This is totally refreshing. A nice, innocent request for information.
Tim, brace yourself for what the likes of Zick and Andocles and Uncle
Al will respond.

I don't know about this project, but I made an isomorphic one, it was
a telegraph, a nail pounded into a block of wood wrapped with copper
wire and a thin strip of metal coming out over it to form a receiver.
A block of wood with a thin strip nailed down at one end and free on
the other which can be pushed down to a contact for a sender, all
appropriate connections made with copper wire, and a battery in the
circuit, of course.

Hofstadter stated that his AHA! moment when he was young was to see 3
3's written out, forming self-reference, thus orienting himself towards
that subject for life. Here's an expanded version:

4 4 4 4 4 fours

3 3 3 3 threes

2 2 two twos

1 the most elegant case

How do you show zero zeroes??

My AHA moment was when I was around 3 and asked my Mom what caused day
and night, and she took a spherical pincusion she had and put it next
to an incandescent lamp, stuck a pin in it and rotated it, showing it
go in and out of the light. She only had a high-school education, but
she would have made a better teacher than 99.9999999999999999999% of
what supposedly passes for one out there now.

So anyway, the usual disclaimer stands. No replies will ever be looked
at to this post. While cheating myself out of the good ones, if any,
there are just too many Andocleses and Uncle Al's and Zicks infecting
this forum like rats out in our barn. What a shame. Might pay to read
the final few chapters of Hofstader's "Metamagical Themas" to see what
you jerks are cheating everybody out of.

Have a nice day. Address your issues. Please display only appropriate
behavior. Define "appropriate" yourself.

Toodle-Lewd-Wench-Sky

EOP