Introduction: Ceramic Capacitor Name Sign- Aka How to Waste 55,000 Ceramic Capacitors!

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About: I've been making Instructables since I was 13. Now, I mostly make videos of my projects, however I'm still active here, so don't hesitate to reach out! Sick with a deadly disease called DIY-itis!

You probably just came to this Instructable wondering "What exactly is this? 55,000 capacitors? That's a lot!"

So here, I will be showing you how to make an awesome picture frame sign of your name, Using a, Well, Pretty big amount of ceramic capacitors

Fist of all, What are ceramic capacitors?

Ceramic capacitors a tiny SMD electronic components, The ones I am using are about the size of a grain of sand! If you don't have access to these ceramic capacitors, You can use any other electronic component, Such as: SMD or regular resistors, Diodes, LED's, Transistors/ IC's, And may more (This is a hint that if you don't get these for free, Buy cheaper components)

This might also be a nice project for a factory that make ceramic capacitors, 55,000 would probably count as a small "leftover amount". ***faint***

Step 1: What You'll Need:

Materials:

Blue Tape (Painters Tape)

Clear "School Glue"

Picture Frame

White Poster Board Paper (My picture frame came with it, But if yours didn't, You'll have to buy it separately)

And most important: Ceramic Capacitors (These, for example)

Note: I used different sized capacitors, It looks a lot better this way

Note #2: I had 55,000 capacitors but I ended up using a little less than that, Probably a bit more than 50,000. The amount you'll need depends on the size of the capacitors and the size of the picture frame

Tools:
Scissors

Tweezers

Small Plastic Cup/Container

A Nail and a Hammer if you want to hang this on a wall (like me)

Fingers that love having glue smeared all over them!

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If you're wondering Why is there a block of wood in the picture?

When I started making this (and filming the 'Ible), I didn't think of making it this way.

I thought of just smearing some glue on wood and then spreading some capacitors on the glue (I thought that would be nice), And after that I thought of putting on poster board paper it in a picture frame, Right before starting to spread the gle, I thought of making it display my name. That is what you're seeing now!

Step 2: From Human, to Automatic Capacitor Dispenser

In this step, You might have been able to say that I turned in to a ceramic capacitor dispenser

Do you know how much time it takes to unravel 55,000 capacitors from strips of seven spools/reels? Long enough, It took me over an hour, And you can see how a cardboard box trash can* looks when I finished (It filled about half of it)

*I don't think I'm the only DIY'er that needs such a big trash can!

Step 3: Arrange & Stick the Tape (According to Your Name)

This step requires quite a bit of time to do:

1. Use CAPITAL LETTERS. "YONATAN" will look better than "Yonatan" in the picture. This is because round letters are hard to do and won't look as good

2. If you're like me, And your blue tape is too wide, Do this. The narrower the strips are, The better it looks

3. Don't expect it to be perfect on the first try, You'll have to "play" with it a lot until you have it the way you want

4. If you have a long name (like me), Try to keep the letters as big as you can and "compress" them together (Look how much the ATA part in my name saves, The T doesn't take up any space)

5. Letters need to be spaced out by at least 0.5 cm (~0.2 inches) from each other and the edge

Step 4: Apply & Spread Glue on Your Poster Board Paper

Fill the WHOLE paper with glue, Use your finger to spread out the glue and make sure there aren't any places that don't have glue.

You want to spread the capacitors evenly (As shown in Picture #1) with your finger (A different one...). You can fix empty places by adding tiny specks of glue in places that you missed.

Step 5: Peel Off the Tape W/ Tweezers

After letting the glue dry, I peeled of the tape. I found out that the easiest ways to do this is with tweezers.

Do this slowly and carefully, I recommend starting with the easier letters such as T or Y

Now you can throw all of the leftover tape away, You won't be needing it anymore

Step 6: DONE!

You are now done! Insert it in to the picture frame carefully (again) so the glass won't remove any capacitors that aren't held strong enough (there is probably no reason for this to happen anyway)

You can now hang it on a wall, Or put it or your desk if it has a stand, And admire you precious artwork!