't sure of a good reality test, press and hold the button on the device until the lights flash once. Then release the button. If you're not dreaming, the lights will flash three times, then twice, then once. Additionally, after you activate the Reality Check, the mask will automatically wait a half hour for you to fall back asleep before trying to signal you again.

There's also a Hypnogogia Assist mode, where the mask does not wait at all to begin flashing at you. This is useful when you'd like to examine your hypnogogic state as you fall asleep. To activate this mode, press and hold the button until the LEDs flash a total of two times. Release and the mask will confirm by flashing twice. It will then flash the LEDs in 15-minute increments.

That's about all for the Dreaming Mask owner's manual! If you have any questions, please post them below, so everyone can benefit from the answers!

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