Friday 28 December 2012

Pinwheels in Inkscape

My new model involves making pinwheel gears. I used to do this in Illustrator and used the tutorial on the Cabaret Mechanical Theatre website for this. However, I no longer have this software and instead went for the Open Source alternative of Inkscape. I had trouble working out how to make the pinwheels at first but now have a method. I thought I'd create a PDF and provide a download link for those who are interested in it:

http://www.mediafire.com/view/?z0r4prji5oaptz0

One of the nice things about making automata is that the materials do not necessarily have to be expensive. I'd find it hard to justify spending hundreds of pounds on a piece of software to assist with the design process, so I use a free alternative. 

Of course, another alternative would be to just use a protractor, ruler and a compass but I always find my accuracy slightly off with this method. 

I hope this helps. If you have any queries, please comment/contact me.

Thursday 27 December 2012

Post seasons greetings

Hello and seasons greetings to you all. Just thought I'd give a quick update following Christmas.

I've started working on my next model which I will make in time for Valentine's day (hopefully). I've made the frame and am going to incorporate a pin wheel gear, as I 'm fed up with work gears. Besides, pin wheel gears can be tricky to make accurately so there's a challenge there in itself. Pics to follow soon. 

I have also been shopping on line and have bought a few new goodies, such as a block plane, a drill press stand and a drill holder so I can turn my drill into a lathe of sorts. This should allow me to do more interesting things and hopefully with a bit more accuracy. 

I might also be getting a workshop in the new year! Good times!

Anyway, back to the model.

Thursday 6 December 2012

Ta da!

For your pleasure and amusement (hopefully), here is a video of my latest automaton, "Cruel Santa":


I hope you forgive the poor quality and editing. 

Also, Santa has extra short legs because I believe every cruel tyrant should be mocked in some way to make them less scary and deny them the power of fear over their subjects. 

I also didn't give them any eyes as I was concerned I would mess them up and ruin the whole piece. 

Wednesday 5 December 2012

A Christmas miracle!

Well, not really a miracle and more like a bit of hard work but the model is finished. I'll be creating, editing and uploading a vid tomorrow. Then onto eBay. In the meantime, here is a picture of the cams I used.