Battery Sorting System

 

I previously used boxes and plastic bags to hold batteries after they had been sorted. I also made a battery dispenser box to hold the usable AAs. But they were taking up a lot of space on my desk. So I decided to start over and make a battery sorting system. There is a tube for each category which funnels the batteries into bins on the shelf below the desk. I used a 2 1/2 inch hole saw to make holes in a strip of pallet wood. Luckily it was the right size, because the hole saw arbor was stuck and I couldn't change bits. I think the hoses are a type used for vacuums. The ridges make interesting noises when batteries are sliding through them. All the bins are stored below the desk, and I can see when the recycle bin is full and needs to be emptied. 

USB Arcade Controller

Last year for my math class, the homework was mostly online. I made lots of typos because I pressed the enter key too soon or pressed other buttons around it by accident. So that gave me the idea to build a giant numeric keypad with a joystick. My dad said I just wanted it for gaming, and I realized that was an even better idea (but don't tell him I said that).

I was inspired to build with arcade buttons because I work in an arcade. I ordered a kit for a 2 player arcade controller with 10 buttons per player. This gave me a lot of parts to work with. The controller board was not compatible with any of the programs I tried, including Minecraft or Roblox, so I decided to use the Makey Makey board I had bought at the Radio Shack going out of business sale.

For the box, I used a box from an old satellite DVR donated by a neighbor. It is made of thin painted black steel. For the joystick center holes and smaller button I was able to use a step bit to drill the holes. Unfortunately, my step drill only goes up to 25mm, and I needed 30mm holes for the larger buttons. I looked for another way to drill the holes. My grandad suggested a chassis punch, but I didn't have one. I tried the 1 1/8" hole saw that I already had, but it wasn't sharp enough. So next I shopped around for either a larger step bit or a bi-metal hole saw. I wanted either a tool that was in my budget, or a set that I could use for other projects in the future. I ended up getting a 1-1/8 inch bi-metal hole saw.

The left stick is WASD and the right stick is mouse, the lower two buttons are space, the top 2 buttons are click, and the middle button is G.

Electric Soap Dispenser

Electric soap dispensers are not a new idea, but this one is unique because it is made out of an old inkjet printer. My neighbor was getting rid of some printers and saved them for me to take apart. The roller pump was designed to handle 6 different colors of ink in an inkjet printer. I washed out most of the ink residue with clean water, but there's still a tiny bit that the soap will remove eventually. I connected all the inlets of the channels together with irrigation t-fittings. 

I added a bottle to hold liquid soap and connected it with tubing from a Keuring. It has an AC adapter built in so it doesn't use batteries. Then I added a pushbutton switch. When I press the button, six drops of soap cascade from the nozzle block onto my hand.