Geek Dad: Awesomely Geeky Projects and Activities for Dads and Kids to Share

by Ken Denmead

  STEP 2: To set the Wi-Fi adapter in the bowl, start by taking a standard rubber band and loop it repeatedly around the adapter about a third of the way from the receiving end (not the end with the USB jack), so that it becomes like a gasket. Depending on the rubber bands you have and how clean the hole you drilled is, you may want to use more than one band. Slip the adapter, jack end first, through the hole from the “inside” of the bowl, until the band stops it. This should leave the receiver end at the center of focus for your “dish.”

  STEP 3: Hold this construct together, and on the other side, instruct your child to take another rubber band and repeat the looping process until you have a second gasket, and roll it tight against the bottom of the bowl so the adapter is securely set. If you don’t mind a more permanent solution, you could also use a hot-glue gun to set the adapter in place, though that won’t let you take it back out to show off before/after readings to your incredulous (and slightly worried) friends and family.

  STEP 4: To mount your dish to the tripod, simply set it on the camera head so that the threaded screw that would normally connect to the bottom of a camera pokes through the ¼-inch hole you drilled. Use the ¼-inch nut to hold the bowl securely on, tightening with a wrench if needed. Try to use a tripod with a metallic screw rather than a plastic screw, to avoid stripping the threads when tightening. Now you should have a very versatile means for aiming your dish.

  STEP 5: When you’re ready to test, there are a number of programs available on the Net to see detailed information on signal strength and available bandwidth. Take your dish to the place with a low signal, and set it up so that it is aimed roughly at where your wireless router is located as if you had line-of-sight through whatever walls or floors might be between. Connect the adapter to your computer with the extension cable, and start surfing with renewed vigor!

  Cool LEGO Lighting from Repurposed Parts

  Reuse is an important concept these days. It’s not just about recycling; repurposing existing items like furniture or building materials is a great way to minimize both waste and your carbon footprint.

  And with the digital revolution in media, what’s one thing we probably have lying around the house gathering dust? Yeah, CDs and DVDs. Hopefully, by now you’ve ripped all your old CDs into digital format for easy portability, and if you’re a proper technology geek, you may have all your movies and music stored on a home server for access all over your local network, and even anywhere you’ve got an Internet connection. So why are you holding on to all those discs? Sure, you could try to trade them in at your local used-music store for some kind of credit, but why not build something with them instead? And why not make it a fun project you can share with your kids?

  This project is fun because it lets you play with LEGO bricks (always fun!). But beyond that and in addition to the lesson of the importance of repurposing objects, you can also dabble in some pretty cool open-source electronics with your kid while constructing this lamp.

  One of the coolest open-source initiatives out there is putting practical programmable electronics into the hands of hobbyists. It’s called Arduino.

  From the Arduino Web site (www.arduino.cc):Arduino is an open-source electronics prototyping platform based on flexible, easy-to-use hardware and software. It’s intended for artists, designers, hobbyists, and anyone interested in creating interactive objects or environments.

  Arduino can sense the environment by receiving input from a variety of sensors and can affect its surroundings by controlling lights, motors, and other actuators. The microcontroller on the board is programmed using the Arduino programming language (based on Wiring) and the Arduino development environment (based on Processing). Arduino projects can be stand-alone or they can communicate with software running on a computer (e.g. Flash, Processing, MaxMSP).

  The boards can be built by hand or purchased preassembled; the software can be downloaded for free.

  What this means in plain(er) language is that you can buy an Arduino board, hook it up to your home computer, download and run some free software, and actually program the chips on the board to do different things with modules you attach to the board. It will help you teach your child that all the chips and wires crammed into every piece of home electronics you own aren’t really magic boxes, but instead they are simple devices that one could easily learn how to hack with the right tools.

  Before we get started, let me say that you don’t have to build this project with an Arduino board. What I mean is that the way I’m showing you to do this project is nowhere near the only way you could do it, and if you’re not in a mood to start learning programmable electronics, you don’t have to. You can take this basic concept and find some other form of bright LED to use as the illumination for the lamp. Obviously, you’ll have to play with the dimensions of the base to make sure everything fits the way you need, but that’s half the fun of these projects—working together to figure out how to do it. I still recommend using LEDs, since most other forms of light will also give off significant heat, which could be problematic with plastic LEGO as your lamp shell. Be smart and careful!

  But I urge you to consider the Arduino. Think of it as a gateway drug for promising electronics junkies. Once you and your kid have worked through the instructions for setting up and programming the board and light, you’ll have started down a road of learning and discovery that will demystify every other gadget you ever own, and encourage a sense of invention and ownership that most people never have.

  BUILDING THE LIGHT

  For this project, we’re using the Arduino Duemilanove board, with a BlinkM Smart LED. The Arduino board can be found for around $30 and the BlinkM for under $15 many places all over the Web, though I got both of mine from the kind folks at www.makershed.com. Another great resource for these boards and many incredible basic electronics projects is www.adafruit.com.

  I’m not going to go through the detailed instructions on setting these up and programming them, for the directions are available online. You should get the appropriate links when you receive the parts (and see Appendix A for some links as well). The short of it is as follows:1. Download and load the Arduino software onto your computer (Most OSes available).

  2. Download the BlinkM Arduino script and controller application.

  3. Hook up the Arduino board via USB.

  4. Open the Arduino software.

  5. Load the BlinkM script and upload it to the board.

  6. Quit the Arduino software and detach the USB.

  7. Attach the BlinkM to the Arduino board.

  8. Reattach the USB.

  9. Start up the BlinkM controller application.

  10. Program the LED colors and sequence.

  11. Upload the program to the board.

  12. Quit the BlinkM controller application. The board just takes power from the USB, but the program runs natively.

  Now you have your light source, programmed however you want it, powered by USB. All we need is to build the lamp structure into which to place it.

  BUILDING THE LAMP

  Once again we turn to LEGO as our favorite geeky building material. The lamp has to have two key sections: the base, into which the electronics are set, and the disc area, where the old media will be stacked. Since the Arduino and attached BlinkM boards are much smaller, the controlling dimension of the entire build is the diameter of the discs, which is approximately 15 LEGO studs across. To allow for 2-by-2 vertical posts to hold the discs in place, I created my base 20 studs by 20 studs. You may need to start on a larger base plate, or a number of smaller base plates interlocked to get to the correct size, depending on the bricks you have handy. Obviously, this is the time for improvisation, because the plates and bricks you have available will determine what your lamp looks like.

  The base needs to be only 2 standard LEGO blocks tall. The challenge is to set the electronics board into the base so that the LED is just about dead center, and the USB port will be accessible from the side. You’ll want to u
se bricks set around the board to hold it in place, and then cover over the base structure with another layer of places that leave just the LED exposed.

  At the midpoint of all four sides, you’ll build 2-brick by 2-brick columns to contain the discs. You can go as high as you want, depending on the number of discs you have to use, but anything above about 6 bricks tall will make the light from the LED too diffuse to be effective.

  Now stack your discs until they are just shy of the top of your columns. Put a 2-stud by 4-stud brick at the top of each column, with the extra length facing toward the center to hold the discs in place. Plug in your USB cable, and let the light shine!

  ALTERNATIVE CONSTRUCTIONS

  As I mentioned above, this isn’t the only way to achieve the same idea. There are a number of alternative CD lamp designs on the Web, most of which don’t use the electronics included here, opting rather for drilling out the center core of the discs to fit a compact fluorescent bulb, and making the base bigger to allow for the wiring to light it from a standard outlet.

  An Even Cooler Idea!

  Another choice in the Arduino family is the BlinkM MaxM board. It uses much more powerful and larger LEDs, but it is programmable via the same software. It has the added feature of not requiring the Arduino board as a power source via the USB connector. Instead, the MaxM can take power from an external AC adaptor, allowing you to power your lamp from a standard outlet, or via batteries.

  GEEKY POTPOURRI

  Ice Cubes Fit for a Geek

  Ah, the simple LEGO brick! While the breadth of available LEGO parts is actually quite huge and varied (consider all the specialty pieces available for Star Wars and Indiana Jones sets, the Technics, Pirates, Power Miners, Mindstorms, and even Duplo sets, all with their own individual segments), but the simple 2-stud by 4-stud brick is truly the iconic size. See one of those, and you know it’s LEGO.

  Heck, I’ll bet there are lost bricks underneath some of the furniture in your house right now. You probably build sets with your kids, maybe even film stop-motion videos of the constructs (well, maybe that’s just me). But have you ever wondered how else LEGO could be incorporated into your world? How about into the very beverages you drink?

  First things first: Making your own LEGO ice cube trays is definitely not cheaper than buying them straight out from LEGO. But it is definitely more fun, and it is a great project to share with your kids.

  MoldRite 25 is a two-part tin cure silicone rubber molding compound that’s food-safe. You may need to do a little legwork to find it. It may be available at your local crafts store, or it may not. I ended up having to order it online and having it shipped, making it a more expensive project.

  STEP 1: You can choose very simple blocks to model, or get a bit more creative. To keep it easy, use 2-by-2 and 2-by-4 (the most iconic) bricks. If you have a few other interesting shapes you want to try (being a geek is all about experimentation), think carefully about what will work well in creating a mold. Keep in mind that the shapes cannot be too complicated or have strange voids in them that will be difficult for the molding compound to seep into, or a challenge to get release from, when it is cured.

  STEP 2: After you choose your bricks, wash them, dry them, and inspect them to make sure they are clean and unblemished.

  STEP 3: I assembled three molds. The first one I created by building a 2-brick-high square wall, then laying single 4-by-2 bricks inside, spaced one stud apart. For the second, I used 2-by-2 bricks, and for the last, 1-by-1 bricks, so we could have a variety of ice cube sizes. Build your molds to accommodate slightly more compound than you actually plan to use. Filling the mold only partway up a brick results in a smoother edge.

  STEP 4: Make sure the bricks are all pressed down and very tightly attached to each other to avoid any cracks for the molding compound to seep into. You can try to seal all the edges with the petroleum jelly, but leave as little residue as possible so the mold is not deformed (this may be a challenge—try using a Q-tip to apply).

  STEP 5: There may be instructions on the molding compound suggesting you use a release compound, but I’ve found that with the LEGO, it isn’t necessary. I also did not de-air the molding compound (another suggestion in most enclosed instructions), since I wasn’t casting anything particularly detailed.

  STEP 6: Fill the molds carefully. The compound is fairly thick and pours slowly, so be patient and cautious. You might try using a toothpick to distribute the mold evenly as you go, like cake batter. Try hard not to overfill so you get a cleaner base and no spillage.

  Helpful Hints

  If you use a kitchen measuring utensil to measure or mix your molding compound or catalyst, clean it up right away. I forgot to rinse the cup I measured the catalyst with, and the GeekSpouse was not impressed by what it took to clean it out.

  Also remember to put down a piece of paper so you don’t spill liquid rubber on the countertops.

  STEP 7: Put all the molds aside to cure for 24 hours, but keep an eye on them, as they may be set enough to release in 12 hours (results may vary with different temperatures, relative humidity, and elevations). Be prepared for the end result to be, shall we say, not quite perfect. There may be a fair amount of flash (the technical term for the, um, gunk at the edges) that needs trimming off with the old X-Acto. However, you may be excited to see the resolution with which the bricks are detailed, right down to the tiny LEGO embossed on the top of every stud.

  STEP 8: Now just fill them with water and stick them into the freezer. When freezing your ice, place the molds on a cookie sheet or other flat surface to help keep them even. Voilà! Your soda/ice tea/high ball will show to all around you just how much of a geek you really are!

  An Even Cooler Idea!

  For more interesting LEGO brick ice cubes, try boiling some distilled water to get clear blocks, or dye the ice with food coloring (different-colored ice to match the variety of LEGO colors).

  Exploding Drink Practical Joke

  One of the finest things for a dad to share with his kid is the tradition of the practical joke. But since we are geeky parents, we won’t debase ourselves with the tired jokes like the old flaming bag of dog poop on the doorstep. Rather, GeekDad practical jokes must include one very key ingredient to be worthy of our time and effort: science! Which is why this next project is for the geek in all of us.

  Culled from the wilds of the Internet, this project/joke is based on the now (in)famous Diet Coke and Mentos reaction where some strange and wonderful interaction between the chalky hard candy and the carbonized beverage makes for an amazingly quick release of saturated CO2 from the soda. But what the careful, scientific study performed by the MythBusters has taught us (episode #57) is that, while there is a chemical in Diet Coke that makes the reaction extra spectacular, we can get a similar, if slightly muted, effect from almost any carbonated soda.

  The concept is simple: We’ll make a time-release system so that the Mentos/soda reaction comes as a complete surprise to the victim of our joke. To achieve this, we just freeze the Mentos into cubes of ice. Actually, this is the trickiest part of the project (but not all that tricky). Fill your ice tray with water. Use only tap water, not distilled or filtered, because we want the ice cubes to be fairly opaque so as to hide the explosive contents. Put the tray into the freezer, and wait.

  Give it about 10 minutes, and check to see if the freezing process has started. Almost always, ice cubes in trays freeze from the outside in. When you see a shell has formed on the top of your ice cubes, but they haven’t frozen all the way through, you’re ready. Use something like a butter knife to crack the top shell of the ice cube, and put one Mentos candy into the still-liquid interior of each cube. Top off the cubes with more water if needed, and return to the freezer to finish the extraction of heat energy. In about 30 minutes (depending on your freezer and how full it is), they should be ready.

  Because of its volatile nature, this joke is probably best suited for the outdoors. Pick your victim, pour him the soda of choic
e (and hope he’ll really want a Diet Coke, for the best fireworks possible), plop a special cube or two into the drink, and get the video camera ready (though far enough away to avoid splashing). YouTube and/ or your child’s therapist are waiting to see the hilarity that ensues!

  Afterword

  Pneumatic Wiffle Ball Cannon—Failure as a Project

  The best-laid plans of mice and GeekDads oft go awry, someone sort of said once. That’s at least, if not more, true for the GeekDad who wants to design and build cool, geeky projects with his kid. And while working out a detailed design and layout for a project in advance is always a good idea, it doesn’t always guarantee success. That’s no reason not to try, though, and as we all know (anecdotally at least) we learn as much or more from failure as we do from success.

  Which is why this project is included as an afterword. We failed at this project. It didn’t work, and though I imagine someone could pull it together, we couldn’t at the time, so decided to move on. However, we did walk away from it with something valuable.

  I am not suggesting you try to build this project knowing that it will fail. It will fail if you follow what I did as described here. It was a fun idea that I thought I’d be able to develop into a cool, geeky, science-based construct with a wow factor for the kids. But it didn’t work, for reasons those with a slightly better grasp of pneumatics will probably be able to easily describe. However, I’m going to use this project as a good excuse to discuss the value of failure as a learning tool, so please bear with me.