Electrobug from Old Electronic Components

This week I destroyed even more old electronics at my home. My father gave me two old phones. You’d think that these phones would be ancient given that they had physical key pads and a non-touch screens. But apparently not. These phones are younger than me.

This time however, instead of smashing the electronics with a hammer, I learnt how to properly disassemble the phones. I was able to harvest some very good cameras, speakers and rechargeable batteries.

Using the circuit boards and some other components that I harvested from these phones and other electronics, I made this electrobug.

Here is the process of making it.

Step 1: Disassemble your electronic components

Step 2: Mark out a two tear drop shapes for the body and wings

Step 3: Cut these parts out. I did not have any equipment powerful enough to do this properly. I cut the circuit board with a normal pair of wire cutters as best as I could. The edges were very jagged, but I was able to clean them up with 20 minutes of sanding.

Step 4: Arrange different electronics components out to make an insect-like structure. I used resistors as the legs, a pair of diodes for the antennae, a mosfet for the face, a USB for the body and a pair of white beads for the eyes.

Step 5: Stick the different parts together using a strong glue. A glue gun will not work well for this project. Try E-6000, resin, superglue or another stronger glue.

Step 6: Using a DPDT switch, 5mm Green LED, some wire and a 3V coin cell CR 2032, make a on-off circuit. This was supposed to be a 9v RC blinker circuit, but I couldn’t find a way to hide the 9V battery. Solder the components together.

Step 7: Attach the circuit to the back of the bug so that the led protrudes like a stinger.

The electrobug is complete! You can now proceed to make one-too many “There’s a bug in my circuit!” jokes.