• Rolling Can

    01/28/2021 at 02:47 • 0 comments

    This article is about the rolling can sculpture that you see in this photo:

    Video - Rolling:

    Video - Moving:

    Components:

    You will need:

    - a heavy wheel,

    - big motor,

    - AA/AAA batteries - one, two, three or four (see what works)

    Step 1: Attach Wheel

    The wheel was attached to motor is a small plastic tube:

    Step 2: Attach Nail

    I inserted the nail inside the plastic tube:

    Step 3: Punch a Hole in the Can

    I punched a hole with a wood carving tool:

    Step 4: Testing

    Testing shows that the amount and/or the size of the batteries needs to be reduced (from two batteries to just one battery and from AA to AAA or even button cells):

  • Wooden Buses

    04/29/2020 at 10:04 • 0 comments

    I made two wooden buses with two blocks of wood after seeing this article:

    https://hackaday.io/page/7078-led-bus

    I used bright LEDs from a USB solar charger kit that I received from China. There were a few missing parts (rechargeable battery, wires, tools) so I decided the use the parts for another purpose.

    You can see how I connected the bright LEDs (Light Emitting Diodes) from the USB charger to the yellow wires. LEDs only conduct in one direction. If the LED is not turning on then you need to reverse the polarity.

    The small wooden bus has a long hole drilled in the middle that I used for the yellow wire. I could not do the same for the bigger bus because my drill was not long enough.

    The wheels are made from old solar night lights metal stands/tubes. I used a hack saw to cut the metal tubes.

    I also used an old Soviet double room light switch. The power supply is 3 V, that can be realised with two AA/AAA/C or D batteries connected in series. There are 3 V buttons cells but I am not sure if those small batteries have sufficient current for those bright LEDs. A typical LED needs only 2 V and can burn if higher voltages are applied.

    You can my electric sculpture working in this video:

    From the video you can see the 30 year old Russian switch is not perfect. It is not a good idea to connect it to mains.

  • Recycled Flying Saucer

    04/05/2020 at 14:42 • 0 comments

    I made a flying saucer from recycled components.

    One part was a gear box from an old VCR (Video Cassette Recorder). Another was a shower cap. I also used 1 mm metal wire.

    You can see the sculpture spinning in those YouTube videos:



    Step 1: Attach the Shower Cap to Gearbox

    I used pliers and thin metal wire to make a few loops in and out of the holes of the shower cap and the wheel.

    Note that the small purple wheel has a bolt that is used to tighten the wheel to the gear rod.



    Step 2: Put the Shower Cap Lid On

    I attached the lid easily:



    Step 3: Testing

    I connected the gear to my bench top power supply.

    This is the fastest speed that spinning sculpture reached:

    The voltage from my power supply must have been about 6 V.