A 555 Tester & parts bin- steam punk / wood punk style -gift exchange

Herein is an outline of how I built a parts holder bin (or whatever you'd like to use the bottom for) from a wooden craft box, and incorporated a 555 tester into the lid, with a pyrograph (well, actually two pyrographs) on the lid also.

Step 1 Parts, etc.

While testing the 555 tester circuit, I noticed it wasn't very "loud" so I also included an amplifier stage with this, but it is not absolutely necessary. 

Parts:

For the Tester circuit, see my instructable:  555 Tester

For the Amp:

IC1:  LM386 audio amplifier chip
R1:  10 ohm 1/4 w resistor
R2:  1 k 1/4 w resistor
R3:  10 K 1/4 w potentiometer
C1, C3:  220 uF electrolytic capacitor
C2:  10 uF electrolytic capacitor
Socket:  8 pin
One small on/off switch

Speaker (8 ohm for .3 watts of output)

2 small circuit boards (or one larger one if you wish to put the tester and the amp on the same board)

Socket:  one 8 pin wire wrap socket
1 wooden craft box
1 water bottle cap
1 spindle and rubber wheel to an old mouse
1 short section of a small plastic bottle
some spray and craft paints
misc. parts and pieces

Tools:
One wood burning iron
one soldering iron
several files
a drill (preferably with a selection of bits; I also found a small "circuit board hand drill" to  
    be useful as well
continuity tester (or VOM)
a glue gun can be handy
artist's paint brush
wire brush (one should have one any way to use on the soldering iron tip now and then, but file cleaning makes one really useful).

Comments

[morntech]

(removed by author or community request)

[angsandy]

This is so completely over my technical ability to understand (being a paper and glue sort of crafter). But your circuit diagram caught my attention and I am playing with a way to build a greeting card using it as a sketch for the different elements. Thanks for the inspiration.

[Goodhart]

If they are available, you can get the cards that have little recordable mechanisms in them that you can record your voice on (normally 10-20 seconds worth) and move the device to a card of your choice too. I've done a few of them, but lose my source for the cards (I was once able to get them for about $1 a piece).

[KentsOkay]

oo just noticed the Bad Wolf on it, awesomer!

[Goodhart]

Thank you Kent, the really hard part was getting the 555 socket to stay in the square hole I made in the lid AND not mess up the rest of the circuit....I fried a 555 timer and one speaker while doing this project.... *sigh*

[KentsOkay]

meh, happens to everyone. Me, I just throw some e6000 at it while keeping my eyes closed and chanting to the Project Gods. Always seems to work out right. It is also my basic theory for academic papers.

[Goodhart]

Well, for me, it seems to happen much more often then it once did....so it is either a sign of my aging, or that my eyesight is effecting my work (which, come to think of it, is another sign of my aging).

[KentsOkay]

Looks awesome!

[Goodhart]

Thanks again. :-)

[ChrysN]

I like the pyrography, very steampunkish.

[Goodhart]

Thank you. With my eyesight as it is, I couldn't get the detail I once was able to do a few years ago, but it turned out better (the Matrix stream did anyways) then I thought it would.