8 watt stereo amplifier (popsicle design) with CD case LED speakers

It’s been a long time since my last post but i hope the wait was worth it. This project was a design that came to me for a high school student. My student wanted to make this to take to college, so i designed it for easy construction, cheapness and great design. I also had four high school students make one each during summer camp, they were so happy to take it home. The whole thing is based around a super cheap 8 watt stereo amplifier and an empty CD container used for the speaker stands. It looks and sounds fantastic.

all lit up

two finished amplifiers

gold plated inputs

the power section

banana plug speaker terminals and power socket for speaker LED’s

connections to the amplifier

the wiring from the housing to the amp

a lovely blue light by night

CD container speaker stand

a wonderful way to listen to music

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Popsicle stick companion cube

I made this lovely cube after I had finished my matchstick cube. It uses the same battery and LED set-up as my paper lamps. There is tracing paper inside the cube to give a diffused glow. It’s a very simple and easy to make craft using the 5.5 cm sticks. Download the instructions with template from the downloads page, have fun.

a very simple popsicle companion cube

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Electronic die

This was another winter vacation project. Lee-Kuo and I love electronic things and so we just had to copy this little circuit. We found all the components in our local electronics shop and then we etched the PCB. We painted the PCB green which was a bad idea because it created a short circuit somewhere. We know it works because it lights up, but we need to make another one without the glossy paint.

It really is a lovely thing, just a pity we painted it

next time we won't paint it and then it will work

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LED Lego torch (flashlight)

This is another Lee-Kuo project. He made this during the last winter vacation. He saw the original design on instructables and decided to make one himself. He looked through our  electronic components boxes and found the pieces to make a simple circuit and fit it all into a Lego block. He had to buy 3 tiny batteries to fit inside the block but it works perfectly.click here for the instructable

another great electronic project from Lee-Kuo

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Craft day at the old radio station, Taichung

We had a wonderful day showing our crafts and getting people to cut, fold, glue and put together a beautiful LED night lamp. It must have been 33 degrees celsius but lots of people turned up for this tiny craft show. I had four students who made an LED lamp and someone bought a kit to make my popsicle bridge. It was a wonderful day.

a pleased customer who made a LED night lamp

showing a student how to cut and fold a lamp

another happy student who made a night lamp

Lee-Kuo, myself and a happy student with his lamp

The old radio station in Taichung

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LED bicycle headlight

Lee-Kuo and I cycle around Taichung every weekend so we decided to make our very own super bright headlight. We found an instructable for the basic layout and Lee-Kuo miniaturized it for a small housing. He soldered all the parts himself including the switches, LED’s and battery terminals. It was a tight squeeze to fit all the parts into such a small case but we managed. As you can see it is switchable from dipped to full beam. click here for the instructable

A very bright bicycle headlight made by Lee-Kuo

LED matrix soldering from Lee-Kuo

The switches for on/off and dipped/full beam

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Companion cube

I made this a long time ago now. It all came about because LED’s are so popular and so cheap in Taiwan I just thought I would make something with them. As you can see it is very small, I used matchsticks for the base and a lovely japanese style for the cube. I wanted a switch so I just soldered everything onto some stripboard. It looks beautiful at night with a lovely warm glow.

A tiny matchstick companion cube

A warm glow from the companion cube

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