This will be orangest post yet, so that’s pretty fun. Christmas gift creation continues and today we’ll be chatting about my take on the puck flinging box game that has a real title I’m sure, but I’m not quite sure what it is. I found the project here and while the video makes a much nicer looking box, it also takes a level of skill I am no where near. So here’s my spin on the idea.
I started with what I thought would be the easy part; ripping a dowel down to make pucks. It is easy, but I wound up having to do it twice because measuring is not my strong suit. We’ll chat about that.
After the pucks were cut I shivered in the garage and cut sides. Two feet by 18 inches, the center piece has a big ol’ notch taken out of it:
I used a jig saw to cut out the notch and almost, almost got a straight line on top. It was a rather exciting moment. Thankfully everything turned out square because measuring sometimes works out!
Once I confirmed the rectangle was indeed a rectangle drilling began for the holes that would house the bungee cords on either side of the box.
I learned a good lesson today. The two long pieces were placed on top of one another, the thinking being the holes would match up and the bungee cable would be in one nice straight line. This would have worked out if I kept that drill level. Twice I mucked it up. Twice! Not a good round for me. Eventually it worked out, but this is now a holey box. The kid will never know the difference.
Everything was drilled together and I glued a bottom piece to the box. Unfortunately, when the glue went on my clamps were in use for another project that was being glued together. I had really bad timing today. So I found every heavy object I could to sit on the piece.
It did not work. This box is staying at my house though, so I was not too upset about just drilling the bottom on there. I’ll put felt pads on the bottom to prevent scratching floors and tables when in use.
Big orange box! My spray paint skills need work. Also, spray painting indoors is not bright. It was a day of learning.
The fun part took awhile to get to. The bungee. I cut one in half (an awesome thing to do, try it out) and threaded it through the (now properly angled and placed) hole.
The YouTube link has the other end of the bungee being repaired with a thick metal clamp or something of the sort. I was cold and very tired of huffing spray paint so I just tied it off and called it good. I doubt it will break and damage my sons. 99% sure it will not break. 98.
You know how I mentioned many, many words ago that the pucks cut up above were the first batch? They were too short. The bungee cable sits just above them. The intent of the game is to pull the bungee, fling the pucks through the hole and get all ten objects to the other side before the opposing player. If the bungee cannot reach the pucks, the game is going to take some time. So I cut taller pucks. Dowels are huge if you are only cutting half an inch at a time.
It was a fun project. Hopefully the firstborn will enjoy it. It has hockey, flinging stuff, orange and loud noises all in one place so I think it will be a winner. I’ll try to get a video of it in use. The new pucks were not quite dry when I had to call it a day (note the black line above the cut out). But, they shoot really, really fast. Maybe the kid should not be given this…yikes. It will be really easy to turn into a short step stool. Too late now?
Shawn Writes Stuff 
Very cool. The kiddos of all ages will want to play.
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