Useless (Xmas) Machines!

Dave Hrynkiw
December 13, 2010

We're teaming up with Brett Coulthard of Saskview.com to get their version of the Useless Machine put together as a parts bundle. We just finished it Friday night, and quick-posted tweets & a few photos of it, and are shipping today!

What comes in the bundle? Pretty much everything you need to successfully build a Useless Machine of your own:

  •   1 x 39300 Black acrylic "Useless Box" construction set (with nut/bolt hardware)
  •   1 x SWT8 DPDT toggle switch
  •   1 x SWT9 SPDT lever switch
  •   2 x #2 mounting screws for SWT9
  •   1 x BHoldAA 2-AA battery pack
  •   1 x DSST (double sided sticky tape, for mounting the battery pack)
  •   6" hookup wire
  •   1 x GM4 gear motor
  •   4 x "Little Rubber Feet" to protect your Useless machine from abrasive counter tops!

We're only offering the box in black acrylic at the moment (experimented with clear - ehk), but if you ask really nicely, we probably could run one in red, blue, green, orange, white and (if you really want it), clear. Call in if you want any of those options.

Speaking of cool "Useless machines", Tony Youngblood's Christmas version was just featured on the Makezine Blog. He built his with our GM8 for super-fast response (we did our bundle with the slower GM4 - we like a more deliberate "ME: OFF" response).

MORE POSTS

May 4, 2006
Annual Solarbotics BBQ RSVP

Hi all. It's coming up time for the annual Western Canadian Robot Games on May 13th, and as per usual, Solarbotics will be hosting our post-event wind-down. Interested in coming? Let us know here!

September 22, 2007
PhotoPopper 5.0 Review

Darn! Why is it that everybody else has time to get video of these robots online but me?!? Oh well - at least it comes with a real nice review!

February 17, 2011
Closed Monday, February 21st

We all have family, in one form or another. Parents, siblings, aunts, uncles, cousins, grandparents, friends, pets... In some cases, even a delapitated, 20 year-old Honda Civic lovingly referred to as Lou. It has rust in the rear quarter panels and the steering wheel squeeks when it gets cold, but things just wouldn't be the […]

July 11, 2014
Friday New Product: FETs

What we have today are not Fairly Expensive Tortillas or Fortunately Edible Theremins,  but Field-Effect Transistors. If you know what it is, I will leave you to explore: 1RFZ44N N-Channel FET $2.50 The IRFZ44N is a very powerful useful N-Channel FET, with only 0.0175ohms resistance pushing 20 amperes at 5V! FQP27P06 P-Channel FET $0.95 A […]

Solarbotics Ltd Logo
Solarbotics has been operating for more than 25 years, bringing electronics know-how and supplies to both the electronics professional and hobbyist. We'll be happy to help you too!

Solarbotics, Ltd. is not responsible for misprints or errors on product prices or information. For more information, please see our Terms and Conditions.

Warning: This product contains chemicals known to the State of California to cause cancer and birth defects or other reproductive harm.
Please visit www.P65Warnings.ca.gov for more information. This item was manufactured prior to August 31, 2018.