Ever stumble across one of those vintage electronics shops online? The kind with pages of old parts and mystery boxes full of vacuum tubes—stuff you don’t need but suddenly can’t live without? Yeah, me too.

I ordered a box. It showed up. I opened it.

Vacuum tubes. Dozens of them.

I stared at them for a while, thinking, What am I going to do with these?

But the longer I looked, the more they started to remind me of something. R2D2. Little robot bodies.

So, I fired up SketchUp. Designed a cradle with robot feet to hold one of the tubes. Printed it out.

Turned out pretty good. Still needs paint, but I’m happy with it. And the name is right on the tube. 3FH5

Sometimes you just have to follow that weird impulse.