The Hopper began the way all questionable ideas begin… I watched sand fall and thought, “That should be a toy.” A slow-pouring, safe, durable, toddler-sized field hopper that suspends sand until a lever opens a gate… then dumps its contents into a mighty dump truck below. Simple, right?
Nope. This is engineering. Nothing is simple.
I had been working on this design for over a year. However, the problem remained: the gate needed to be fully enclosed—no pinch points, no finger traps, no “Daddy, it bit me.” I kept chasing solutions that never quite solved the issue.
And that’s where the real story begins.
A friend told me, “You should take this to Frank. He can build anything.” Frank’s shop is in Muncie, so I drove up there- past Ball State, through those weird “turn-left-to-go-right” roads, and pulled into what looked like a modest fabrication shop -QS Components.
Outside: humble. Inside: a real fabrication shop with more steel than the Eiffel Tower. That’s where I first met Frank.
Frank is the owner- young (compared to me)- but he doesn’t act like a guy who hides in an office. He runs all the machines. He welds, cuts, designs on CAD. And he gets dirty (hands, shirt, ballcap) and somehow apologizes for it, like his hard work is personally inconveniencing you. Therefore, I loved him immediately.
And in the office, there’s Tammy, just as hardworking, but cleaner. Out on the floor is Cody, a long-time QS hand with a part in nearly everything built there. And there’s Todd, Frank’s co-owner, keeping the whole shop pointed in the right direction. It’s the kind of team that reminds you that America still builds things.
I walked in and introduced myself as the owner of the World’s Largest Sandbox and asked Frank if he’d look at a file with me. He stared at me like he was trying to decide whether I was joking… or confessing to a crime. Then he shrugged and said, “Sure.”
I sat next to him in two wobbly rolling chairs in front of his giant monitor, opened the CAD file, and said, “We need to enclose this gate so no little fingers can ever get pinched.”
Frank stared at it. Leaned in. Tilted his head. Scratched his chin. Then he said the sentence that would define this whole journey:
“Let me think on it.” And he meant it.
Over the next few months we exchanged texts and calls and talked through ideas. Every time we hit a snag, Frank asked permission before changing something. I eventually had to tell him: “Frank. You own the machines. Stop asking me if you’re allowed to fix something. And stop apologizing.” He laughed. Apologized. Then apologized for apologizing.
Classic Frank.
But, finally, he solved it. The pinch points were gone. The gate was fully enclosed. Safe, smooth, and beautiful. We put the prototype into the sandbox for real-world toddler testing, which is basically like testing a fine watch with a sledgehammer.
What I imagined: Kid fills hopper → kid pulls lever → sand pours gracefully → dump truck fills.
What actually happened: Every kid grabbed the handle and shook it back and forth like they were sawing a log. The good news: the design held. But, the bad news: we discovered the metal-on-metal-on-sand creates a sound that can only be described as “a pterodactyl trying to escape a soup can.”
I heard it. Everyone in the store heard it. Dogs three counties over probably heard it.
I took the Hopper back to Frank. He closed his eyes, shook his head slowly, and said:
“…let me think on it.”
Back at QS Components, Frank redesigned the gate mechanism. He enclosed the entire slider in durable plastic and added rubber stoppers. Then, he repositioned the handle to glide more smoothly and eliminated every scrape, grind, and bat-summoning frequency.
He tested it. Adjusted it. Cleaned it. Apologized because something wasn’t perfectly lined up. Then apologized for apologizing again. Frank has a huge heart. He sincerely wants this project to work as if his name is stamped onto it.
Honestly, that’s exactly what Dig Dig is about- learning a trade, working hard, and taking pride in building something real.
Of course, the best part is watching kids learn the developmental magic built into the Hopper. They discover that pulling the lever releases the sand, then do it again and again- testing, repeating, figuring it out in real time.
The sand drops through the square grate in soft little waterfalls, calm and satisfying. It’s strangely relaxing to watch, and even more fun to see kiddos connect the cause-and-effect of how the Hopper works. Yes, the Hopper is a fun toy. Yes, it took 2 years. Yes, it sits proudly next to its older brother, the SandMaster.
But the story isn’t just the Hopper. It’s QS Components.
It’s Tammy, it’s Cody, it’s Todd. And, it’s Frank.
Frank, the young man who runs machines all day, apologizes for being dirty, cares deeply, works hard, and quietly embodies everything Dig Dig stands for.
The toy works because he works. The kids enjoy it because he believed in it.
And I’m grateful.
So, are more Dig Dig original toys on the way?
If you ask Frank, he’ll smile, wipe his hands on his shirt, lean back in that wobbly rolling chair and say:
“Let me think on it.”
Dig Dig – Where imagination meets excavation!
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