What’s the coolest ‘just for the joy of engineering’ project you’ve ever made, and how did you pull it off? We are asking e14 in our Join, Share & Win Competition

My daughter was at university completing her education degree. She wanted my help to build what she called an Attention Focus Box for an analysis project she proposed. The hand-held box contained one LED, a three-position slider, and a push button. The goal was that the box would help students learn to focus.

The slider set a timer 1min, 3min & 5min. When the button was pushed, the timer would run down and turn on the LED. The student was asked to focus on a task until the light came on. Start with the lowest timer and work their way up.

Retirement was novel then; this project was simple. The initial year involved navigating life without a job. Despite my formal training as an electronic engineering technologist, I worked in IT security toward the end of my career. I was trying to revive that past education building electronics stuff for model railroaders. 

I recall using a 9V battery with a Nano in a plastic box I had kicking around. The switch was a challenge. This was long before I developed order parts and invested in proper builds. I just butchered old items to get parts. I’m trying to think of what I used for the box. I remember the battery sliding in nicely, and gaffer tape held the case together. I never thought to take pictures and document it. It was pretty crude compared to what I could do today with the skills I developed and the tools I have learned.

My daughter completed the project. I assume she did because she graduated:) Her typical answer when I try to engage her in conversation is Yes, OK and you know dad. She talked about how the student she was working with really needed the help. “That is why she came up with the idea,” she said. She told me it was working until it became a distraction for other students who wanted the box with the light as well.

My daughter was at university completing her education degree. She wanted my help to build what she called an Attention Focus Box for an analysis project she proposed. The hand-held box contained one LED, a three-position slider, and a push button. The goal was that the box would help students learn to focus.

The slider set a timer 1min, 3min & 5min. When the button was pushed, the timer would run down and turn on the LED. The student was asked to focus on a task until the light came on. Start with the lowest timer and work their way up.

Retirement was novel then; this project was simple. The initial year involved navigating life without a job. Despite my formal training as an electronic engineering technologist, I worked in IT security toward the end of my career. I was trying to revive that past education building electronics stuff for model railroaders. 

I recall using a 9V battery with a Nano in a plastic box I had kicking around. The switch was a challenge. This was long before I developed order parts and invested in proper builds. I just butchered old items to get parts. I’m trying to think of what I used for the box. I remember the battery sliding in nicely, and gaffer tape held the case together. I never thought to take pictures and document it. It was pretty crude compared to what I could do today with the skills I developed and the tools I have learned.

My daughter completed the project. I assume she did because she graduated:) Her typical answer when I try to engage her in conversation is Yes, OK and you know dad. She talked about how the student she was working with really needed the help. “That is why she came up with the idea,” she said. She told me it was working until it became a distraction for other students who wanted the box with the light as well.