Flash Drive

A few days ago when I was using my Sylvester flash drive (isn’t that cute!  I think I got it in Office Max), I realized that the real USB thing is not glued down to Sylvester’s head:

 

 

As I was appreciating how small this thing is, I thought it would be fun to make something with LEGO and stick the flash drive into that– so instead of Sylvester (which is cute), I can have other stuffs on my flash drive!

 

This is what I came up with:

 

 

A little house with a piece of green on the top!  (oops that green again)

 

The only problem is that the flash drive is fairly thin, and so I couldn’t find a good combo of LEGO pieces to form a tight enough space for the USB drive.  I had to use some “filler” to make sure the flash drive doesn’t slide out…  and the most handy thing I had was…  well…  a little piece of napkin…

 

 

 

I would suggest you use something else since this is pretty ugly and actually fairly loose…

Another problem with napkin is that it will work fine until you are ready to unplug the flash drive from your computer…  the flash drive will fit into your computer nice and tight so when you pull out the house will fall out and your flash drive will still be stuck in the computer!– I would definitely suggest using glue gun to fill up the space, remember to use low temperature since LEGO bricks are plastic.

 

Here’s what it looks like with the flash drive:

 

 

And this is how it looks when it’s working! 😀

 

 

I thought it’s pretty cool that you can design and build whatever you like around a core of flash drive!

Notice that I used a pretty flat green platform as the base.  When I first started I used a regular brick, then it ended up to be too thick and I can’t plug it into my macbook because the USB port on my mac is very low.

 

Well, I guess if you really use a glue gun to fix it, it will be somewhat “permanent”.  But actually what you can do is to glue the flash drive with as few bricks as possible (or even better: just add a blob of glue on top of the flash drive to make it about as thick as a regular LEGO brick), and use that as a base in all future builds– in that way you still get the freedom!

 

Enjoy!

Labyrinth

I haven’t been posting for a while!  I recently got some decoration beads and thought it would be fun to make some kind of labyrinth.  That just reminded me of the labyrinth I used to play on my ipad!

 

Here it goes:

 

 

That little white ball is one of the dozen balls I got!  It’s one of those DIY bracelet kind of beads, so there’s a hole through it…  so sometimes it’s a kind of hard to make it roll!

 

Here’s another shot:

 

 

I used those strips with flat top surface to lay out the path so it’s easy for the ball to roll.  And I really like the big green platform I recently bought– I used to only have those smaller pieces and I have to connect them together to form a bigger surface.  Now I can easily pick up the whole thing without worrying about them falling apart! 😀

Photo Frame

As I was looking at my work badge the other day, I thought it would be fun to make something like a badge holder or a photo frame with LEGO!

Here it goes:

If you have matching colors that would look even better! 😀

And you can decorate more by adding more stuffs to the frame.

I left one side “open” so I can slide in the picture:

An open-up view of the frame:

I used some thin pieces between the outer frame and the back piece.  This will leave a pretty thin space inside so a piece of paper or photo won’t move around inside.  Because of the bumpy dots on the back piece, it actually just gives enough space to slide a piece of paper in!

And sure you can make a bigger frame by using some bigger back piece!

Watch Stand

Happy long weekend everybody! 😀

This morning as I was working on my computer, I saw my sports watch laying on the table.  I used to have a CASIO dress watch with one of those metal band (with sections) that you can fold and let the watch sit up on the desk, so you can easily see the time.

 

But this sports watch I got has plastic bands and can’t do the same thing.  So I wanted to build a little stand for this watch! — and sure, with LEGO!

 

Here it goes:

See!  Now you can see the time very easily!  This structure is very stable too!

 

 

Here’s another picture taken from the other side.  Haha that piece of leaf is almost in all of my LEGO models.  I don’t have many decorations so I have to reuse it all the time!  It might become a signature of mine or something one day haha…

 

 

Here’s a view without the watch.  The white vertical piece is fairly important.  It can stop the watch from falling to the other side.  The grey bricks are there to support the front of the watch, and the sky blue pieces are there to “lock up” the lower watch band from slipping out.

 

 

This is what you would see from the front– I think it’s a nice watch stand! 😀  Maybe I will keep it.  (but reuse the leaf!)

 

Over-engineered mouse stuff

Since I realized that lego bricks can make good “push button” kind of thing, I have been wanting to make something I can “push” on with my LEGO pieces.  Last night it came to me that I wanted to make an absolutely over-engineered case for my mouse…  LOL

 

It’s probably gonna be more awkward than using the mouse itself, but definitely a fun thing to do, especially now I can really push a LEGO brick instead of a real mouse button!  (well, I’m still indirectly pushing the mouse button)

 

Here it is:

 

 

Seriously…  it’s just a huge thing around my mouse.  But again, it’s LEGO!

 

The brown and grey things are the left and right buttons.  It’s totally removable, unattached to anything (that’s the “push button” kinda thing I was talking about).  It’s very stable too, as long as you have something around the four edges to hold them in place.

 

This is what it looks like without the LEGO buttons.  Fairly simple.  I don’t have many bricks so I built an ugly case.  If you have more choices on the bricks and different color I’m sure you can make it real fun.

 

 

Also, this is my gaming mouse (yeaaa Diablo) thus it’s also slightly bigger than a regular mouse.  If you build a case around one of those mini mice you can probably end up with a regular size which will be less awkward.

 

I don’t know if LEGO makes anything like this, but someone should design a LEGO themed mouse– I would totally buy it! 😀

iPhone Seat

The tablet stand I built last time is working really well!  I have been using it every day for watching videos.  It’s really stable even after I took away a few bricks away to build the juggling balls!

 

So I thought maybe I should also have a stand for my iPhone?  Here it goes:

 

 

I’m using my iPhone to take these pictures so I am using an iTouch to demo 🙂

It’s really nice that the distance between the two “arm rests” are just perfect for an iPhone or iTouch!  I used two garden fences to make it more interesting.

 

 

Again, this one doesn’t really have an “inside view”, so here is a picture of the seat by itself.

 

You can also modify the bottom part a bit so you can fit in the power cord and charge the phone on the seat!

Juggling

I have some nice juggling balls in my drawer and today I decided to take them out and practice a little.  Then I decided to make a little display shelf for them.  Here it goes:

 

 

I have four juggling balls, but somehow I couldn’t find the other one… O_O

 

 

There is really no inside structure, so I’m posting a top view without the balls.

 

To make this shelf I had to re-organize my iPad stand for extra bricks!

Tablet Stand

As I was looking for new ideas to build, I saw my iPad mini on the table.  I personally have a case that can let the iPad stand up, but it is a little bit too tight and it takes a lot of effort to stick the tablet into the case and later on take it out.  (yes, I sometimes would prefer using the iPad without any case so it is slim and light!)

 

Since I often watch videos on my iPad, I thought I need a stand that’s portable and handy.  Here it goes:

 

 

This is the front of the stand.  Well, this is a pretty simple thing to build, but very handy and functional.  It’s pretty much just a bunch of bricks stack up in a stable way.  *Minions sold separately

 

 

Here goes another view of the stand with my Mini.  You can change the tilting angle of the tablet by adding more or take away bricks that support the back of the tablet.  The orange brick in the front is actually working very well, offering a very stable support of the tablet.

 

 

Since all the bricks behind the tablet are just to make the whole structure more stable, I thought I could use the space inside.  So I also build a little slot for stylus (if you have one).  I don’t have a stylus so I used a pen to demo.  Stylus is usually shorter than this pen, but the pen can be easily held in the slot so not a problem for a shorter stylus!

 

Here’s a close up view of the front “control panel”.  I made it more entertaining by adding a steering wheel and a joystick!  Great fit for the Minions!

 

 

I almost forgot to take a opened-up view of the inside.  Well, nothing magic, just a little box for the stylus.  Sorry for the messy color– as you can probably tell I don’t really have a big collection of LEGO bricks.  I picked up two big jar of them randomly from a LEGO store so sometimes I’m still short of bricks and in that case I can’t pick on color! 😦

 

This might work for a full-sized iPad, but I haven’t tested it yet.  Might be a bit weak for the big guy but should work well by adding more bricks!

 

Enjoy! 🙂

Penny Bank

So I have been building some little things with my LEGO bricks, and decided to post them on a blog to share with people who also like building interesting things.

I was going to build a 3D maze with LEGO bricks, and I was hoping to build a totally transparent one.  Unfortunately I couldn’t find any transparent bricks in the store… 😦

Inspired by that, I thought “why not build something coins can pass through?”, and here it is:

This is the front of the penny bank.  You can see coins fit nicely in the “box”! 😀

This is the back of the bank.  There’s a slot you can put in coins.  So far I’ve tried several types of coins and 5 cents work the best! 😀  The slot in my penny bank is a bit too small to take quarters, but I that can be easily fixed by adding more space inside.

Here’s a shot of the inside of the bank:

I used some little pieces with flat top to make it smooth, so the coins won’t get caught between the bumps.

By making the box deeper you can actually get a good stack of coins!