Popsicle stick bridge

I designed this bridge for the boy next door. He watches my son and I build projects, and he asked if he could build a bridge for his cars. I took him downstairs and we did a real quick sketch in illustrator. This is a quick model to show everyone how easy it is to design and build a popsicle stick bridge, where playing with cars is the important factor, not strength. If anyone is interested in building this bridge I have made instructions and templates as a pdf for download. The Drawdio is nearly finished.

Popsicle stick photo frame

While my Macbook is rendering the final thousand pictures of the Drawdio animation, I thought I would post a craft I designed for my english students. I made these wonderful little photo frames with all my students and they loved them. It’s a very simple craft to do with your children and it’s all natural. I have included the building instructions as a pdf if you would like to make the real thing. You will find the instructions in the 3d model file. Have fun gluing, until the next post, don’t eat too many ice creams.

Working on Drawdio animation

It’s been a few months since my last post and thought I would explain the reason why. I am on the last few minutes of an animation to explain how to make a Drawdio. The animation has run into 15500 pictures and many hours of modeling, I will post the model on this blog when it’s complete. The finished animation will be on my Youtube channel. Sorry for not posting new models but life is like a box of chocolates….    Until the Drawdio is complete, take care.

PCB components (SMS)

With just a few components my son put together this simple 1 Watt amplifier. We did lots of sound checks on a breadboard to determine which speaker and gain. We finally ended up with a standard 8 Ohm 0.5 Watt speaker and 50 gain on the LM386 IC. For his first project he did really well and it sounds great. Until the next post, eat the mints first.

Herbal Candy Super Mint Tin (SMS)

This is why we called this speaker tin the Super Minty Speaker (SMS). All the components fit inside with lots of space all around. We wanted to make the Altoids tin speaker found on instructables but we can’t buy Altoids in Taiwan so we found this tin instead. It sounds really good for my sons first project and in the end we did make an Altoids tin speaker. Until the next post, happy listening. Altoids Tin Speaker Instructable.

On/off toggle switch (SMS)

Today we have another component used in the Super Minty Speaker. This is the toggle switch used for on/off. It has been really nice modeling such tiny things. I’m sure it’s also useful for other 3d projects, that’s why I posted it now. Until the next post, don’t switch off.

Duracell 9V battery for (SMS)

This is the first of many components to make a Super Minty Speaker for your iPod. I thought I would begin with the power source, because I’m sure many people are looking for a model of a 9V battery. The 3d project is still in the making but the SMS sounds great and hopefully many people will enjoy making one. Until the next mint, enjoy the warm weather.

Super Minty Speaker (SMS) for iPod

During the winter vacation my son and I made many DIY electronic projects. The SMS is his favourite, and we decided to make an instruction manual in 3D. Over the next few posts we will place the 3D models of all the components needed to make a Super Minty Speaker for an iPod. My son is now eager to learn Cinema 4d and this is a great project for him.

Brio box

After uploading a few Brio pieces I thought it was time to give everyone the box to put your Brio models in. We have had this beautiful wooden box for about 8 years and you can still smell the living trees. It’s a great addition to any Brio collection. Until the next Brio post, happy valentines day.

Ascii maze

This is just so good I had to put it on my blog. One evening visiting friends, my son started doodling with ascii characters, on his ipod touch to create little pictures. He then created this maze and asked me how to make it animated. I said let’s have a look what we can find on the internet, and we found a website that animates ascii. He had to create 458 separate frames with copy and paste but the result is well worth it, remember this is simply ascii characters. Until the next post, have fun with ascii. Watch the animation with sound on youtube.ascii animation with soundasciimator