Battery Testing Jig

 I like to test the batteries I have collected to see whether they still have any life left in them before sending them to be recycled. This can be a tedious process, so I wanted to make part of the process easier.

This battery testing jig uses a foot pedal (doorbell button) to activate a solenoid (powered by 4 AA batteries). This pulls the battery into place between the solenoid and a screw at the other end. This connects the battery to my multimeter, without having to hold a lead in each hand while simultaneously trying to look at the multimeter. I can then sort the batteries according to the results.

Testing Jig

Foot Pedal

The Two-Timer

This project started out as just a battery replacement, but then I was inspired by a dad joke to make a dual timer. The goal was to convert the timer to use AA batteries, because they are easier to find than button cell types. 

I added a new battery compartment that's shared by both timers and a new speaker for one of them. One of the timers had more problems. It had a loose connection, which I had been able to fix with a shim at first. But after adding it to the project, it turned into a broken solder connection on the board. After I fixed it, it was still a bit loose so it still needed a shim. Now it's OK when the cover is screwed on.

After attaching the new battery compartment, I glued the parts to a board and added magnets so it can stick to the refrigerator.

Paper Art Collage- from the archives

 Griffin has always liked making collages. Fabric, paper, wood, or plastic. This series is from about twelve years ago. He stapled sequins, paper, pencil shavings, leaves, and other decorations to squares of paper. This is a good technique for kids to create quilt like designs, without using a sewing machine or globs of glue (if you don't mind look of the staples in the design).

Battery Storage Tube

 I wanted to create a sturdy storage tube for batteries that I can throw into my backpack. I used some old garden hose parts and pvc pipe to create a container with a screw on lid. When I was done, I decided it needed some decoration and reinforcement, so I wrapped it in colorful duck tape. I had intended it to hold 2 batteries, but I cut the tube longer so it actually holds 3 AA batteries. 

Don't Trust Wirenut Color Coding

 

The three wire nuts above are the same color, however they are not the same size. Below you will see more wire nuts but their sizes and colors are different. This could be because they were made by different companies, or they could be defective. There's usually an industry standard for which sizes are which colors. These annoy me because it makes it more difficult to sort them. Do I sort by color or by size?

Melted Plastic Art- from the Archives

 

Several years ago at the Austin Maker Faire, I had a booth demonstrating plastic melting art and other projects such as a kazoo made out of a plastic straw. I had a lot of time while I was sitting there to come up with new projects. Another booth had empty plastic tape dispensers and I combined them with scraps from the plastic straws to make more melted plastic art. This is similar to fused glass art, but doesn't require special equipment and works at a much lower temperature.

This is another plastic melting experiment. I baked the lid of an egg carton. The whole thing shrank down to about 2 inches long, including the words and the barcode which seemed to be a sticker made out of a different type of plastic.

Here's a few more. The green one my mom made. It was a type of plastic that didn't shrink, so the effect was just the cut edges curling up. The white blob was an entire styrofoam cup with lid. The orange creation was made with thicker plastics, including a laundry soap bottle.

Lately I have been using a heat gun for plastic melting because my plastic melting toaster oven is in storage. I had been getting paper cups with plastic lids every day from the dining hall, so l've been trying to make the stack of lids into a coaster. 

Recycled Soap #6

 

Another batch of recycled soap. I had several small hotel soaps. I chopped them up, added coloring and water, and reformed it into a large block of soap. 

The soap needs to have enough water to form into a block and stick together, but then afterward it needs to be dry to use without making a sticky mess. For this batch I used a mini crockpot to melt the soap, allowing me to add less water.

This time, I dried the soap by putting it in a large plastic bin with a dehumidifier. I couldn't find my hygrometer to measure the actual humidity, so I just went by the feel.

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.