_{1+ 2+ 3} Candy Alert By Cy Tymony

Devise sneaky uses for high-tech candy packaging and other small toys.

You will need: Gummy candy with light-up tongs, R/C car transmitter, and a noisemaker (such as one from a candy toy cellphone)

Candy makers are including innovative extras with their products that sneaky scavengers can reuse for projects. A cursory look around the candy aisle reveals spring-loaded containers, light- and sound-producing cellphone toys, battery-powered fans with amazing light shows, even tongs that light up when you squeeze them to grab gummy candy. The batteries, switches, LEDs, and motors included in just these 4 packages would cost about $10 if purchased separately. Here’s how to easily modify some of these useful parts for sneaky projects, in this case an intruder alert.

1. Tape the toy tongs’ switch to a door. The light-up tongs include a watch battery, an LED, and a pressure switch that activates when you squeeze the tongs. This switch can be removed to act as a security trigger when it’s positioned with tape to a door, window, cabinet, or drawer (Figure 1).

1

2. Wire the switch to an R/C car transmitter. Connect the tong switch’s 2 wires to an R/C car’s transmitter activator button (see MAKE, Volume 05, page 113) so that it can alert you when doors or windows have been breached (Figure 2).

3. Wire the R/C receiver to a noisy alarm.

Now connect the R/C receiver’s output contacts to a noisemaker — such as the candy toy cellphone.

You can also wire the tong switch directly to the toy cellphone (Figure 3).

²

Going further:

A candy fan toy can be converted into a motorized car. A spring-loaded candy stick makes a great sneaky security device, triggering the toy cellphone alarm like a Rube Goldberg contraption.

Magazines sometimes include high-tech inserts to promote products, and these too have parts ripe for the reusing. NBC recently placed Bionic Woman TV show promotional inserts in major magazines. These inserts included 2 watch batteries on a printed circuit board, connecting wire, and a slide switch that lit a super-bright LED when you turned the page. If purchased separately these parts would cost nearly $10, and you can easily put them to use as alarms, educational quiz testers, and more.

³

Cy Tymony is the author of the Sneaky Uses for Everyday Things book series. He lives in Los Angeles. sneakyuses.com

Illustrations by Tim Lillis

112 Make: Volume 13