Introduction: Dopamine Box | a Project Similar to Mike Boyd - Not Being Mike Boyd's

By
About: Hiya! My name is Martin and I am 15, and a student in MCTS. I like to make things- whatever, whenever (but mostly machining, CNC, and electrical engineering :). Welcome to my corner of the internet!

I want one! I need one! I am a procrastinator! Well, I want a dopamine box... Without needing to program. No sounds, just pure will-

Supplies

Elbow grease

A lot of work

Pliers

A drill

Files

A sander

Wood

Soldering Iron

Flux

Solder

Wire

Sharpie

Superglue

Hot Glue

Screws So, So much more...

Step 1: Building a Box

Now, I am not going to go over how I built it but I will go over my design Ideas: First of all, I wanted a sleek design, Second of all, I wanted something that is heavy but not made of metal (As I am a machinist and not a woodworker but I ran out of metal and my next shipment is coming after this challenge), Lastly, I wanted something with a very tactile feel - a nice "Click!". All I want to point out is that there is ONE dimension you have to nail and that is how tall your box is or else your switches will touch the surface the box is on. I did not nail this dimension and my switches stick out of the bottom. On the bottom I later added a little support. Here is my box! (Dimensions are on the box thing itself)

Step 2: Choosing the Switches

As for the switches, it was pretty simple... Clicky, Big, and Simple. I chose these: My Switches

The only issue with them (Or the plywood) is that they are exactly 10mm and they cannot be screwed into the plywood so I have to simply superglue them. The switches have screw terminals and they are really nice. They even come with screw on rubber dirt-covers!

Step 3: Drilling the Holes

The hole step is simple... Or so I thought! I mounted the box onto the drill press and drilled a pilot hole. Then, I went to a half - inch drill bit which is the final size but, my little $80 Harbor Freight drill press just could not handle the forces and it just jammed. In the end I sat there with a file and build character for 2 hours :D My switches fit and I left a single hole untouched as I would like to turn up (On the little Sherline) a little button and engrave an "M" on it for my name (Which will come later) I also drilled holes for little lights that will indicate what is happening. The little lights are not LED's as I did not have any at the time of making this box. They are christmas lights (The replacement ones). They leave a more steampunk glow and I like them a lot. At the time of making the picture I had already filed out the holes.

Step 4: Painting the Things!

This step is genuinely simple... I just painted it with a paper towel and dried it with a heat gun (Acrylic paint). A paper towel as I did not want to run upstairs (My shop is in the basement) to grab a brush.

Step 5: Popping All the Switches and Lights In

I superglued the switches in after I had confirmed they all work. The lights have not yet been superglued in but they fit very well. At this point I can test if the feeling of the switches is what I want and it indeed is!

Step 6: WIRING!

I hopped onto FritZing and designed this PCB. I was planning to laser engrave it but it did not work because I ran out of copper clad board. I ended up just soldering everything loosely following the circuit board. You probably wont get the board as it is my design but it is very simple. All it does is individually turns each light on with each switch. No fancy arduinos or extras... No sounds (It does what I want it to do and I kind of think Mike's is excessive). At this point I can test it and see if it works and it does!

(This is how the circuit works... Light A's + goes to Switch A's First terminal and a wire comes out of Switch A's second terminal, which goes to the power adaptor's + Terminal and the - of Light A has no switch and directly goes to the - of the power supply thing. All of the light and switch modules go to the same + and - terminals on the power supply.)

Step 7: Laser Engraving the Symbols

I went into FireAlpaca (A little drawing program) and I drew up some symbols. I put all the symbols into one photo and I set up my EleksLaser to cut some cork (Or more so engraving it) and I cut the symbols out. It didnt work because I ran out of time for that day. So I drew it onto some cork.

Step 8: Making the Bu-... Hole... Plug

I made it out of Delrin. Using a homemade graver I engraved my initial. M- for Martin. It is a press fit that I superglued in. I also put red paint in it and it looks good. It works... There is not much to this step is there. I modelled it in FreeCad, as Fusion 360 changed their guidelines and I just prefer to learn something new rather than pay. The model turned out good! It wasn't necessary because I don't know the exact dimension of a filed out hole so I kept turning off material until it pressed in, despite it being good to have a model for machining, and I also just wanted an excuse to make a model.

Step 9: Admire It...

Your done... I'm done! Were all done! In two hours its the deadline so photography is a bit rushed. I chose Christmas lights and that was a mistake because they are ones that flicker. Intentionally. That is why on some of the photos, the switch is on but the light is off. I could not time my photo with the flickering. Trust me! I'm not saying the flickering is intentional but its not a flaw either. keeping all the lights on will make them all flicker which looks annoying, even in bright light, and it makes you do the tasks to turn the lights off!