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Paper Resistor
by science4u on April 29, 2007

Table of Contents

intro: Paper Resistor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2

step 1: List of materials required: . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2

step 2: Lets make it !!! . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3

step 3: Start Scribbling !!!! . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3

step 4: Time to work seriously!! . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4

step 5: Limitations,Experimentation and Applications - . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4

Related Instructables . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4

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Comments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5

http://www.instructables.com/id/Paper-Resistor/
intro: Paper Resistor
A simple technique to make a variable resistor from paper and pencil.

Image Notes
1. the pins of the variable paper resitor

step 1: List of materials required:

All the things required to make this resistor are readily available in homes and
you will not require to spend any money to buy them.
The materials required are as follows:
(1) A thick (rather stiff) sheet of paper.
(2) A HB pencil.(preferably 3B,4B or 6B)
(3) A ruler or scale.
(4) Few metal paper clips.(will be used as the pins of the resistor)
(5) A multimeter or ohm meter to measure the resistance and calibrate your
resistor.
(6) pair of scissors.

Image Notes
1. the resistor
2. pencil
3. multimeter
4. scale
5. scissors
6. paper clips

http://www.instructables.com/id/Paper-Resistor/
step 2: Lets make it !!!
Building this resistor will hardly take an hour.You can build it in just 5 steps.
Step (1):
SubSteps:
(1)First take the sheet of paper(as i have told before it should be stiff and rough).
(2)Cut a small strip out of it.(as I have shown in the picture).

Image Notes
1. strip of paper

step 3: Start Scribbling !!!!

Now take out the heck out of the pencil ! This is was is the second step.
Step (2)
Substeps:
(1) Take a scale/ruler and your HB pencil and place the ruler near one side(the lenght i.e. the longer side) of the strip at about 0.5cm.
(2) Draw a demarker line with the ruler
(3) Now rub and scribble your pencil in the demarked area (as hard as you can !!).

*It is better if you scribble in a linear way ,horizontally and carefully seeing that no space is left blank in that area.

*If you use here a thin paper then it will tear off so I again recommend to use a stiff paper.

Image Notes
1. one side shaded strip
http://www.instructables.com/id/Paper-Resistor/
 2. HB pencil
3. scale/ruler

step 4: Time to work seriously!!

This is the most important part of this instructable - THE CALIBRATION PART.
Before starting with this part,
PLEASE MAKE SURE THAT:

the area beyond the demarked one (where we have scribbled) is clean as while scribbling you have may have touched the other part of the paper,so rub off the
ajoining area with an eraser-neatly!

*make sure that your multimeter is working and set your multimeter to to the resistance range of 200K ohms.

Step (3):
Substeps:
(1) Put the clip to the starting point of your strip(i.e. on the most lefthand side).
(2) See to it that the clip is firmly put (as shown in the figure)
(3) Next to this clip, put another clip ,leaving a space of around 1/2 to 1 cm.
(4) Connect your multimeter probes to the clip and check the resistnance.
(5) Adjust the position of the second clip to get the desired resistance.
(6) After getting the desired resistance ,see that the clip is frimly stuck.
(7) I have made actually here a variable capacitor like taht used in a light dimmer , so you can see in the photo that i have stuck two clips as the other pin of the resistor .
The clips as so calibrated that the resistance difference between two clips is of 10 k ohms.You can calibrate many clips side by side with specific resistance interval and
can make your own light dimmer !!

step 5: Limitations,Experimentation and Applications -

Though this resistor is modest at perfromance it can't be used for all practical applications.This is because it is difficult to calibrate this resistor to lower resistance value in
ohms.Also while making a PCB it would be difficult to attach it.But for experimental purposes it is good.You can learn a lot about resistors by this instructable.The pencil
lead is actually a graphite rod (carbon).By rubbing it on paper you transfer the carbon particles on to the paper.The paper is a insulator.The comibantion of paper and
carbon acts as a resistor.You can tryby using a very thin line of pencil on the paper to thick lines on the paper and see the difference in calibrating it and its effect on
resistance.You can use it to make a "light dimmer" or controlling volume output in a sound circuit or to control motor speed etc.It can also be used in small circuit
or circuits in which it is hard to find the required resistance.

I hope you liked my first instructable.If you have any suggestions or comments or questions you can tell me freely in the comment space or can email me at
science4u@gawab.com

Related Instructables

http://www.instructables.com/id/Paper-Resistor/
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Comments
13 comments Add Comment

joinaqd says: Dec 26, 2008. 10:17 AM REPLY

hi i really liked your instructable because its so simple...someone once told me to make resistor out of pencil lead but its hard...your idea is so simple and
easy...i hav a question..Can i use this to charge my 6 volt battery using a 12 volt charger if i use the resistor?please answer back.

jrt42 says: Nov 14, 2008. 12:10 PM REPLY

How about a strip of foil on paper?

sonic1234 says: Sep 6, 2008. 4:32 PM REPLY

what does it do

kishcool2005 says: Oct 16, 2007. 9:39 AM REPLY

It is a good idea buddy...but when days go on ,the resistance value will decrease gradually due to removal of carbon particles from the paper...any how you
have given an alternative for resistor...gr8 job..!

Abizer says: May 3, 2007. 12:06 AM REPLY

very cool.i tried the same project yestrdy . it works

a_d777 says: May 1, 2007. 4:46 AM REPLY

very cool thing...
i just tried it...
i could not find any paper to 'sketch' it on...
i took a small calendar and sketched it on that...

what wonderful results i got!!!

my variable resistor varies from 90k to 1800k...
below is a picture of it!

lemonie says: Apr 29, 2007. 9:20 AM REPLY

What practical range (Ohm) can you get out of this, and how much current will it take?

science4u says: Apr 30, 2007. 7:11 AM REPLY

I got the resistance range from 10k ohm to 2000k ohm and you can calculate the current from V=IR formula (that is ohms law).If you still have any doubt
please do ask.

mje says: Apr 30, 2007. 1:06 PM REPLY

I think what he's asking is really how much power it can handle. I suspect the answer has to be empirically determined.

http://www.instructables.com/id/Paper-Resistor/
 lemonie says: Apr 30, 2007. 2:34 PM REPLY
Yes, correct on both counts.

Kiteman says: Apr 29, 2007. 4:21 PM REPLY

You can make a variable resistor directly from the pencil:

Using your Instructables Leatherman (ahem), slit the pencil length-wise. If you're careful, you can split it cleanly along the glue, otherwise you may need to
whittle a little wood to expose the "lead" (yes, I know it's graphite) along the full length of the pencil.

Then just clip on wherever you need to.

I like this idea though - I may pinch it to allow my pupils to keep something "real" in their exercise books.

Brennn10 says: Apr 29, 2007. 9:56 AM REPLY

Very cool indeed.

Sgt.Waffles says: Apr 29, 2007. 8:26 AM REPLY

I remember doing this before. Its a pretty cool DIY, and could help to teach youngn's about electronic stuff.

http://www.instructables.com/id/Paper-Resistor/