I call mine the "Leave Me ALONE" box, because of what it does, and also because it knows what the rest of the world calls it. Basically, this is a simple device that will make you smile, simply because its only purpose is to turn itself back off if anyone hits the switch.
I got the Idea from Instructables, MakeMagazine, Solarbotics and YouTube stories/ads/videos about it. Its really sort of a "Meme"- like a Viral Idea that spreads like a Virus everywhere rapidly, as in all the articles listed above.
It is a really simple thing, both to build and to wire, yet it behaves like there is more in there going on than there actually is. All that's inside is a double pole, double throw switch, a motor, and a push button switch than can be wired Normally Closed.
Most of the Useless Machines you see online are rather big.. like cigar box sized.. which didn't appeal to me very much. I figured I could make one out of a little radio shack Project box, with a micro DPDT switch, and a mini geared motor I got from solarbotics.
The hardest part was cutting the door away with a hacksaw... carefully slicing a section of the top off, yet leaving it intact enough to replace and hinge with some ubiquitous HotGlue. It makes a really nice spring loaded hinge- that keeps the door flap closed and slammed shut. No springs/screws required!
Seen here painted Silver... I don't know why, to match the painted writing in the channels made with a hot soldering iron (used) tip on the top I guess.
After getting it all built and wired up, I was surprised to find this box.. roughly the size of a 5 x 8" index card, had plenty of room inside still!
Hrmm Its a little hard to see, but lets try to give a Tour: The 9Volt battery is the 9 volt battery ( :P ), the red thing is the underside of the DPDT switch, the big white Square blob is the mini "Geared Motor"- a motor with a built in gearbox for more torque, the blinding white arm thing is the arm, made of that Instamorph stuff, and hiding under the axle of the arm, is the black contact switch. The paperclip coming off of the right of the arm is what hits the contact switch, and what can be easily bent to adjust the stop portion just right.
If you look closely in the top right corner, you'll see another white blob... that's some more instamorph, using that corners screw mounting posts as a "grip", and wrapping around the back end of the motor case of the gear motor to make... an instant BRACKET. MAN that stuff is handy.. I don't know HOW I lived without it. I guess I would have hot glued it before.
So there it is, the silly Leave me ALONE box. I brought it to work, left it on my desk, and everyone couldn't resist but to NOT leave it alone. They all loved it. Oh! I almost forgot the other goofy detail. Notice how all the internals are off to the side, not visible from the door, well, since I knew everyone was going to look inside and not see anything. I figured Id give anyone curious something to look at:
With all that extra room inside, I feel tempted to add some more "things it does" to it. One of the first ones will be a hidden on/off switch- sometimes it chatters a bit like a ticking time bomb if it gets slammed around a bit, and the arm starts bouncing on the contact switch sping.
Other ideas are:
- A vibrating pager motor wired so that when the switch is in the "left alone" position, but the door gets opened (tilt switch on its underside?) the box will vibrate angrily!! :) (hmm but then I would have to make the box more drop-proof)
- A Large cap acting as a time delay, and ramp up for when the switch is engaged- the switch wont directly move the motor, but rather start to ramp up power in the Cap- slowed by a resistor to take a bit of time, the rising power making the pager motor vibrate more and more violently as it gets up to about 5v: the voltage to make the mini relay inside energize- initiating the whole arm thing- rather than the Switch. (this will take some experimenting, learning how to make a capacitor charge up, and at the same time drive the motor for the vibrator under the varying voltage levels).. sort of a "b.b.b.bb.bb.bbbbbbBBBBBBBRRRRRRRRWOOOOOAAAAAOOOOOWWW!!!!*click!*-arm smacks switch, arm retracts, everything stops. vibrations slow down and stop (as CAP drains away the remainder energy)
-toothbrush heads chopped off, and holes hut into metal base plate so the bristles stick out on each side of the base as feet- one angled one way, the other the opposite way. IF its not too heavy, as the vibrating motor gets going, the box should spin in place as a "bristlebot" on whatever its sitting on! Placing the weight of the vibrator will be key to this one, but its just a dream at this point.
So you see, its these ideas that keep me interested in continuing to tinker- if I didn't have these crazy ideas I wanted to try, I wouldn't be quite so mad scientist enthusiastic about it all!!
I'm going to go work on that "getting more violent" vibrator circuit. Be back soon with results, if any.
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