Most awful hack job, but my kid likes it

[Rich, Under the Affluence]

Even more to his credit, he's doing things with his son, something that many
have no time for. Nice job, Iggy.
By the way, your son is a beautiful child. You must be very proud of him,
even if he hasn't shown an interest in the guts of things. Given enough
time, perhaps he will.

Yeah, I gotta admit, when I was fourish of fivish, my Dad taught me how to
ride a bicycle - without training wheels! I still remember his operative
phrase - "When you feel the bike tipping, turn the handlebars toward the
side you're tipping to." Wobble, wobble, wobble, and suddenly, I'd
stabilized my first negative feedback system - Me!*

Cheers!
Rich

*[well, the me-bike system, but it would have been so anti-climactic to
have spelled it all out like that. %-} ]

 

[Cydrome Leader]

These covers are 100% worthless. I keep them at home mostly against
other visiting kids.

Of course they're worthless. You remove them to plug in clearly dangerous toys to pass around to kids.

 

[Christopher Tidy]

My Dad built us kids a go-cart using a Maytag washing machine motor and if
he would have posted a pic of it here I am sure the same comments would have
been made. Granted we were 10-12 years old but the go-cart would have been
real easy to get maimed on. I think that go-cart is what got me started with
mechanics and contraptions.
Steve

The first thing I remember building using mains voltage was when I was
10. It was a disc sander made using a shaded pole induction motor which
drove the fan inside an electric oven. I cut out plywood squares on a
treadle-powered fretsaw to make an enclosure, then pinned and glued them
together with Dad's help. Dad did the wiring but let me watch, then we
sealed the enclosure. I cut out a disc of linoleum to support the
sandpaper. It was a fun project and taught me a lot. I still have the
sanding machine somewhere. Kids are better learning about electricity
that not, but they need to appreciate the danger.

Chris

 

[Christopher Tidy]

Tillman,
I wish I grew up with you. I always wanted to mess around with stuff
like that but my friends never did.

We could have destroyed the world by the time we were 10!
Mike

I wish I'd had more friends into this kind of stuff, too. I built a few
crazy projects with friends, but most I did on my own. A friend and I
hooked up a large centrifugal ventilation fan to a spin dryer motor, put
it in the attic with the door open and poured a bag of flour inside. The
suggestion of setting light to the flour arose, but neither of us dared!
Then we tried to build a spud gun, which was a dismal failure, and
assembled a few Estes rockets from kits. We never did get round to
replacing the parachute with a water balloon filled with petrol, but my
parents were always at home... Later on I built a spud gun which worked,
a Van de Graaff generator and a small tesla coil when I was about 16 or
17. The tesla coil made a trip to school and we enjoyed frying gum and
chewy sweets with it, but eventually some muppet yanked the cord out of
the plug, and created a shower of sparks. That was probably the most
dangerous bit .

Chris

 

[Christopher Tidy]

Tillman,
I wish I grew up with you. I always wanted to mess around with stuff
like that but my friends never did.

We could have destroyed the world by the time we were 10!
Mike

I wish I'd had more friends into this kind of stuff, too. I built a few
crazy projects with friends, but most I did on my own. A friend and I
hooked up a large centrifugal ventilation fan to a spin dryer motor, put
it in the attic with the door open and poured a bag of flour inside. The
suggestion of setting light to the flour arose, but neither of us dared!
Then we tried to build a spud gun, which was a dismal failure, and
assembled a few Estes rockets from kits. We never did get round to
replacing the parachute with a water balloon filled with petrol, but my
parents were always at home... Later on I built a spud gun which worked,
a Van de Graaff generator and a small tesla coil when I was about 16 or
17. The tesla coil made a trip to school and we enjoyed frying gum and
chewy sweets with it, but eventually some muppet yanked the cord out of
the plug, and created a shower of sparks. That was probably the most
dangerous bit .

Chris

 

[tillius]

So, speak softly and carry a LOUD stick? ;-D

Yep - Kick their butts before they have a chance to kick yours. Winner
gets whatever loot the losers leave behind.

Actually, every battle took place in our neighborhood. They came riding
in with their little bb guns and ambushed us in the beginning, so we
fought back. When they got their WMD's, we just built bigger ones and
took care of the little tyrants.

Tillman

 

[Richard H.]

My parents had to hide the screwdrivers from me....otherwise EVERYTHING
was taken apart.

Sometimes I was even able to reassemble the item in question with no
remaining components left over. ;<)

So the story goes... It seems at the age of 3 I'd put a screwdriver to
the task, and removed all the hinge screws as high as I could reach (the
bottom 2 plates on several doors).

Slightly older, I worked with 120v all the time, though smart enough to
unplug it. My folks didn't know enough to be concerned - after all, I
looked like I knew what I was doing.

Of course, then there's the time I burned a hole in the carpet with
Dad's 8mm movie camera floodlamp. And the time I blew up the exhaust
hood in the school chem lab. And ...

They say you get payback from your kids for all the stuff you pulled on
your parents. I'm due some doozies.

Richard

 

[Ignoramus1740]

I took apart a nice toy truck at about 4 years of age, and made
moonshine with a homemade apparatus by the time I was 15.

i

So the story goes... It seems at the age of 3 I'd put a screwdriver to
the task, and removed all the hinge screws as high as I could reach (the
bottom 2 plates on several doors).

Slightly older, I worked with 120v all the time, though smart enough to
unplug it. My folks didn't know enough to be concerned - after all, I
looked like I knew what I was doing.

Of course, then there's the time I burned a hole in the carpet with
Dad's 8mm movie camera floodlamp. And the time I blew up the exhaust
hood in the school chem lab. And ...

They say you get payback from your kids for all the stuff you pulled on
your parents. I'm due some doozies.

Richard

--

 

[Wayne Cook]

So the story goes... It seems at the age of 3 I'd put a screwdriver to
the task, and removed all the hinge screws as high as I could reach (the
bottom 2 plates on several doors).

Ha. I managed to get all of the screws at that age. Parents came in
the front door and it fell off in there hands.

I can barely remember it but I think I stacked some stuff in a chair
in order to reach the top screws.

Wayne Cook
Shamrock, TX
http://members.dslextreme.com/users/waynecook/index.htm

 

[Too_Many_Tools]

Ig,

Curiousity and its partner creativity comes in many forms....some of us
work with "stuff", others with words, music or paint.

Whatever the medium if the result is a sense of accomplishment and
pride, you can be sure that the endeavour will continue.

Ask yourself what in your youth sparked the interests that you now
pursue?

Ever since my sons and daughters were about three, they all have been
"helping" Dad with changing oil in the car, putting air in the tires,
taking items apart and building things, whatever ....and many times
kinda of being in the way to doing the work in the most efficient and
timely manner. I valued the interaction and their sense of
accomplishment over and above getting the work done ASAP...we all have
to learn sometime. From my experience, kids are naturally curious and
eager to interact in the adult world....we really are their role
models. And I think we can all think back and remember with fondness
the adults who took time with us as children. My kids still talk about
the time when at the age of five, they got to use a chainsaw with
"help" from Dad...or the time we blew up the gopher holes in the
backyard...or had belt sander races....or rigged an air horn on their
bikes...or...well you get the idea...everything including a lifetime
interest in "stuff" is built a step at a time.

One approach my father took is to set up a workarea for my sibilings
and me. This had our own small workbench with its own set of tools,
vise and storage. This also included a 12 volt isolated power supply so
we could work with electricity as we chose fit. This gave us a location
to work on whatever we wanted and of course we always had some great
project going on. Where it was taking the discarded television apart or
reassembling our bikes for the Nth time to "improve" their performance,
it was always something. Many times when he had a few minutes, he would
come to help us where he took the role of the assistant and we were in
charge of what was done. The reversal of roles was an interesting twist
that he deliberately did to have us teach him what we had learned
(remember that sense of accomplishment and pride?). He also made sure
we had plenty of books about science experiments, radio, Popular
Mechanics and Popular Science mags to fuel our imaginations. Our
natural curiousity and youthful ignorance of not knowing what was
impossible did the rest.

Three points that I see today undermining this natural drive of
exploration and curiousity are the many mindless (in my opinion)
activities vying for our children's attention (television comes
immediately to mind), lack of adult interaction (remember your wife and
you ARE their greatest role models and time spent with them is never
wasted) and lack of resources (space, tools, stuff and time that the
kids need to have to work with). In reference to the last point, many
household actively discourage children from exploring the world since
it would "make a mess". The next time you drive through a neighborhood,
check out the open garages. Of the dozens of garages on display, only
one or two will have any sign of a shop area..all the rest are used
simply for storage. In my opinion, many times a clean garage is a sign
of an empty mind.

Finally I leave you with this quote...

"When I was sixteen I thought my father was the dumbest man alive, when
I turned twentyone, I was surprised to see how much the old man had
learned in five years." -- Mark Twain

Some kids are late bloomers....I have seen kids that had no interest
when they were younger but blossomed later into individuals that have
some serious mechanical/electronic interests....and they credit their
interests to those adults who took the time and exposed them to the
wonderful world of "stuff".

Good luck,


TMT

 

[Big Mouth Billy Bass]

Now that you mention it, the whole wall looks like a hack job, like he
put up some paneling in his basement. (note the unfinished trim, or
moulding, stage right.) Then again, maybe he got a great deal on a LV
lighting transformer, and it's a 12V outlet. ;-P

Hmph. You safety nazis are ignoring the obvious attention given and
care taken to cover the unused outlet with a plastic insulating plug.
So you see, the project is COMPLETELY safe. So there. ~

 

[The Cheese Machine]

Gunner wrote:

Every back packers kit should contain potassium permanganate and
glycering. the PP makes great foot wash, wound sterilization, water
treatment, and combined...makes starting a fire using wet wood very
easy.

We found that PP & glycerine in those small glass screwtop soda bottles
(anyone in the UK remember Panda Pops?) made excellent hand grenades -
complete with time delay )

Fortunately we had enough common sense NOT to chuck them at other kids...
(at worst, I think we killed a couple of minnows in the local pond.)

TCM

 

[Jim Thompson]

Gunner wrote:


We found that PP & glycerine in those small glass screwtop soda bottles
(anyone in the UK remember Panda Pops?) made excellent hand grenades -
complete with time delay )

That is correct ;-) I was doing those around 50 years ago when I was
in Junior High (now called Middle School).

Fortunately we had enough common sense NOT to chuck them at other kids...
(at worst, I think we killed a couple of minnows in the local pond.)

TCM

I used to wow the crowd by melting bottles with PP and glycerine.

I also found that Jetex capsules (for model airplanes) can generate a
LOT of smoke... quite sufficient in fact to empty a restaurant ;-)

...Jim Thompson

 

[ehsjr]

Thank you. I appreciate the compliment. Based on this discussion, I
will make some changes. Specifically, I will replace the two wire
cable to the three wire cable with ground, and will ground what needs
to be grounded.

i

Sheesh! Use a wall wart to power the damn thing. Or batteries.
Ed

 

[Rich Grise]

I just wish my son was like that. I am disappointed about it.

He had, so far, only one idea of his own. When we visited some guy who
was liquidating a factory, and I bought some stuff from him, my son
asked for several little boards. Home, by his direction, I assembled a
window out of them. He does not want me to throw that window away, but
would not make anything with it either. So it is gathering dust in our
garage.

You should take him in and have him checked for autism.

Good Luck!
Rich

 

[Gunner]

They used to say that about my sister, ("She used to beat her head
on the floor because it felt good when she stopped.") but what can
you say about someone who never stops?

Thanks,
Rich

They become Liberals (often due to impact related brain damage..IE the
Punch drunk syndrome) and post on usenet

<G>

Gunner

Confronting Liberals with the facts of reality is very much akin to
clubbing baby seals. It gets boring after a while, but because Liberals are
so stupid it is easy work." Steven M. Barry

 

[Winfield Hill]

Gunner wrote...

They become Liberals (often due to impact related brain damage..
IE the Punch drunk syndrome) and post on usenet

Confronting Liberals with the facts of reality is very much akin
to clubbing baby seals. It gets boring after a while, but because
Liberals are so stupid it is easy work." Steven M. Barry

You, Gunner, can take a flying leap...

And in advance, to those who rise to criticize me for making
a strong remark, consider the mean-minded provocation, and how
very ugly it appears to anyone to the right of George Bush.

 

[John Woodgate]

I read in sci.electronics.design that Winfield Hill

how
very ugly it appears to anyone to the right of George Bush.

Can any such person be postulated, though? (;-)

 

[Jim Thompson]

Gunner wrote...

You, Gunner, can take a flying leap...

And in advance, to those who rise to criticize me for making
a strong remark, consider the mean-minded provocation,

And your CONSTANT calling Bush a liar is NOT mean-spirited?

and how
very ugly it appears to anyone to the right of George Bush.

To "the right of George Bush"? We're making progress ;-)

...Jim Thompson

 

[Ignoramus29245]

Regarding Bush, calling him a liar is simply stating the facts. (and
yes, I think that Clinton was a liar too, just stating the obvious).

I also suspect quite strongly that Bush resumes drinking again.

i