PCB Graduation Cap

For my Graduate graduation I decided to do something special inspired by this reddit post. I wanted a light up custom PCB graduation cap! This was a very last minute decision so I had very little time to design, order, and assemble the parts.

I decided to model the board in KiCAD, a free, open-source PCB software. The learning curve was not too steep with this software. However, the CAD took my several hours to modify to what I wanted. At the end of the day, I finally was ready to order the board. Unfortunately, the size and color of my cap meant that it would take a week to receive the order, which meant it would arrive after graduation. I was disappointed but happy to continue my work just to complete the project.

By a miracle, the PCB arrived two days early, allowing me to have time to solder the components just in time for graduation. After an entire day straight of soldering, I realized a manufacturing defect caused only the letters to work correctly, with none of the other electronics. I decided to solder some wires to the back as a quick fix to make the cap function in time for the ceremony!

The logos I had ordered to be etched in copper on top of the cap had also wrongly been etched inside the board. Luckily I was able to fix this using some sandpaper to make the logos show, plus this made them shine! The cap looked great for the ceremony in the end and I am very satisfied that I was able to complete it in time.

I plan on revisiting this project in the future to see why the electronics did not function, so maybe I will be able to make it work as intended (without wires on the back).