Looking for fun building projects for my son - Page 1

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[ARCHIVED THREAD] - Looking for fun building projects for my son

Posted: 4/26/2015 11:27:57 AM EDT

Alright GD, I'm looking for projects of things to build with my son, models, R/C toys, home built go karts, etc, to eventually build up to helping him rebuild a car as a teen. Let's hear some fun ideas....

Posted: 4/26/2015 11:29:19 AM EDT

[#1]

an AR

Posted: 4/26/2015 11:32:25 AM EDT

[#2]

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Quoted:
an AR

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+1, not too hard, but very fun and satisfying. Hell, I have more fun building that I do shooting them with some builds.

Posted: 4/26/2015 11:33:34 AM EDT

[#3]

Already Got the parts set aside for an AR for him,

Posted: 4/26/2015 11:33:35 AM EDT

[#4]

RC is cool. I'd avoid helicopters unless you have a big budget.

I was a rural kid... I learned to weld and help fix things by watching a lot. let me think on this...

Posted: 4/26/2015 11:34:49 AM EDT

[#5]

is he 18? or 8?

if yer rural...the ultimate thing is building bombs....if yer urban: legos.

Posted: 4/26/2015 11:35:32 AM EDT

[#6]

find an old mower/trimmer/blower on Craigslist and rebuild the engine/carb

Posted: 4/26/2015 11:35:35 AM EDT

[#7]

Quote History

Quoted:
is he 18? or 8?

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He'll eventually be 18. Ironically, currently 8

Posted: 4/26/2015 11:35:55 AM EDT

[#8]

Quadcopter. Cheap and fun

Posted: 4/26/2015 11:37:12 AM EDT

[#9]

Quote History

Quoted:
RC is cool. I'd avoid helicopters unless you have a big budget.

I was a rural kid... I learned to weld and help fix things by watching a lot. let me think on this...

View Quote

I let my kids help MIG, get tools and run my lathe and milling machine.
They started coming up with their own projects after they knew what was possible.

Posted: 4/26/2015 11:37:19 AM EDT

[#10]

If you want to spend time with him, plant a few fruit trees and a garden. Teach him about food. Very rewarding for a kid to grow and pick his own plants. Build a small chicken coop and give him three chicks to raise. Or other wood working. Like a end table or a bookshelf. Easy stuff is a cutting board, small toy chests, or picture frames. My boy is sooooo proud of the wood items he has built.

Building guns and fun RC toys are fun, but can be expensive. I'd go another route. My boy loves working in my shop or just playing catch. He's an easy kid to hang out with. But he doesn't mind getting dirty in the garden or helping out around the house.

Posted: 4/26/2015 11:39:13 AM EDT

[#11]

Take a look around http://www.instructables.com/.
They got stuff for all ages & all interests.

Posted: 4/26/2015 11:40:57 AM EDT

[#12]

How old?

Check out the drone thread for ideas..

Posted: 4/26/2015 11:42:31 AM EDT

[#13]

8, gotcha! I recomend fire and forget model rockets...unless you have room to recover them.

Estes ...abc rocket....easy as pie to assemble...he can do it himself!

I think I'll be throwing the legos out on the floor today and building scratch stuff....my boy is 7...and he's not quite developed the "don't force it" build technique yet.

eta: I think a full build kit for an AR sounds like lifetime memory project....I'll look into that.

Posted: 4/26/2015 11:54:47 AM EDT

[#14]

Posted: 4/26/2015 12:38:47 PM EDT

[#15]

http://www.factoryfive.com/kits/mk4-roadster/

My son was born in October and I've started a separate savings account that I stash money into every week.

I figure that in ten years we'll have enough for a full kit minus crate motor....hopefully the Wife Unit will let us splurge on one at that point.

Posted: 4/26/2015 1:01:55 PM EDT

[#16]

try these guys out for some awesome cool working steam boats, vehicles and such

http://www.yesteryeartoys.com/index.htm

Posted: 4/26/2015 9:32:29 PM EDT

[#17]

Quote History

Quoted:
If you want to spend time with him, plant a few fruit trees and a garden. Teach him about food. Very rewarding for a kid to grow and pick his own plants. Build a small chicken coop and give him three chicks to raise. Or other wood working. Like a end table or a bookshelf. Easy stuff is a cutting board, small toy chests, or picture frames. My boy is sooooo proud of the wood items he has built.

Building guns and fun RC toys are fun, but can be expensive. I'd go another route. My boy loves working in my shop or just playing catch. He's an easy kid to hang out with. But he doesn't mind getting dirty in the garden or helping out around the house.

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Quote History

Quoted:
If you want to spend time with him, plant a few fruit trees and a garden. Teach him about food. Very rewarding for a kid to grow and pick his own plants. Build a small chicken coop and give him three chicks to raise. Or other wood working. Like a end table or a bookshelf. Easy stuff is a cutting board, small toy chests, or picture frames. My boy is sooooo proud of the wood items he has built.

Building guns and fun RC toys are fun, but can be expensive. I'd go another route. My boy loves working in my shop or just playing catch. He's an easy kid to hang out with. But he doesn't mind getting dirty in the garden or helping out around the house.

Im also being selfish and want to pass on my penchant for tinkering, I'm not very agricultural but that wouldn't be a bad idea to set up some garden stuff for us to play with

Quoted:
8, gotcha! I recomend fire and forget model rockets...unless you have room to recover them.

Estes ...abc rocket....easy as pie to assemble...he can do it himself!

https://scontent-sjc.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-xap1/v/t1.0-9/1508194_10204029337626288_3763468525284249067_n.jpg?oh=b9a8f094181a4eec2960eab6f486adca&oe=559CED68

I think I'll be throwing the legos out on the floor today and building scratch stuff....my boy is 7...and he's not quite developed the "don't force it" build technique yet.

eta: I think a full build kit for an AR sounds like lifetime memory project....I'll look into that.

I hadn't thought of rockets, that's fairly inexpensive and he'd have a blast

Quoted:

http://www.factoryfive.com/kits/mk4-roadster/

My son was born in October and I've started a separate savings account that I stash money into every week.

I figure that in ten years we'll have enough for a full kit minus crate motor....hopefully the Wife Unit will let us splurge on one at that point.

I'm with ya, there are so many options these days, they even make full sheet metal kit cars of classic muscle cars,

Quoted:

try these guys out for some awesome cool working steam boats, vehicles and such

http://www.yesteryeartoys.com/index.htm

That looks like pricey fun, they have some amazing pieces for sale there

Posted: 4/26/2015 9:34:15 PM EDT

[#18]

How about a fun carpentry project?

Posted: 4/26/2015 9:35:08 PM EDT

[#19]

How about a Hydraulic robotic arm?

robotic arm

Posted: 4/26/2015 9:37:49 PM EDT

[#20]

My son's 8 & into robots all of a sudden.

So I bought him this:

When he's done reading it, we're going to build some robots.

Posted: 4/26/2015 9:44:30 PM EDT

[#21]

When I wasn't much older my dad and myself built a diesel powered go-kart. He had a single cylinder Hatz (IIRC) diesel engine that was pulled off of an old air compressor and he came up with the idea.

During that I learned a lot about welding, gearing, centrifugal clutches and force, caster and camber, and many other things. It only went 25MPH or so and it was almost 2 person wide (but with 1 seat) so I never did roll it.

Best learning experience I have ever had.

Posted: 4/26/2015 9:51:23 PM EDT

[#22]

It starts out as a box of sticks and turns into a flyable plane. Lots of mods you can do while building it. Just goggle Sig Four Star Kit.

You get full scale plans that you pin to a ceiling tile from Home Depot and you build right on top of the plan's.

Of course you will need to learn how to fly an RC plane. The build would take a months and during that time, the local RC club with teach you how to fly on their planes. (most of the time they do this for new members)

Posted: 4/26/2015 9:52:05 PM EDT

[#23]

Trebuchet, or catapult. Lots of good practical math applications.

Posted: 4/26/2015 10:11:14 PM EDT

[#24]

Crystal radio receiver
Start with this...

...then move up

Posted: 4/26/2015 10:20:44 PM EDT

[#25]

Go cart. Especially if he is interested in cars.

Posted: 4/26/2015 10:22:41 PM EDT

[#26]

Look up the foamie RC planes they build now, like on the flite test youtube channel.

Get a taco mini bike frame and build it up, then tune it up.

Posted: 4/26/2015 10:25:13 PM EDT

[#27]

Go to your local library and see if they subscribe to Make magazine. Take a look in it for ideas, make photocopies of the instructions if you find any.

http://makezine.com/

Adafruit Industries has a lot of electronics projects and kits

http://www.adafruit.com/

Posted: 4/26/2015 10:27:25 PM EDT

[#28]

Quote History

Quoted:
Already Got the parts set aside for an AR for him,

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Then FO

Posted: 4/26/2015 10:33:47 PM EDT

[#29]

Build a project car . should be done by time he is 16

Posted: 4/26/2015 10:44:03 PM EDT

[#30]

Quote History

Quoted:

Im also being selfish and want to pass on my penchant for tinkering, I'm not very agricultural but that wouldn't be a bad idea to set up some garden stuff for us to play with

View Quote View All Quotes

View All Quotes

Quote History

Quoted:

Quoted:
If you want to spend time with him, plant a few fruit trees and a garden. Teach him about food. Very rewarding for a kid to grow and pick his own plants. Build a small chicken coop and give him three chicks to raise. Or other wood working. Like a end table or a bookshelf. Easy stuff is a cutting board, small toy chests, or picture frames. My boy is sooooo proud of the wood items he has built.

Building guns and fun RC toys are fun, but can be expensive. I'd go another route. My boy loves working in my shop or just playing catch. He's an easy kid to hang out with. But he doesn't mind getting dirty in the garden or helping out around the house.

Im also being selfish and want to pass on my penchant for tinkering, I'm not very agricultural but that wouldn't be a bad idea to set up some garden stuff for us to play with

You can grow a ton of stuff in a few pots. Or build this, fill it with top soil and horse shit, and plant veggies in it.

Posted: 4/26/2015 11:12:24 PM EDT

[#31]

+1 for RC cars/planes. Nitro powered. Good fun.

Posted: 4/26/2015 11:22:06 PM EDT

[#32]

Quote History

Quoted:
Build a project car . should be done by time he is 16

View Quote

While part of me wants to say this, an 8 year old will get bored with a car project quick, and will have years before excitement begins again. Dad better be prepared for years of sitting idle or going at it alone.

Posted: 4/27/2015 7:59:43 AM EDT

[#33]

potato canon.

Posted: 4/27/2015 8:49:39 AM EDT

[#34]

Not a big attention span at 8. Needs to be short duration with a payoff.

Posted: 4/27/2015 9:07:58 AM EDT

[#35]

Raspberry Pi kit.

Tree house.

I have one son who has decided he needs to learn to weld. He sees a huge untapped demand for all sorts of metal thingies after we looked at a pot rack at some kitchen store that was selling for a thousand bucks. He also wants to learn to mix concrete so we can have a wood-burning pizza oven.

Posted: 4/27/2015 3:24:23 PM EDT

[#36]

I've built 2 project dirtbikes with my oldest (14 now).

Another fun project is to buy a great classic BMX / Freestyle bike from the 80's like a GT, Mongoose, PK Ripper, etc and restore it frame up.

Posted: 4/27/2015 3:26:08 PM EDT

[#37]

Get a copy of Backyard Ballistics.

Amazon link

Posted: 4/27/2015 4:50:01 PM EDT

[#38]

Quote History

Quoted:

http://www.factoryfive.com/kits/mk4-roadster/

My son was born in October and I've started a separate savings account that I stash money into every week.

I figure that in ten years we'll have enough for a full kit minus crate motor....hopefully the Wife Unit will let us splurge on one at that point.

View Quote

so how do you feel about adopting an adult?
just saying..

Posted: 4/27/2015 4:52:43 PM EDT

[#39]

Model rocket.

Small welding projects.

Make a skateboard or push scooter.

Rebuild a lawn mower together so he can mow lawns for money.

Form 1 a suppressor.

Make a muzzle loader.

+1 on the Adafruit ideas, make an Arduino GPS tranceiver and attach it to a weather balloon.

Posted: 4/27/2015 4:55:40 PM EDT

[#40]

Quote History

Quoted:
find an old mower/trimmer/blower on Craigslist and rebuild the engine/carb

View Quote

Carbs are kind of outdated.

Posted: 4/27/2015 4:58:39 PM EDT

[#41]

Pedal planes.

Posted: 4/27/2015 5:00:38 PM EDT

[#42]

Quote History

Quoted:
potato canon.

View Quote

This. Go big and build an awesome one with range and accuracy

Posted: 4/27/2015 5:02:54 PM EDT

[#43]

Look up Grant's Projects on youtube. He's got tons of cool stuff and instructables.

Posted: 4/27/2015 5:16:00 PM EDT

[#44]

2-stroke engine powered bicycle.

Posted: 4/27/2015 5:20:46 PM EDT

[#45]

Quote History

Quoted:

He'll eventually be 18. Ironically, currently 8

View Quote View All Quotes

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Quote History

Quoted:

Quoted:
is he 18? or 8?

He'll eventually be 18. Ironically, currently 8

That's not irony, it's just coincidence.

But seriously, model rockets. or just models.
I like the suggestion of bombs. Maybe model airplanes that drop bombs!

Posted: 4/27/2015 5:40:57 PM EDT

[#46]

Bottle Rockets

Posted: 5/24/2015 6:59:56 PM EDT

[#47]

Lots of cool ideas here, his grandmother bought him a cheap rc helicopter and the kid loves it, so where would a guy start looking if I wanted to look into a entry level drone to build.

Posted: 5/24/2015 7:03:34 PM EDT

[#48]

Check out flitetest.com, rc plane from foam board. Easy to build a few and have battles. They fly well and are cheap.

Posted: 5/24/2015 7:07:46 PM EDT

[#49]

Quote History

Quoted:

Lots of cool ideas here, his grandmother bought him a cheap rc helicopter and the kid loves it, so where would a guy start looking if I wanted to look into a entry level drone to build.

View Quote

One of our members wrote a book about UAV building

http://www.amazon.com/Drone-University-John-M-Glover/dp/0692316035/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1432508804&sr=8-1&keywords=drone+university