Small Pen Box

I've made a pen box that is big enough for just one pen. This is a simple task compared to the one I have just finished which was for a set of four pens. The box is a simple plywood affair with a cutout (done on the CNC) for the pen.

Crushed velvet is used to protect the pen

and provide a nice base for it.

This box is not glued at all, everything is screwed together.

Broken Clamp

back in the mist of the past I bought some clamps for holding stuff together while they glue.  Anyway, they were made of a cheese that wasn't quite strong enough for the job they had to do and two of them broke years ago. The handle that you use to close the clamp snapped off. They look like this when they aren't broken:

Yesterday another one broke, which meant I had three broken clamps. This was getting a bit silly so I had a look and thought I could 3D print a new one. Maybe. So I started a design, then, about fifteen minutes into that I wondered if maybe somebody else had had the same problem and designed a replacement. A quick hunt on Thingiverse and I had found a replacement handle for a clamp that looked very similar:

https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:861193

I had a go at printing it, but the print failed a couple of times as there was plastic that was being printed on the edge of a face that was in mid air. This was curling upwards and fouling the print head. I turned the print through 90 degrees and that was much better. I had a handle, even though it was a bit rough on one side.

The handle fits almost perfectly. It's a bit wide and so doesn't allow the spring to return the handle after it is compressed, but that can be fixed.

I'll see how it gets on...

Tally Board

Well, I'm not sure what it is called, really, but as you can tally with it I think it's a tally board. Counting square? Anyway I made it many days ago and it has been used for a bit then left for a longer while. I decided to package it up.

I've done a short video of the finished board here:

It's a square with a lot of holes in it for peg things. The peg things were from a glitter pen set I think, I didn't make them. So it's a re-use project too.

So you can keep track of things with it. Count things. I made it originally to save the pegs from the bin, I don't like throwing away things that look like they are useful.So I made a board to hold them in. The board I originally made had a 7x7 grid and the holes had a diameter that was a miniscule, tiny bit too small for the pegs, so it didn't feel nice putting them in the holes.
I reprinted the boardwith an 8x8 grid, which just feels nicer.
There's also a single hole board, for special counts:

I used this set once for counting swearing. The big board was for normal words, each rox for a different word, or maybe a differen tperson, I alternated. Then for very very good (or bad) swear words, one utterance and the peg goes in the single hole board and you have won the game.


When I remade the boards I printed them with a small increase in diameter and also printed the board in 'glow in the dark' PLA. (Faberdashery PLA again).


So you can count things in the dark. the pegs don't glow though.

 The box I made is a simple plywood box, glued and nailed together.

The catch is a small one, I used this as the lid is very thin and I needed something that would fit on that lid. I original fitted a hook catch, but I'm not a big fan of those and fitted a chrome button type catch afterwards.

Inside the box there's two compartments, one fits the 8x8 board and one holds the pegs and the single hole board.

The bottom of the box is lined with crushed velvet and the outside of the box is painted with some blue paint I had.

Lid For a Box

The little one has bashed his VW camper model car about a bit, so I have taken the breakable and/or broken bits off it and needed somewhere ot store them.

I made a box without a lid back a whiles and decided to put a lid on it and store the bits in it. It seemed appropriate, it is the same colour as the VW.

I suppose I ought to paint it...