Geek Dad: Awesomely Geeky Projects and Activities for Dads and Kids to Share (24 page)

All the parts to this project are available at your local electronics or computer store, though if you’re a geek worth your salt, you very likely already have them. Obviously the crimper is the most specialized piece of equipment, but crimpers can be found pretty much everywhere (I’ve seen them in Home Depot, RadioShack, and Target).

1. For one cuff link, measure out about 3 inches of the twisted-pair wire.

2. Untwist the ends a bit so they’ll be easier to get into the connector.

3. Feed one end of the pair into the two available holes on one extreme side of the connector.

4. Feed the other end into the hole on the opposite extreme end of the connector, and crimp per the instructions that come with the tool. This will create about a ¾-inch loop of wire coming out of the back side of the Ethernet connector.

5. Trim a 4-inch piece of twisted-pair wire, fold it in half, and twist together into one thicker length.

6. When you’re ready to put the cuff link on, feed the loop from the Ethernet connector through the French cuff in just the way you would the post of a traditional cuff link. Feed the doubled-over 4-inch length through the exposed loop, and twist over so the cuff link stays in place.

Repeat this with another connector to make a second cuff link to fill out your pair.

The end result of this project is a formal accessory for the geek who is truly secure in his technophilia. Whether it’s the winter ball or a dance, New Year’s Eve, or even a (your?) wedding, this simple bit of whimsy should see you through.

G
eekDads tend to do a lot of technical stuff with their kids. Beyond just video games, we love to learn programming, or go geocaching, or hack roadway message boards to flash lines from Tron at passing motorists (okay, maybe that’s just me). All very technical geeky activities. And we know geeks can get into crafts as well, from crocheting dice bags (page 157) to cosplay costumes. But what about melding crafts and technical geekery into one project? Oh, that’s easy!

Tape as a textile, you ask? Why, of course! Duct tape—another WWII military invention brought to use in everyday life afterward—is fabric-reinforced for strength and has a rubber-based adhesive that resists the effects of moisture, making it a very handy material for a variety of textile projects (there are a slew of Web sites dedicated to various duct tape craft projects). Indeed, the duct tape wallet itself was not invented for the GeekDad book, but the little variation included here was, and with it, we turn the geek factor up from 10 to 11.

There are two halves to this project—the wallet itself and the light module. We’ll start with the wallet.

To make the wallet, first collect your materials. Of course the primary material is duct tape. For the purpose of this project, we’ll stick to just classic silver-backed duct tape, but there are a variety of colors available at your local hardware store, so if you want to get creative in the future, go crazy.

 

STEP 1:
You’ll also need a surface to work on. A plastic cutting board is very effective, because while the tape will stick to the board, it can be pulled off fairly easily and still retain most of its adhesive. That will be key for this project. A ruler is not vital since you can work from a dollar bill for your dimensions and eyeball things generally, but a straight-edge is very handy. And if you’re a stickler, use a ruler, for I’ll give you rough dimensions all the way through. For this part, you’ll need that box cutter or X-Acto knife, which will cut through the duct tape like “buttah.”

What we’re making here is a simple billfold, and you can even use one you have on hand as a guide.

1. Start by laying three overlapping rows of tape on the cutting board to create a rough shape at least 7½ inches wide by 4½ inches tall.

2. Lay your dollar bill (which is 2½ inches tall by 6 inches wide) on top and trim the tape sheet so that it is about ¾ inch wider than the bill on each side, ½ inch clear at the bottom, and 1½ inches on top (see, that makes 7½ by 4½ inches). Try to get nice clean edges.

3. Now carefully peel the whole sheet off the board (use the knife to get under one corner, and then slowly pull the tape away) and lay it adhesive side up.

4. Tape over the sheet with new rows of duct tape, making sure you go at least ½ inch wider all the way around.

5. Trim this cover layer so that it is ½ inch wider and taller, then cut the corners at 45-degree angles (kind of like any piece of paper in
Battlestar Galactica
).

6. Flip the whole piece back over, then fold the overlapping edges over and stick them down so that you end up with a nice sheet of double-backed duct tape—the perfect waterproof wallet material.

 

STEP 2:
Now we’ll start on the inner pouch that’s going to hold the electronics package (sounds very spy tech, doesn’t it?). Our guide for the size of the pouch is the size of the battery holder. I’ll talk about the electronics materials later in this project, so you should read the whole thing before starting. However, the battery holder is a simple AAA module like you’d find in many toys or other devices. It’s not much bigger than the actual battery, so you can approximate the size of the pouch based on that information.

1. We’re going to make a two-sided tape sheet just like the first one, but sized so that, if you rolled the battery holder up in it, the sheet would wrap around it once, with about ½ inch extra (call it 2 inches tall by 3 inches wide).

2. What you’re not going to do like the last time is to make a 45-degree corner cut and seal all four sides. Instead, trim the corners square (at 90-degree angles) and seal just the top side by folding the flap over.

3. On the bottom flap, do a little more trimming so it has three serrated-looking tabs. These will become the bottom closure of the pouch.

4. Using the battery holder as your guide, roll the pouch up so that the left side tab seals it up into a tube shape, leaving the right side tab still unadhered.

5. Fold the bottom serrated tabs in on themselves to create the wallet’s bottom (there will be a bit of the sticky side facing into the interior of the pouch—this is intentional, to help hold the electronics in place).

 

STEP 3:
You now have a pouch with a sticky tab on the right side, which we’ll use to attach the pouch to the inside of the wallet. We’ll do that now, by applying it to the first sheet we made. On the left side of the sheet, set the pouch with the tab on the left. The bottom of the pouch should be ½ inch from the bottom of the sheet, and the sticky tab should fold over and behind the left edge of the sheet.

 

STEP 4:
Next we’ll make the sheet that finishes our wallet. This sheet is the inside of the billfold, so it should be a little smaller—say 3½ inches. But because it has to allow for the bulk of the pouch inside, it needs to be a bit longer; try 7¾ inches wide. When you’ve applied the second face, and flipped the sheet back over, trim the top corners at 90-degree angles, and the lower corners at 45-degree angles. Fold the top flap down to seal the top edge.

 

STEP 5:
Now take your first sheet with the pouch and flip it facedown. Line up one lower corner and side edge with your new sheet (make sure the first sheet is oriented so that the open end of the pouch is facing up toward the finished edge of the new sheet). You should be able to fold the side sticky tab of the new sheet over the edge of the old one. Then line up the first sheet’s bottom edge with the inside edge of the new sheet so the bottom sticky tab can fold up and over. Finally, line up the other side edges and fold over the last sticky tab so that you have attached the new sheet to the first sheet, with the pouch on the inside.

 

STEP 6:
You now have the basic billfold with a pouch inside. If you want, you can add another inside sheet, perhaps in a different color for a nice accent, and slightly shorter than the inside wall of the billfold, as a pocket for credit cards and ID. Those sorts of additional features I’ll leave up to you and your kids’ creativity.

The electronics package is where you can make this really geeky, and where you have the chance to play with the materials you can find. I went with some cool items I dug up at my local Frys Electronics, the handiest of which was the bulb. While we geeks like to dabble in all things LED (as you can well see elsewhere in this book), sometimes the simplest alternative can be the best and easiest to deal with. When I saw these replacement bulbs for Mini Maglites that were specifically designed for use with a single AAA battery, I was happy. What’s easier than battery/bulb/switch to build a circuit for something like this?

Admittedly, this could be done a bit geekier, and more streamlined, with LEDs and a CR2032 battery, but I’ll leave that up to you to find and figure out.

Where I did go geeky was with the switch. While there are numerous neat little switches available on the aisle at my store, when I saw they had a small selection of mercury switches, I just had to use one!

Assembly of the electronics is a commonsense process, building a circuit from the negative end of the battery holder, through the switch, the bulb, and then to the positive end of the holder.