Laser-cut wood clamp for fusing your own belts with urethane belt material

Did you read my latest automton-making tips article? If not, it shows you how to fuse urethane belt material to make belts of any size for your mechanical projects. The method desribed works well and is much, much cheaper than purchasing a belt welding kit made for the job. Still, the method I present could be improved. Probably the trickiest part is pressing together the two ends of the just-melted belt material. If you are just a little off, or the ends slide, you will end up with a lumpy belt.

Michael Henriksen over at BustedBricks.com read my article and came up with a way to clamp the belts during the process. He's now offering a laser-cut wood clamp kit for a very reasonable £6 or about $9.00. Not only does it make holding the belts easier, but his new clamp allows you to use a soldering iron to melt the ends of the belting. Here's a shot of the clamp in action.

As you can see from the photo, the clamp makes the process easier and more consistent. It also allows you to use a a tool that many people already own or can get very easily. Check out this selection of soldering irons if you don't already have one. A basic model will do, though you might consider getting more than one tip and dedicating one to melting belt material.

Here is where you can get the new welding clamp for polyurethane belts.

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How to make your own pulleys and belts for small mechanical projects

The latest installment of my quarterly column, Dug's Automata Tips, Techniques and Tricks is now live on the Cabaret Mechanical Theatre site. To celebrate two full years of Tips, we'll have some fun with pulleys and belts. I show you exactly how to make small wooden pulleys for automata and other small mechanical projects, drawing on my previous article on How to Cut Wooden Circles for Your Automata Projects. I also show you what an O-Ring Splicing Kit looks like and how you can use one to create belts of any size to go with your pulleys. This should be all the information you need to start using pulleys and belts in your projects right away. I hope that it proves useful to readers.

Here is where you can read Dug’s Automata Tips, Techniques and Tricks No. 9 on Making Pulleys and Belts for Automata Projects.

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Get the "thumbs up" for any achievement with the turn of a hand-crank

Back in September, we had a sneak peek at the prototype of Brad Litwin's new MechaniCard titled Thumbs Up. The final version is done and here's the video to prove it. It looks even better with the final artwork.

Who would think that from a flat surface, a hand could rise, curl its fingers, and then raise its thumb -- all from the turn of a small hand crank? The mechanism is gorgeous, compact, and full of interesting components: gears, pulleys, belts, springs, strings, hinges, pivots, slides, and linkages. This one is shown with the optional display base.

Have you done something good lately? Do you know someone else who has accomplished something worthwhile? They deserve one of these.

Here is where you can see the full line of MechaniCards.

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