Part 3 Building the Tactors

Part 3: Building the Tactors

The tactors are the vibrating assemblies that contact your fingertips. Each glove has five tactors — one for each finger: index, middle, ring, pinky, and thumb. That's ten tactors total for the pair, one per DRV2605L channel (F0–F4) on each board.

This page covers the LRA and preparing its wire leads. The physical tactor — LRA, wire plug, sled, shell, and lid — is assembled in Part 4 LRA Housing Assembly, where the printed wire plug also makes the electrical connection to the LRA. There is no soldering anywhere in this build: the PCB arrives fully assembled from JLCPCB (see Part 1 Ordering the PCB), and the wire-to-LRA connection is a friction contact made by the wire plug, not a solder joint.

What You'll Need

Components (per glove — multiply by 2 for both gloves)

• 5x VLV101040A LRA buzzers
• 5x 3D-printed tactor housings (see Part 4 LRA Housing Assembly)
• 15x Small compression springs (each housing takes three — see Part 4 LRA Housing Assembly)
• 10x Thin insulated wires (~6 inches each)
• 5x 2-pin JST-PH connectors, pre-crimped or crimped by hand

Tools

• Wire strippers
• Flush trim wire cutters
• JST-PH crimping tool (only if crimping your own connectors rather than buying pre-crimped leads)
• Tweezers
• Magnifying glass (helpful)

Step 1: Know the LRA

The VLV101040A is a small Linear Resonant Actuator (LRA) with a 250 Hz nominal resonant frequency.

• The LRA has two terminals, unmarked for polarity.
• Polarity does not matter for the LRA — it's driven as an AC waveform at its resonant frequency, not a DC motor where polarity sets direction. Either terminal can go to either wire.
• Wire all ten tactors the same way round anyway. It costs nothing, and it means a connector that looks flipped is never a suspect when you're chasing a fault later.

The LRA terminals are not soldered. In Part 4 LRA Housing Assembly the printed wire plug presses the two bare wire ends down onto the LRA terminals, and that pressure is the electrical connection.

Step 2: Prepare the Wire Leads

Each tactor needs a pair of wires: one end carries a 2-pin JST-PH connector that plugs into the board; the other end is left bare to make contact with the LRA inside the wire plug in Part 4 LRA Housing Assembly.

1. Cut two ~6-inch lengths of thin wire for each tactor (ten wires per glove).
2. Strip about 3mm of insulation from both ends of each wire.
3. Attach a 2-pin JST-PH connector to one end of each wire pair (see Step 3). Leave the opposite ends bare — don't join them to anything yet; the wire plug in Part 4 LRA Housing Assembly presses these bare ends against the LRA to make the connection.

Keep the bare ends clean and straight so they seat well in the wire plug.

Note

Tinning is optional. You can tin the bare wire ends with a soldering iron for a firmer, non-fraying contact, but it is not required — sets built with plain stripped wire work reliably. No connection anywhere in this build is soldered.

Step 3: Attach the JST Connector

Each tactor connects to the PCB via one of the board's five 2-pin JST-PH motor ports. There are no unused pins on this connector — both pins are wired.

Pre-crimped wires (simplest): buy 2-pin JST-PH connectors with wires already crimped on, and use those as your tactor leads.

Crimp your own:

1. Use a JST-PH crimping tool.
2. Crimp terminals onto your wires.
3. Insert the terminals into the connector housing, keeping the same terminal-to-wire-color order you used for every other tactor.

Step 4: Prepare All Ten Leads

Repeat Steps 2–3 for all ten tactors (five per glove), keeping the JST orientation identical on every one.

Quality Control Checklist

For each tactor lead, verify:

• Both ends stripped ~3mm; bare ends clean and not frayed
• JST connector attached with the same orientation as the others
• Wire length consistent across all ten

The LRA and its lead don't become an electrically live tactor until the wire plug seats in Part 4 LRA Housing Assembly — that page's Step 3 buzz-check is where you confirm each tactor works, on a verified board, before the housing is sealed.

Troubleshooting

Issue	Cause	Solution
Bare ends won't seat in the wire plug	Strands splayed after stripping	Re-strip cleanly, or optionally tin the ends (see Step 2)
No buzz at the Part 4 buzz-check	Bare wire not contacting the LRA in the plug	Reseat the wire plug so the bare wire presses on the LRA terminal; see Part 4 LRA Housing Assembly
Intermittent buzz	Loose JST crimp	Re-crimp or reseat the connector

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