Making the Confetti Box
Duration: ~1 hour and 10 minutes
|Step 1| - Cut the cardboard and glue the frame
To make the sides of the box frame, cut four 6 inch by 6 inch pieces of cardboard.
Cut the sides of the box
Using the glue gun, stick these pieces together to form a box shape.
Glue the sides of the box together
All four sides glued
|Step 2| - Add the box base
Cut out a rectangular piece of cardboard measuring 6 inches by 6.5 inches. Then, cut out a 3.5 inch by 3.5 inch square in the center of your base piece. This allows the confetti to fall through onto your friends! Make sure to keep the small 3.5 by 3.5 piece you just cut out… We’ll be using that later.
Cut out the base of the box
Now, glue the base to your box frame.
Glue the base to the box
|Step 3| - Make an angle bracket
Cut three 1 inch by 1.5 inch pieces of cardboard. Stack and glue them together. Do the same thing again but with three 1 inch by 2 inch pieces of cardboard. Finally, bring the two stacks of cardboard together at a right angle and glue them together. This forms an angle bracket to mount your servo.
Angle bracket
Angle bracket side look
|Step 4| - Mount the servo
Take the the servo and twist it counterclockwise until there is resistance and you’re unable to turn it any further. This will make sure that the servo is in the 180° position and will give the servo enough distance to turn when we want to rotate our cardboard piece clockwise.
Glue the 3.5 inch by 3.5 inch square leftover piece onto the servo. Stick it to the servo so that it will mostly cover the bottom of the box but will be able to spin so it can open the hole at the bottom of the box.
Mount the servo to the door piece
The servo turns to open the drop hole
Glue one end of your cardboard bracket to the edge of the box and the other end to the servo.
Attach the servo to the bracket
Make sure its position allows the cardboard to cover the hole and, as the servo rotates, to expose the hole (and drop lots of confetti on your unsuspecting friend!).
Dropout hole in the closed position
Dropout hole in the closed position other side
Check the that the hole will open
|Step 5| - Create a funnel
Cut out two 6 inch by 6 inch pieces of cardboard and two 6 inch by 2.75 inch pieces of cardboard. Place them inside the box so they create a funnel leading to the bottom hole. This helps the confetti fall smoothly out of the box.
The funnel pieces
Ok, now glue them into place.
The funnel sides attached
|Step 6| - Add suction cups
Glue the two suction cups to the side of the box. These let you mount your box on windows, doors, etc.
Stick on the suction cups
|Step 7| - Add circuit playground and battery pack
It’s time to connect the box to our Adafruit Circuit Playground Express:
- Attach one end of a red crocodile clip to the 3.3V pin on the Adafruit Circuit Playground Express. Connect the other end to the power wire on the servo (usually a red wire).
- Attach one end of a black crocodile clip to the GND pin on the Adafruit Circuit Playground Express. Connect the other end to the ground wire on the servo (usually a black wire).
- Attach one end of a yellow crocodile clip to the A1 pin on the Adafruit Circuit Playground Express. Connect the other end to the signal wire on the servo (usually the yellow wire).
Connect the crocodile clips
Secure the circuit playground to the side of the box using a piece of tape. Attach the battery pack nearby and connect the battery pack to the Adafruit Circuit Playground Express.
The completed Confetti Box
|Step 8| - Decorate!
Use stickers, markers, tissue paper, or anything else you have, to decorate the box. This gives your box a bit of a personal touch.
Complete!
Congratulations! You have completed the confetti box make challenge. Ready to do some coding? OK, good… Connect the Adafruit Circuit Playground Express to your computer to get started.
NEXT: Code