Over-Clocked Toothbrush

[Hojo]

Hehe, Well I got board one day so I decided to "Update" my old toothbrush, The first day I got it, it broke and I never bothered to buy replacement brushes, So about a year later (Now) I decided to "Over Clock" it. Basically I just increased the voltage, I firstly disembled the whole thing and figuered out how it worked and that, then I just soldered on some leads and a 9v battery jack.

Its not "Quite" finished yet, still to cover up some exposed bits of wire, might even shorten the wire length and put the jack 'Onto' the acaully boddy of the toothbrush to neaten things up. My plan is to make it into a Electric Pick, here are a few pictures:

Soon to be pick up close:

Whole system:


Im uploading a video onto my site but doesnt seem to be doing anything, if anyone wants it I can E-Mail it to them, its 5 Meg

If anyone wants to know how to do it, just post here and Ill post instructoins.

Thanks, HoJo

[meat-bix]

http://www.g4techtv.com/videos/index.ht ... o_key=8874

;0)

Enjoy!

[WhiskeyTango]

sure everybodys thought of it but we all have been waiting around for someone creative enough to engineer it.do the question is how far have you gotten on making the toothbrush a e pick?

[skold]

i have seen and played with hojo's pick..all i can say is that it could be better

[Hojo]

Psshh

Skold, its not as if yours is any better

Swish

[skold]

you wait till i find that filler rod and make a spring...just you wait

[WhiskeyTango]

so after reading hojos post and watching his video i took a nose hair trimmer jacked it up on an extra aa and super glued a thin piece of hacksaw blade to the tip and whamo! i know its not much of an accomplishment to defeat a kwickset but my humble nose picker doesnt know the difference so i praised it any way.the only problem now is i dont have a nose hair trimmer and tweezing kills!!!!!

[dry132]

I just got finished modifying a $6 crest spinbrush, and it is quite an excellent, if ugly, electric pick.

The mods consisted of:

1.) cut the case open with a dremel cutoff wheel, being careful not to cut too deep or you'll hit the gears or motor.
2.) Remove the gear train and motor. Flip the motor over to expose the copper contacts and put it back in the same slot.
3.) Tear out the switch, replace with a radioshack DPST switch or whatever is handy. You might be able to re-use the switch that is already in there, but i didn't bother to try since I had a sure-thing right on hand.
4.) Solder the switch to the motor, and tear out all the battery holders. Solder a 9v adapter socket onto the motor and switch so as to make a complete circuit when the switch is closed. For extended duty use, include a 220 ohm current limiting resistor in series, but for short uses this is not really necessary.
5.) Cut off the top half of the "shell" about halfway to the battery compartment (just behind the motor) and fit everything back together, running the 9v clip out the new U-shaped area where the batterys used to be. On reassembly, get rid of the toothbrush head and all the plastic around the tip, all the way down to the metal tip with a notch in it. I got rid of the rubberized water seal too. Be sure to reinstall the thrust bearings and gear train correctly or the thing won't vibrate properly.
6.) Fit a homemade pick on the end. The metal part on the toothbrush is stainless steel and can be welded if you happen to have a welder laying around. I used 2-part epoxy and a plumbing-snake pick, and it seems to work quite well. Probably will drop a weld bead on it next time I go to the shop.
7.) Put in a battery and test it out. At 9v the motor draws about 600 mA, which is too much for extended duty usage as the motor is only rated for 300mA, but is not a problem for lock-pick type intermittent usage. The vibrations are quite strong, though I have never used a "real" electric pick so I don't have much to compare it to. Much stronger than my electric razor or even the hair clippers I have. It *really* vibrates with a 9v in there.

Parts list:
1 crest spinbrush ($6 in the USA,)
1 9v battery clip ($0.25)
1 electric-style pick (free if you make your own picks and have the materials handy)
1 switch of some sort ($1)
1 9v battery ($2)

Total cost: ~$10

There is no "good" way to take the brush apart, it is sealed and glued to be water-resistant, and you pretty much have to just dremel through the seam with a cutoff wheel. It's not hard, and the plastic is easy to cut through. For reassembly, I just used a bit of electrical tape to hold it back together.

Really not a bad project, and cheap enough for anybody to try.

Good luck, and I'm really glad I just discovered these awesome forums.

[pun1sher]

hehe, that reminded me of something off home improvement.