Well, it was inevitable. Yes, we have other terrible secrets besides the fact that we’re enamored with transit minutiae. Scary, no? Well, it turns out that we’re ungodly dweebs for a good DIY project. And what could possibly be better than to combine our two loves into one horrendously nerdy endeavor?

That said, we’re going to start off our post this week close to home, featuring a project created by our very own Tom Lee. Tom presented this crafty work at a recent DorkbotDC meeting, and kindly allowed us to show it off here as well. It’s an ingenious little idea that combines both DIY creativity and Metro usability. We’ll let Tom explain in his own words:

I built a magical picture frame to tell me when I need to leave to catch the Metro. Allow me to explain. There are really just four parts to it. First, there’s the picture frame, bezel, LEDs and meters. That just took a visit to a few electronics, craft and junk shops, plus some meticulous cutting, gluing, taping and soldering.