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

August 13, 2014
Wednesday Links: Robots, Chocolate and G...

Everything is better with chocolate, even the new links: Self-Folding Paper Robot Inspired by origami paper sculptures and equipped with motor. (Via Beautiful Decay) Edible Chocolate LEGOs Mmmm, best Lego ever. (Via Colossal) Drawing Robot Seen lots of drawing robots before, but this one uses fans to create vacuum and attach itself to the metal […]

January 16, 2010
SparkFun Free Day, Practical Arduino

Alrighty, the week has already slid by and it's time for another update. We have one new product to show off - Practical Arduino by Jonathan Oxer and Hugh Blemings. It contains 13 projects packed into 16 chapters/420+ pages, covering a wide array of an Arduino's potential. It's a pretty comprehensive read. Perhaps the biggest […]

June 17, 2004
Roundabout Pieces!

David Cook wrote a book. That book is a technically a Cook book, but we won't call it that. We'll call it Intermediate Robot Building (no, we don't have it yet, we're still waiting for our order!), and it heavily features the Roundabout Robot. If you're familiar with Mr. Cook's first book Robot Building for […]

June 13, 2005
More interesting links on the inter-web....

Browsing around, I found another link regarding Mark Tilden & WowWee. From the website "AllNerdReview.com" (if that doesn't describe a roboticist...) comes article about a their visit to the New York Toy Fair (ok, so my web-browsing is a bit old). Enjoy... http://www.allnerdreview.com/TOYFAIR05/TF13.htm

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.