Recently, Kent noticed that Etsy member AbrahamBook has been bitten by the Chumby Guts bug. He’s converted several ancient objects into modern WiFi-enabled chumtainment devices. I asked Abraham about what he was aiming for in this latest piece:
My Chumby creation started with an original Chumby, although I have produced three similar devices from the Chumby Guts kit. I much prefer producing my devices with the Chumby Guts kit as it is always a messier build when having to undo a stock Chumby configuration. On the occasion that I set out to create the “Chumbaphone,” I had used all of my “Guts” and Maker Shed had since run dry.
The wooden body of the device was actually created from a mantle clock. I removed the face of the clock and enlarged the hole with a Dremel. I came upon the horns of the device though they required some heating and remolding to fit the device more properly. The other brass parts are of course intended for other functions though I repurposed them for my needs as mounting pieces and the button you can see in the picture. The insides are all stock configuration with the exception of the switch mechanism which is used to navigate to the home screen. I replaced the “Bend Sensor” with a “momentary switch” to produce the brass push button below the touchscreen. I was forced to hollow out the bottom of the body as the speakers sounded far too muted and boxed in in the small structure. Making a huge opening in the body remedied that quite well at the slight misfortune of aesthetics.
All of my creations are unique to themselves though I have created two others that share very similar form factors and oversized brass horns. The fact that I use mostly antique parts for bodies of my computers and Chumby devices keeps them singular as I am unlikely and uninterested to find matching antiques. I suppose I prefer the variation in the making.
If I had to change anything about this particular device I would likely have contrived a better scheme for the placement of the speakers as I have done in other devices. For instance, including better cut-outs in the body for sound to travel through or adding vintage styled tweed speaker screens. I also usually make the component that accepts the power cable and USB more integrated instead of hovering behind the door as in can be seen in the “Chumbaphone” The wifi component was certainly from a Chumby Guts kit. The original had gone out.
Nice work Abraham! Have you got some Chumby Guts? Are they cased in some interesting form-factor? Share with us your build experience and photos. You can also search the MAKE Flickr pool for Chumby Guts and see what other folks are doing with the kit.
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