Tuesday 19 June 2012

Something else I made

I'm currently ill with a cold, so managed to work on another model.








Monday 18 June 2012

Here are the vids. The first model is pretty rough. Once again, there is too much tension on the springs. I might try using some elastic bands rather than springs. 

(UPDATE: I changed the size of the cams in the model so that they were larger, and moved the cam follower as well. This meant the lever cold be operated with less effort at this point. I really should look at the basics of levers it would probably save time. I guess this blog is about an "average" maker for a reason).




The second model has a bit more polish.



Saturday 16 June 2012

Flying Pig Automaton

OK, so it's a bad joke but at least it's a different take on the subject. I'll be putting it onto e-bay soon. 


The ham joint
Bacon wings
Profile
 I'll try and upload a video as well at some point. 

I finished the drummer model for my friend (I'll add some photo's too). 

Here are some pics of the new mechanism I tried out for the hand and turtle model (the never ending model).

It was a pretty complicated set up. the lower block with the 2 rods through it was moved with a snail cam.

As the snail cam pushed against the bar, it pushed the longer pieces of wood causing the tops to move towards the outer edge of the frame (hope I'm explaining this OK). A spring then allowed the bits of wood to snap back in again.

The longer bits of wood would have had the turtles legs attached, allowing them to move back and forth.

The problem I had was that there was just too much tension to try and move the pieces of wood as it tried to act against the springs.

Here is how it would have looked.

Instead, I tried a different option with some blocks that would be lifted up with cams. These would then have rotate some semi-circular discs which would have the legs attached to.
The main problem I have now is callibrating all the pieces exactly so they don't knock into each other and there is sufficient room for movement. I also have to try and squeeze in something to bring the head into the shell.

I'll update when I have completed some more. 

update: here's the original flying pig


Wednesday 6 June 2012

Things I've been working on

Still working on the turtle




A drummer for my friend



 




























Work in progress
































It's been a while. Sorry it's taken so long.