Now I am not running around with a swiss army knife and duct tape in my pockets (at least not everyday), I am not traveling the world on secret missions, and I definitely stay clear of having a mullet; but I do like to consider myself a MacGyver of sorts. I use the term Macgyvering loosely to refer to my love of making and fixing things. Below are just a few of my projects to give you a flavor or two.
Some of you will recognize these as the speakers that I used back when I would help DJ dances. I saw some speakers in a magazine that I thought looked really neat, but I felt they were to expensive for my 16 year old wallet to handle. So I drew up a design based on what I saw and my Grandfather helped me cut and assemble the wood boxes. I bought six of the eight speakers to go in the boxes (starting with 15" MTX subwoofers), and realized I could have purchased the speakers in the magazine for less money. Hey, even MacGyver was not 100% successful, plus I don't know that mine didn't sound better.
Disco Ball
One year I was on the Activities Committee in a single adult ward of my church, chosen because I was DJing all the dances back then. Paula S. wanted a disco ball for a New Year's dance, and I was going to make sure she had one. No, I wasn't in love with Paula, we were just friends and colleagues. As I said, I love making things happen. Anyway, I decided to get an old globe at Goodwill to turn into our disco ball. I first put a big bolt with an eye hole straight through the center and attached a washer and nut on the bottom of the globe, so that it would be easy to suspend without too much worry of it taking out a dancer or two. I then began cutting and gluing mirrored glass to the globe. I then went up to Dayton to my favorite electronics store Parts-Express (Radio Shack is not What I Like) and bought a motor specifically made for disco balls. Since the mirrored glass was free (recycled) and the globe was only $1.50, with the motor I had our disco ball for under $25.
Christmas Door Decoration
My previous workplace has an annual Christmas door decorating contest, and one woman had the idea of doing a simple snow globe with a Chinese dragon, since the theme was China. I ran with the idea, and developed what you see in the video. We first used an overhead projector to trace the design onto our frame. I then used shredded office paper, rice and water to make a paste that would harden into a three-dimensional dragon. I then painted the dragon. I decided to go further by making it a working snow globe, so I procured a computer fan and made a battery pack to run it. I put holes in the back for airflow, used coat hangers as a frame to put shrink wrap over, and put in packing peanuts for snow, before gluing and heating the shrink wrap. I then made a base out of cardboard, used an exacto blade to cut out the Chinese characters for "Merry Christmas," painted it (filling the characters with gold paint), and then mounted it. The packing peanuts did prove problematic as the static electricity cause them to adhere to the dragon, but overall it was a success.
Painted Cardboard Toys
Again, every once in a while I'll get an urge to make something. One day I decided to make a cardboard X-wing fighter for my son. Then another day decided to make a castle for him. Since I decided to paint the castle, I thought I should paint the X-wing as well. A while later, I made the head of an AT-AT walker. These were very fun projects, especially since my son helped me paint and quite enjoyed himself, not to mention the fun he has playing with them now.
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