For Christmas, I received a most wonderful item from Doctor Florence (aka. The Great Bear of the Northwest). Specifically, I received this:
“Useless Box“? What is that? All will be revealed…
There’s actually a funny story behind this gift! I had purchased one myself for JBF for Christmas, and when it had arrived I committed the evil sin of covetousness and very nearly ‘stole’ his for myself. My good nature won out though, and it was wrapped and put under the tree. I was super happy when I ended up getting one of my own from SFL! In short: this was a perfect gift 🙂
I made it yesterday. The suggested assembly time was 1.5 hours, but it took me at least double that. During construction I ruined:
– my eyes (due to me needing a new prescription)
– my fingers (due to friction from jewellers screwdriver handles and a soldering iron burn)
– my back (due to bending over the tiny pieces putting them together
But despite the endless and soul-wracking pain, this was one of the most enjoyable builds I have ever done!
That’s me being a technomancer there, soldering the toggle switch to the PCB. There was actually quite a bit of soldering required, since none of the wires came attached. Here’s the finished circuit:
You can see a motor, a PCB, a toggle switch and a pressure switch. What could it all do?
The box itself is made of thick laser-cut plastic, and is assembled using a very clever T-connection system (via nuts and bolts). The machining of the parts is superb, and it all went together smoothly, seamlessly and very easily. Here’s the nearly-finished box:
And here’s the final product, both closed and opened to show the inside:
I finished it! I made it with no mistakes, and it worked perfectly first time. As you can see when it is closed there is a just a switch poking out. So what happens when you switch it on? This happens:
Yes my friends, the box – when switched on – switches itself off! It’s only goal in life is to turn itself off if anyone happens to turn it on. The very definition of a useless item…
…and I love it!
