The Sister Catcher is great if you have an annoying sister like Janice. It works perfectly to protect your room from nosey intruders, and you really won’t need to buy anything to make it. The key part to this is the portable cassette player; these were like iPods before there were iPods, like 100 years ago in the 80s. Back then, they were the only option for portable music listening. They were big and used to be expensive, but now they are cheap and tons of them are just sitting in drawers collecting
dust. I bet you could find one for free from your parents, grandparents, or any other old person you may know. Check out some garage sales too. There are a bunch of cool things you can do with these, so grab a few if you find them for future projects.
dust. I bet you could find one for free from your parents, grandparents, or any other old person you may know. Check out some garage sales too. There are a bunch of cool things you can do with these, so grab a few if you find them for future projects.
Materials:
*portable cassette player
*cassette tape
*playing card or business card
*dental floss
*duct tape
*computer speakers
*cassette tape
*playing card or business card
*dental floss
*duct tape
*computer speakers
Tools:
*scissors
Steps:
1. First you need a cassette tape that you want to use as your alarm sound. You can either use a music tape or record your own. If you want to create one, plug a microphone into your portable cassette player or tape player, then insert your tape, and hit record. You can just scream or you can say things like, “Get off of my stuff, you nincompoop!” If you don’t have a microphone you can use a pair of headphones, they work in a very similar way; just plug them into the “mic” input and scream away. Another option is to use your computer to edit a sound. Check out “Say What?” for more information.
2. Once you have your tape, put it into your portable cassette player. Hit play. Once you hear the beginning of your tape, hit stop. The audio portion is done, now we can work on the electronics.
3. Take off the battery cover and remove the batteries.
4. Take a business card or playing card and cut a rectangle about the size of a AA battery.
2. Once you have your tape, put it into your portable cassette player. Hit play. Once you hear the beginning of your tape, hit stop. The audio portion is done, now we can work on the electronics.
3. Take off the battery cover and remove the batteries.
4. Take a business card or playing card and cut a rectangle about the size of a AA battery.
5. Use a hole puncher to add a hole to the end of the cut-out that will not be between the batteries. If you do not have a hole puncher, fold the end over about a 1/4 inch. Cut down the folded edge with two cuts to make a triangle. When you unfold the card, you should see a diamond-shaped hole. Tie the dental floss to the hole, but don’t tie it too tight. It might rip the paper.
6. Replace the batteries. The card cut-out is going to go right in between the two batteries, with the hole and floss pointing outward.
7. The card cut-out needs clear access to be pulled out, so the battery cover can’t be installed. Instead, use some strong tape to
hold the batteries in place. Just make sure not to tape over the card and floss.
7. The card cut-out needs clear access to be pulled out, so the battery cover can’t be installed. Instead, use some strong tape to
hold the batteries in place. Just make sure not to tape over the card and floss.
8. Place the portable cassette player somewhere near the door in a spot that when opened, the door moves away from the portable cassette player and pulls the card out. You might need to wedge something heavy in front of the portable cassette player so it doesn’t move when the door opens. Remember that tape on walls can leave marks and is a bad idea.
9. Hit play to activate the alarm. Nothing will happen because the electricity can’t pass through the card. When the card is removed, the electrical circuit will be complete and the alarm will activate.
10. Tie the other end of the dental floss to the door knob.
11. The last step is to make sure the portable cassette player is connected to the speakers.
12. You can test the alarm by pulling on the dental floss to remove the card. When the card is removed, it should trigger the tape
to play.
13. Reset the alarm. Now your room is alarmed and criminal proof!
9. Hit play to activate the alarm. Nothing will happen because the electricity can’t pass through the card. When the card is removed, the electrical circuit will be complete and the alarm will activate.
10. Tie the other end of the dental floss to the door knob.
11. The last step is to make sure the portable cassette player is connected to the speakers.
12. You can test the alarm by pulling on the dental floss to remove the card. When the card is removed, it should trigger the tape
to play.
13. Reset the alarm. Now your room is alarmed and criminal proof!
