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Make the kit

If you want to make your own version of the kit, read on.

The electronic components can all be purchased easily, but the wooden and plastic parts need to be made. I've used a laser cutter to cut out the wooden parts, and 3D printing for the plastic parts. So you will need access to a 3D printer and laster cutter.

The board

I cut these with 4mm birch ply. Cut the red lines first, then the black lines.

Main board
Outer walls

Switch

3D print this:

Switch block

Walls

3D print these:

Wall 1
Wall 2
Wall 3

Magnet block

3D print this:

Magnet block

Wire holder

3D print this:

Wire holder

Electronics

I recommend PiHut or Pimoroni or Kitronik for purchasing electronics for digital making. Here are some links for the electronics parts:

2x Microbits
USB cable
microbit connector

Use a microswitch with a very low operating force, such as this one with a 0.078N operating force:

Switch

There are various buying options for Neopixels. You can buy long ones like this one and cut them to size:

Neopixel

For the LED display, there are various colours. Make sure you buy one with the Adafruit I2C backpack, which makes controlling it much easier:

LED display

You'll also need some stranded wire. You don't need a lot, so you can buy a few individual spooks, but here is a link to a rainbow set!

Wire spool set

Other parts

I'm using a 10mm x 3mm rare earth magnet. I bought a batch from here, but you can probably find smaller quantities elsewhere:

Magnet

I've used a 16mm steel ball bearing from

Ball and roller store

Wiring

There's a bit of wiring to do:

LED display

LED	Microbit Connector	Recommended wire colour
VCC	3V	Red
GND	0V	Black
SDA	20	Orange
SCL	19	Yellow

Neopixel

Neopixel	Microbit Connector	Recommended wire colour
+5V	3V	Red
GND	0V	Black
Din	12	Blue

Switches

The microswitches have 3 terminals. Connect the terminal at the pivot end to the appropriate coloured wire and the middle terminal to a red wire.

Then on the microbit connector connect receiving wires as follows:

Switch	Microbit Connector	Recommended wire colour
Green	13	Green
Purple	14	Purple
White	15	White
All	3V	Red

Need help?

Feel free to email me