As we’ve all been in lockdown for the last couple weeks, I decided to finally get around to a project I’d had in my head for awhile. I have a number of rechargeable AA batteries that sit loose under my desk, and I wanted a way to organize them.
My initial thought had been to do a back to back holder where I could have live batteries on one side, dead on the other. Then I remembered that the stand-up desk I built uses a storage system kind of like in Home Despot or Ikea, and that I could hang the holder off the frame!
Much better. This holds about 12 batteries, and is about 6" tall. By far the trickiest part of this design was figuring out how to get the hooks to work, while also being centered in the back panel of the design.
Above you can see (sorry, it came out blurry somehow) the hook system & the keying required of the two back panel pieces to get them all to fit together. It took two tries to get it right, but it’s a pretty wonky looking piece to begin with.
Above you can see the first, wrong, hook piece. The final one is similar, but actually works with the framing system. I think if I decide to do another iteration, I’ll figure out a way to make the hooks work without the odd fins on the right side. They were meant to stabilize the piece and guide the batteries in as you load the holder, but a thinner design might work better, and maybe the hooks are individual pieces? Sorry, thinking while typing.
Another fun project I did as Xmas gifts for my Mom & Sister-in-law. Earrings!
Back before Glowforge came out and we were all waiting on our orders, my Mom had gotten me an xmas gift of laser-able materials to experiment with, including a stack of 3x3 card stock in different colors. I dialed in the settings and designed these earrings. They’re 5 layers of colored card stock, and I can alter the colors for different people and different tastes. I made these for my wife since she got jealous. They’re about an inch tall. I also built a jig for gluing these together out of scrap draftboard. They’re very finnicky to glue, so having the jig really helps speed up the process and gets better results. The next step on these is to spray them with some fixative to weather proof them slightly and then add the hooks. My wife & I have a number of other designs we’ll try out some day. Maybe while quarantined like everyone else!
Thanks for reading!