I have been lurking over the past few weeks while constructing my first helmet. Lately, the negative posts about shedding have concerned me (especially after the massive diode purchase), but it seems there are more positive results than negative and it's a bit too late at this point to go back! Plus I am already losing my hair, so I felt it was worth a shot. Go big or go home with no hair!
I wanted to thank OMG for giving me the motivation to start this project and for posting instructions, as they helped out immensely even though I had to deviate halfway through. When I combined the two halves via a shoelace, my helmet was a distorted mess. The two pieces worked great separately, but when forced together, the top lifted off my head by a few inches. I cut out the rivets from the bottom piece and built up platforms on the sides and back with extra foam. I then created tabs of velcro that attached to the rivet rim of the top piece and used that sticky goodness to hold the pieces together. It worked out perfectly and the rear tab even allowed me to attach the power cord with velcro to limit the stress on the connection.
After wire-nutting till my fingers went numb (the 16,14,12 gauge wire method resulted in a couple more layers), I used a modded computer power supply to start up the beast. I was expected the worst as I didn't test any of the connections and used all black wire for aesthetics. She powered up on the first try and the glow through my glass table was intense! Then, after a couple of minutes, the power supply gave out. My guess is the amp draw -> (350 diodes * 30 mA = 10.5 A) vs (14 A supply * 75% efficiency = 10.5 A). I ordered a 15 A 3.3V supply from TRC Electronics, assuming that will fix the issue.
Anyway, just wanted to share my latest creation with you and I look forward to posting my progress over the next year.
![Image](http://www2.mediafire.com/imgbnc.php/663cf5e51d527c9d6883fa8ae2f68e4e6g.jpg)