Mason Turner - Mighty Turing-Maimu, or The Dog Bell

The Setup

RIpley. A small white dog is sitting on a countertop wearing a Seattle Mariners bandana. We trained our dog, Ripley, to ring a bell when she wants to go outside. It’s much better than her barking, even though she can be a bit annoying. Every time we get back from a walk, she’ll run to the back door and ring the bell to go outside. That wouldn’t be so bad, except she immediately turns around and barks at the door. We open the door, and she won’t come in; she just stands there. Sigh.

The Problem

A blue ribbon is tied around the handles of a closed sliding glass door. Attached bells are smashed up. At nine pounds, Ripley is a very small dog, so the bells have to be very low. As a result, they inevitably swing into the door jamb and get smashed up. They still work; she can still make enough noise to get our attention, but they are pretty ugly.

The Inspiration

Oval Magnetic Hanging Door Bell, Loud Sound Wooden Zen Grip Doorbell Chime, Hanging Wood Shop Keeper Bells for Business Door Opening, Entrance Decoration (Black Walnut) (2) I had to swing by the UPS Store after work tonight, and I noticed they had a very clever door chime. I snapped a picture, fed it into the Amazon app, and found, oh, I dunno, twenty or more variations, ranging from $15 for a pair to $27 for one. I had been considering moving the bell ribbon to the middle of the sliding glass door, but this would be a lot nicer, wouldn’t it?

The problem is, I am not sure Ripley would actually be able to ring the bell … it just looked too delicate.

The Implementation

I should have been (should be doing now, in fact) Discrete Mathematics homework. Instead, I got a bell from my mom, broke out the calipers, fired up Tinkercad, and got to noodling. In about 30 minutes, I had a decent design.

I hadn’t printed anything in a while, so I updated OrcaSlicer and the suite of apps that make up OpenNept4une. I loaded the white filament and hit print.

A 3D model of a red, open-faced door chime frame sits on a flat surface. I swear I meant to get more math homework done while it printed, but there is something mesmerizing, and terrifying, about the first print of an object. Luckily, it only took about 25 minutes. Then I popped it off the plate and deburred the edges. I eyeballed how much ribbon I’d need and erred for “just a little more” to make it easy to tie the knot. I used a square knot so it would be snug, but easy to adjust. Good thing, because there was a fair amount of adjusting.

A small silver bell is suspended inside a white plastic holder with an orange ribbon, held by a person's hand in a kitchen setting. Next, I cleaned the door frame and used a Command Strip to place the new bell roughly where the old bells were.

The Verdict

A small silver bell is suspended inside a white plastic holder with an orange ribbon, mounted to a sliding glass door. It’s hard to get a picture of Ripley, she’s pretty shy and anxious. But I have it on good authority that she did ring the bell this morning!