The Frivolous Engineering Company Inc. is proud to announce that our flagship product: The Ultimate Useless Kit is now available at Maker Shed. This is a huge achievement for us, something we’ve been working towards for almost a year.
Maker Shed is the brick-and-mortar & on-line store for Make Magazine, one of the best sources for Do-It-Yourself information there is:
Because Frivolous Engineering is located in Canada, orders going to the States are usually charged additional customs and duties. So if you live in the United States you’ll save time and money by ordering from the Maker Shed!
Currently, the Shed is only stocking the black version of the kit. If you would like the clear case version, or a Parts Only Kit, or our Fully Soldered Machine you will still have to order directly from us.
The closest hackerspace to me is about 120 miles away and I just found out about them while writing this post. Last time I checked the closest one was about 500 miles away. Maybe it’s time to get one going in my city.
(Edit: Ask and yea shall receive… turns out there is a local hackerspace forming: crashbanglabs
I find this idea of Useless Workshops very cool and I would like to encourage more hackerspaces to have them. If your hackerspace is considering this please contact us: we can provide help and parts/kits at a steep discount.
Edit: Make Magazine will be streaming a live video Wednesday night called Hackerspace Roadshow where they will take you to 5 different spaces around the world.
EDIT: I stopped endorsing this “Useless Box” in the fall of 2011 and started selling my own kits and machines. A couple of weeks later they got around to “upgrading” the hinges (as well as the price, bumping it up 5 bucks). They are still selling it. You are welcome to buy the Useless Box: it has no printed circuit board, LEDs, and the new improved hinges bind: http://content.solarbotics.com/products/documentation/hinge_modification.pdf.
The Solarbotics Useless Machine Kits have been selling like hotcakes! Justin posted the above video (link) of his completed kit and he was kind enough to give this fantastic review:
I am a mechanic and deal with useless machines every day lol but I wanted something in my shop that not only relieved stress but made me laugh. The machine has been the center piece for my customers as well. Everyone loves it.
The built went perfectly! Took me about 2 hours to assemble the entire unit with most of the time being taken up on assembling the box. I didn’t want to crack or scratch the acrylic so i took my time. The only suggestion for improvement would be to include some form of hinges in the kit for the doors. The packing tape works well but I think it takes away from the class and quality of the rest of the kit. I am a super satisfied customer!
Great kit, excellent instructions, and great fun for anyone who uses it.
And my most favorite question from people when I tell them to turn it on…..”It’s not going to shock me is it?” lol so funny!
I agree with Justin about the lack of hinges and I’m hoping to convince Solarbotics to add them to the kit. But keep in mind that you can assemble the machine with all the tape on the inside of the box, where it’s not visible. I admit that it’s not the most elegant design, but it’s simple, inexpensive and it works.
Speaking about what’s visible or not, I’ve had a couple people asking if they could purchase the kit with a blank lid, no text engraved on top. This isn’t needed: those parts can be flipped over and assembled so that the text isn’t visible.
As you can see in the video above, our Quality Assurance Technicians strive to ensure the finest of craftsmanship as well as durability! And they demonstrate another reason why one Useless Machine is not enough.
Heres YouTuber ZaraAxelrod, and the Useless Machine she built. She even constructed the wooden box from scratch. As she mentions in the description:
Yay, I can’t believe I actually ended up making one! The time between actually saying to myself, “I will make this,” and finishing it was damn near six months because being completely in the dark about how to build things, I found it intimidating. I kept chipping away at the project from time to time, and then finally, in the last three days, things went really fast.
This was a group effort as she also gives credit to her friends who helped in the project, lending tools, supplying parts, and advice.
