As a first-timer electronics project, this junior steampunk curio offers plenty of practice soldering with relatively difficult-to-damage components and will run you through the basics of reading circuit diagrams, wiring switches, and so on. (Soldering technique and electronic fundamentals are fully discussed in the appendix.)

The Switchbox is a cigar box kitted out with three toggle switches, a push-button switch, a buzzer, nine LEDs, batteries, and a few yards of wire arranged in five interdependent circuits. The Switchbox buzzes, clacks, and glows; for a child, it’s part puzzle (What do these switches do? How do I get all the lights on?) and part prop: It’s a ghost trap, a warp-drive control unit, or the SCRAM panel for Chernobyl Reactor Room #4 playtime fun.

Most tobacconists have piles of cigar boxes on hand. Sometimes they’ll give them away; usually they’ll sell them for a buck or two. The boxes for upscale brands are quite sturdy but can still be worked with common hand tools and little expertise. At this price, they are the perfect project enclosure (and will pop up throughout this book). As a bonus, they smell wonderful and look really cool with a few brass knobs and batwing switches installed.

Figure 2-1. The finished Switchbox