When asked to write and article for my favorite magazine -- MAKE, I jumped at the chance. Editor-in-chief Mark Frauenfelder asked me to document how I made my trick top hat for their first-ever special Halloween issue. The entire issue is dedicated to Halloween DIY projects. The issue is rather awesome. I hope they do another some day.
A hidden mechanism inside the hat is attached to a bicycle brake cable and lever. Run the cable down your sleeve and discretely hold the lever. Any time the brake lever is squeezed, a monster pops out of the top of the hat. Because you can control both the speed and direction of the monster, it has some puppet-like qualities. By raising the monster slowly and only part way, it looks as if he is peeking out tentatively.
The image to the right shows the version that appeared in the magazine. A rubber finger puppet served as the monster until I got around to creating the wooden monster with articulated joints that you see in the video.
As you may have heard by now, I will be exhibiting at the World Maker Faire in New York City this weekend, September 29 and 30, 2012. I know not all of you can make it, but that doesn't mean you can't see some of my pieces in action! I am pleased to announce that I'll be posting videos of some of my own automata over the next several days while I am getting ready for and participating in Maker Faire.
Presenting for the first time online, video of my piece titled Which Card Says 'I Love You' as Much as I Really Do?
I made this one quickly compared to most of my others. I like the general idea because I've been the poor fellow depicted in the scene. No commercial greeting card product seems to hit the nail on the head. Maybe this automaton does? The hundreds of miniature greeting cards took me nearly as long to make as the automaton itself. Here's a close-up shot of the cards in the display shelf:
The mechanism for the automaton is straightforward. The bouncing heart advertising display is driven by a two-lobed cam. The figure's head is turned from side-to-side by two offset cams hitting opposite edges of a circular driving plate. The rotating card carousel is driven by a small belt twisted 90 degrees from the rotation of the main axle.
There appears to be a tradition among automaton-makers to make a piece related to Valentine's Day. This would be my contribution to the genre. Here's a round up of Valentine's Day pieces by other artists including Keith Newstead, Per Helldorff, Marc Horovitz, Rob Ives, Haruki Nakamura, and Paul Spooner. This list is by no means exhaustive; I know I've neglected many fine artists and examples.
This is a simplified version of the full plan. Pretty incredible for a first version! The game is made almost entirely from laser cut (and decorated) parts. In this version, Mario jumps (via servo motor) over rolling ball bearings that run down actual ramps.
From the video description:
Built as part of a larger project this was my first attempt at a mechanical version of Donkey Kong. Time constraints meant I had to drop the XY CNC controller but hopefully explains why this is only V1. All the construction files and details can be found on my website MSRaynsford.co.uk
We can expect the fully functioning version at the UK Maker Faire, 2013. I can't wait!
Brad Litwin, creator of the ingenious line of MechaniCards, has uploaded video of his new creation. This one is titled Thumbs Up! for reasons that will become apparent after you watch the video.
For those of you who don't know, MechaniCards are miniature, hand-operated, kinetic sculptures, designed and produced in limited editions. Each piece comes with instructions and display recommendations. They are available assembled or as do-it-yourself construction kits. The new model shown here will soon be available via www.MechaniCards.com.
I've known for some time that Amazon sells watches. Though I can claim no expertise on the subject, every now and then, I will post about a nice looking watch. It fits the mechanical theme of The Automata Blog and mixes things up a bit.
It has recently come to my attention that Amazon is selling some of these skeleton dial watches at an astronomical discount. Think I'm exaggerating? Check out this example:
The Invicta Men's 1090 Russian Diver Mechanical Skeleton Dial Black Polyurethane Watch is a functional fashion statement all on its own. Its stylish skeleton dial design adds a trendy feel to your collection. This watch begins with a prominent 52mm 18k rose gold-plated stainless steel case with a rounded rose gold-plated stainless steel bezel with a textured coin edge. The right side of the case features a large crown with a screw-down cap attached to the case with a link chain.
At $175, the price seems reasonable -- until you take a good hard look at the retail price and discount (see image below):
I don't know if this is right, but it says you save $1,219.63, which is 87% off the cost of a $1400.00 watch! Whoa. I'm suddenly thinking about getting a watch.
I'm making some improvements to the Monster vs. Strongman automaton. The monster is getting rather impatient, as you can tell from the photo above.
These improvements are in preparation for my exhibit at World Maker Faire 2012 in New York. This is the 3rd annual Faire in the New York area. The event will feature 500 maker exhibits, presentations, how-to workshops, and many incredible attractions.
Come by, say hello, and check out some automata!
Date: September 29th & 30th Time: Saturday 10AM - 7PM & Sunday 10AM - 6PM Location:
New York Hall of Science
47-01 11th Street, Queens, NY
The making of this amazing walking bipedal robot is documented in a rapid series of photographs strung into a video. The robot is made almost exclusively of paper, with the exception of some wooden shafts and an elastic band which serves as the power source.
I wonder if the design is based on (or at least inspired by) one of the many tin toy wind-up walking robot designs. It would be nice if I could read the site. Perhaps I will try Google Translate a bit later.
The gears look like they are solid, as if perhaps made up of many sheets of paper glued together in a thick stack. You can spot a crown gear in there if you watch closely. There are some really ingenious construction techniques. This is worth viewing more than once. I think I want to try working in paper sometime soon.
There are PDF files available for download on the site and they may be plans. I haven't had time to explore them yet. If any of the good readers of The Automata Blog finds out what we are dealing with here, please post a comment or drop me a line. Thanks in advance for your help!
I was asked to contribute an article to a special issue magazine called Gizmos & Gadgets. Not to be confused with the technology magazine of the same name, this one is put out by the same folks that publish Scroll Saw Woodworking & Crafts
magazine as well a many of the best carving, woodworking, and craft books you will find. They have to be one of my favorite publishers, so when I was asked to write for them, I was really excited.
The magazine was a year in the making and they did a fantastic job. The projects are awesome and the documentation excellent. They did the job right. The video above shows the projects in action. The automaton I designed may be seen at the 00:53 second mark. There is a wealth of useful techniques within these pages and more than 10 cool projects. What follows is a list of the projects in the magazine.
1 - Kicker Gumball Machine
This fun gumball dispenser will test your hand-to-eye coordination, give you a great project to build, and reward you with a treat. Lots of fun!
2 - A wooden chest with a working wooden lock
Notable wood clock-maker Adrian Iredale shows you how precise cuts and careful sanding can produce a working padlock made almost exclusively of wood. I'm looking forward to making one myself.
3 - Rapid-fire rubber band gun
The ultimate in wooden rubber band guns, this one is fired by turning a hand-crank much like the old Gatling gun. It's incredible.
4 - Simplest possible working wooden clock
Master of the wooden clock, Clayton Boyer, provides detailed instructions on how to make a wooden clock. If you have always dreamed of making a wooden clock, but were intimidated, this is the one start with! It's unconventional design makes it a unique timepiece as well as a work of kinetic art. FULL SIZE plans for this project are included in the magazine centerfold. This is a great value -- more than worth the price of the magazine alone. Trust me.
5 - Tiny ship automaton
Fellow automaton-maker Wanda Sowry contributed this really cute automaton featuring a tiny ship rocking on the waves of the ocean. This would be an ideal choice for one's first wood automaton. It would also make a nice gift.
The Unwelcome Dinner Guest - Automaton by Dug North
6 - Dog and bird automaton
My own contribution to the magazine is a scene featuring a bird stealing a dog's food. The poor dog is tangled in his own leash, so all he can do is wag his tail and bark at the winged thief who pecks away at the food. I worked hard to use materials that could be found easily online and at local home improvement stores. I'm quite pleased with the dog's barking action which uses a four-bar linkage.
7 - Bouncing buggy toy
This charming pull-along toy features a horse and buggy with two riders. The riders are having a bit of bumpy ride. This piece has a strong ties to a long tradition of folk toys. Why not be a part of that tradition?
8 - Wood spitting whirligig
No written work on wooden gizmos could be complete without a whirligig. The Gizmos & Gadgets issue delivers with this fine example. A very traditional scene -- a man chopping wood -- is animated by wind power alone. A classic.
9 - The 'Smoke Grinder'
This is a fun little do-nothing gadget that is loads of fun. It's a great beginner project that will also make a nice gift for kids.
10 - The mother of all gear machines
Ed Legler documents how he made this intricate kinetic sculpture that graces the cover of the magazine. The author uses some tools that may be beyond what you have in the workshop, but you can cut the gears on a scroll saw. I'm going to tackle this one sooner or later.
11 - Marble track tower
A nifty marble machine is also described in detail at the end of the magazine. Because of the complexity, the plans themselves have to be purchased separately. Still, you can get a good look at what you would be buying or perhaps be inspired to come up with your own design.
Automatist Keith Newstead has made many pieces featuring bicycles, but this one has got to be one of the most intricate and grand that we've ever see here at The Automata Blog. The automaton was a commissioned piece and is titled The Amazing Journey
Th Amazing Journey
Newstead explains the origin of the piece:
John Lau has asked me to make a different version of my automaton 'Brians Brilliant Bike'. He would like me to feature his wife, Vivien, surrounded by all of their pets. He wants the automaton to remember his wedding -- such a nice thing to do.
The depiction of the human characters, John And Vivien, is lovely.
The bold colors and menagerie of the animated creatures adds tremendous amount life to the piece. This is a video you can watch more than once. Did you notice the acrobatic mouse on the front wheel of the bike? The rabbit's swagger as it conjures? The gentle swaying of the snake?
Mechanically, there is a lot to take in: pulleys, belts, linkages, joints, rotating objects as well as the metal combined with wood. Most fascinating for me, is the extremely clever rotating background. By rotating several discs behind the scene at different speeds, Newstead has simulated a parallax effect with wood and paint!
Here is a new piece by automata legend, Paul Spooner. This one depicts three wind turbines atop small green hills. Titled simply Renewable, the piece is made of pine, lime, alder, aluminum, steel, nylon, brass, bronze, acrylic paint.
True to form, Spooner uses an ingenious mechanism to turn the blades of the windmills. Pulleys, of course, right? Oh, no. Take a good look at the shaft on the side of box moving in and out. That's a clue as to what's going on inside.
Paul Spooner on the details of the mechanism:
This piece employs the well-known Sliding Block mechanism to link the movement of the driving handle to all three turbines. The action is not particularly smooth, in fact it’s downright jerky because of the lack of balance in the turbine blades and the 3 x 352 degrees of lost motion in the transmission.
I adore Spooner's signature dovetail joints which hold the mechanism box together.
Here's a new hand-carved wood automaton by artist Tim Donald. The piece depicts a somewhat suspicious street seller. When the handle is turned, the seller figure looks around to see if the coast is clear, then opens his suitcase to give you a glimpse of the "top brand" watches he's selling for a mysteriously low price. That the seller has his fingers crossed behind his back may indicate that these are not the high quality time pieces they are made out to be.
I love the details on the figure and the suitcase. The choice to put the figure in an enclosure suggests he might be tucked into some urban alleyway.
I wonder if I can get a good deal on a Vacheron Constantin Skeleton Minute Repeater (normally about $623,000 USD) or better yet a watch by Jaquet Droz himself?
We've seen time and again here on The Automata Blog that amazing mechanical things can be made out of unexpected materials such as paper and cardboard. Building a small mechanism that doesn't have to support much weight is one thing, but you can't build anything out of cardboard that takes a lot of weight or shock. Can you? This excellent film by Giora Kariv shows that you can. Follow along as Isreali inventor Izhar Gafni pursues his solitary quest to build a working bicycle from cardboard. He was inspired by a story he had heard about a working canoe made of the same material.
The literature on how to work with cardboard in this way was, shall we say... lacking, forcing Gafni to experiment with different fabrication techniques to see what the material could do. The secret to the strength of the material lies in folding the cardboard. With enough folds, the material becomes quite strong. We also see him dip parts in some type of liquid during his experiments. Whatever the liquid is, I'm sure it helps.
In the end, he sums up the creation well:
It's strong, it's durable, it's cheap. What I like about it the best? It's made out of cardboard!
He accomplished this feat after being told by three engineers that it was impossible. Let this be a lesson to all of us: if you have an idea, a passion for it, and a willingness to experiment and work in the face of doubt, you can accomplish things that have never been done before. Now...go invent something.
This interesting automaton of a woman spinning wool is currently for sale on ebay. When the handle is turned, the spinning wheel spins. The female figure lifts her left arm, pulling the wool, as she turns her head from side to side.
The piece measures 1-1/4 inches wide by 2 inches long and a little over 4 inches high. While the seller is not certain of its provenance, a search on the internet revealed similar examples that were described as "French Prisoner of War creations", which were made from scraps of cow and pig bone. The prisoner of war notion certainly adds a lot of interest and backstory if true. The piece is possibly from the 1840s.
I love the small spur gear and the mating lantern pinion. I also love the shape of the handle as well as the pulley that drives the spinning wheel. The material, whatever it is, is interesting and looks like it machines or carves well. A fascinating piece of kinetic folk art.
I won't need to say much about this video from hilaroad.com that shows how to build a simple electric motor because it is so well-made and comprehensive. The video shows you step-by-step how to go about making a simple battery powered motor. This is a great rainy-day project, party trick, and desktop conversation starter. I've made one myself and the results -- even though entirely expected -- are mysterious and somehow thrilling. You really should try this when you have 20 to 30 minutes (tops!) to spare.
The video also covers the basic theory involved in electromagnetism, which includes the disassembly of a small toy motor. It all makes a lot more sense once you've made a small motor of your own. Other versions of this simple motor have you strip the varnish off the wire on only half of one of the wires. This makes the jump to understanding the commutator a little easier.
If you feel like getting the various materials together would be a hassle, you can always spend a couple of bucks on the Simplest Motor Kit. This would be good option if you want to send one to someone by mail. Though the included explanation book is said to be confusing, if you use it in conjunction with the video shown here, everything should be clear.
This video tells the story of Mark Lesek, managing director of Dynamic Welding and Engineering in Tasmania. In December of 2003, Lesek lost his right arm in a car accident. This left him in need of an artificial arm. The difficulties associated with getting an artificial arm were monumental on every front -- medical, political, financial and technical. A man with great determination and considerable mechanical knowledge, Lesek decided to make his own arm based on historical designs. His patent searches revealed some incredible designs. To these he added his own innovations and together these have led to advancements that will be of benefit to millions.
His statement at the end of the video are words to live by:
It doesn't matter if it's a bike, or an arm, or your life: if you can take it apart, if you can understand it, you can make it better.
You can follow Mark Lesek on Google+, learn more of his story, and stay up to date with what he is up to.
Think prosthetic limbs are off-topic for this blog? Think again. All of the same mechanical components that we marvel over in automata and robots maybe be found in some of the sophisticated artificial limbs. There is a long history of automaton-makers working on and developing prosthetic devices. One good example is Jean Frédéric Leschot. Leschot, the adopted son of Pierre Jaquet-Droz, assisted in the construction of the three masterpiece automata known as The Writer, The Musician, and The Draftsman. Later in his career, he also made artificial limbs using the knowledge he had obtained from making complex life-size automata.
It's here! Gizmos & Gadgets is a the new magazine that features my article showing you how to make a wood automaton from start to finish.
The magazine is a special edition issue put out by the publishers of Scroll Saw & Woodworking Crafts magazine.
About Gizmos & Gadgets:
From mechanical marvels to marvelous marble machines, Gizmos & Gadgets has something for everyone. From the simple to the complex, from the decorative to the functional, this issue will get your creative gears turning and your pride beaming when you see the smiles these hand made treasures will bring to the faces of those around you.
How would you like to wake up in the morning at just the right time to the sound of a beautiful birdsong? That was the idea behind Bird Song with a Found Feather by artist Martin Smith -- to create a mechanically-operated slide whistle that can be set and activated to go off at a specific time.
The piece as described by Martin Smith:
I wanted a piece that could be set, as with an alarm clock, and would allow you start the day gently. I am interested in producing mechanical bird sounds and seeing the cause and effect through a mechanism. For me the making is very important and I wanted to craft every part of the machine, to understand how the bellows are constructed and operate and to get the bird whistle sounding just right.
The piece is made of steel, brass, fabric, custom electrics a feather, and is powered by a 12v motor. It is a beautifully crafted machine with big brass cams. The feather (shown at right) is attached to a long wire coming from the top of the bellows.
Laikingland will be exhibiting this and other new pieces by Maarten Baas and Martin Smith at Mint as part of the London Design Festival 2012.
What:
Mint presents A Spatial Surprise
When:
September 14th to September 30th, 2012
Where: Mint
2 North Terrace
Alexander Square
London SW3 2BA
For information on price and availability you may contact the Laikingland team at enquiries@laikingland.co.uk
Yesterday's post was officially the 2,000th post ever published toThe Automata Blog! That's over 6 years worth of (almost) daily posts about automata, books, videos, plans, toys, exhibits, tools, and artists. Here are some ways you can explore the posts on this blog:
Use the Archives
The archives are located midway down the page in the site sidebar on the right side of the page. This is a chronological list (newest to oldest) by month. Each link will open all the posts for the selected month. Be patient; the page is loading 20 to 30 posts at once. This is a great way to stumble upon interesting random things.
Use the Labels
One or more labels are associated with each post. These are the links found just below the gray horizontal line at the very bottom of each post. Usually they are just a word or two. They are assigned when the post is written. They are a good way to search for items that have some quality in common. It's a loose form of cross-referencing. Labels are really good for finding all posts related to a specific person.
Use the Search
The search box is located in the upper section of the site sidebar on the right. The search is powered by Google, but will only search within the posts on The Automata Blog. Just enter a term and hit the gray button that says "Search". You will be directed to a new page that contains all of the search results. This is a good way to find very specific things.
I hope you will take some time to explore the blog. The posts are typically short, so you can see a lot of new things in a short time. I appreciate your visits and your support. Have fun!
Cabaret Mechanical Theatre's recent summer exhibit in London was a great success, with over 10,000 people visiting the exhibition at Space Station Sixty-Five. They have just announced that there will be a second free exhibition in the same place.
Sausage Drawer by Paul Spooner
If you missed the first show, check out the video above, but more importantly, visit the upcoming show to a new selection of automata. As with the last show, there will be a shop to accompany the exhibit selling books, cutouts, kits, and automata. Until then, here are some links to books, cutouts, kits to tied you over.
Shown here is a photograph of Paul Spooner's classic automaton titled Sausage Drawer.
Details for the fall CMT exhibit
What:
CMT at Space Station Sixty-Five - Part 2
Where:
Space Station Sixty-Five
65 North Cross Road
London, SE22 9ET
When:
September, 2012 to January 2012
Thursday to Sundays 11 AM to 6 PM
Closed Mondays, Tuesdays, and Wednesdays
Here's a short video featuring a nifty donation box installed at the Havant Arts and Heritage Centre.
A visitor/donor drops a coin into the machine and turns the hand crank. The coin is deposited into a small carriage mounted on a belt system. Turning the crank raises the coin to the top of the box where it is sent down a track. From there the coin falls into a waiting hand which, having caught the coin, tips over to drop the it into the next hand. It's a nice symbol of giving and how many small contributions can add up to something substantial.
Several people have been kind enough to send me a link to this video of a HUGE model railway. Though millions have already seen it, I think it's appropriate to post it again here in the name of completeness. So, just in case you somehow missed it, prepare to be amazed by The Wunderland.
From the video description:
The Miniatur Wunderland Hamburg, the largest model railway in the world, and one of the most successful tourist attractions in Germany. On the 1,300 square meter layout, more than a thousand trains, aircraft, cars and ships move about. A wonder of the world in miniature.
The Miniatur Wunderland includes an incredible level of detail. There are entire sections of the model that depict an airport, Switzerland, Scandinavia, America, Germany, Austria, and various regions in the Alps. Plans to add sections depicting Italy and France are underway.
Believe it or not, this is a model and NOT a photograph of an actual airport. Incredible.
