Paper Mechanism Multi-pack Downloads Kits

Rob Ives over at Flying Pig has created a pack of three models for one price.

If you are interested in paper engineering or paper automata, this is a great value. It's also a great way to break into automata, requiring few tools and relatively little time.

The first is the gear model that uses only cardboard to make a fully working mechanism with two gears.

The second model is a working set of bevel gears made completely from card-stock paper.

Pump the paper bellows on the third model and the rotor spins.

Head over the download section of Flying-pig.co.uk to check out this multi-pack kit and a ton of other well-designed paper automaton kits.

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Geneva Mechanism, Maltese Cross or Geneva Stop

The Geneva Drive is also called the Maltese Cross or the Geneva Stop.
The Geneva mechanism was originally invented by a watch maker from Geneva to prevent the spring of a watch from being over-wound.

The most common use of the mechanism is to convert a continuous rotary motion into an intermittent rotary motion. In operation, a drive wheel with a pin enters into one of several slots on the driven wheel and thus advances it by one step (or "station"). The drive wheel also has a raised circular disc that serves to lock the driven wheel in a fixed position between steps.
Historically, this mechanism is was often used in movie film cameras and projectors to increment the film one frame at a time. Many automata use the Geneva mechanism for various purposes. In my own piece, The Birthing Engine, I used a 4-station Geneva wheel to control the appearance of the four babies that emerge from the mother.

Here is an 3-D animation of a shifter system that uses a Geneva mechanism:The mechanism in the animation above is patented by Barloworld CVT Technologies and is used in their positive drive CVT as a ratio shifting mechanism.

Here are some books that show various forms of Geneva mechanisms:

• Five Hundred and Seven Mechanical Movements
• Mechanisms and Mechanical Devices Sourcebook
• 1800 Mechanical Movements, Devices and Appliances
• Pictorial Handbook of Technical Devices
• Machine Devices and Components Illustrated Sourcebook
• Cam Design and Manufacturing Handbook

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Wooden Gear Clock Plans: Clayton Boyer Designs

My recent post on a video about making a wooden gear clock drew some attention from the MAKE magazine blog. I received a several emails and comments asking where to get the plans for the clocks shown in the video.

I found out that the two clocks shown are both from Clayton Boyer Clock Designs. The two clock models in the video are the Swoopy and the Solaris. Shown here is the Vortex.

What exactly do you you get when you order these plans?
All of these clock plans are drawn in CAD and sent as paper patterns (no electronic files or transfers are included).

Included in the clock plans are full size drawings for most of the parts. All of the major components, like the wheels, pinions, and spacers are given as full size patterns. The drawings can be cut from the plans, glued to the appropriately sized stock, and cut to the line.

All of the clock plans come with a full set of instructions and a materials list. Each page also has instructions for each of the parts, and there are a couple of pages that show the completed clockworks.

Visit the Clayton Boyer Clock Designs for over a dozen different wooden clock plans.

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Video: So You Want to Make a Wood Gear Clock?

Here's a low-pressure introduction to making a clock from wooden parts -- gears and all. Along the way, you learn many important techniques that could be used for automata making as well as clock making. The narrator discusses tools, specific methods of work, and the construction process in general. The film gives you a good feel for what you are getting into if you decide build a clock of your own. Don't rush this one...save it for when you have a few minutes to savor this charming video.

You may also want to learn how to fix existing clocks, so take a look at Clock Repairing as a Hobby: An Illustrated How-To Guide for the Beginner

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Gear Toy: Superstruts Wacky Machines Set

Kazoo Toys offers building and construction toys from a host of toy makers. Shown here is the Superstruts Wacky Machines Set made by Waba Fun. This 175 piece building set includes 12 large gears and plans to build 7 models that include a clock, geared-down Ferris whee, a car that drills, and other fun contraptions.

Otherbuilding and construction toys offered at KazooToys.Com come from toy makers including:

• Building Blocks
• CoinStruction
• Cranium Super Fort
• Elenco Electronics
• Gears & Gearbotics
• Haba Toys
• Kapla
• K'nex Building Toys
• LINCOLN LOGS
• Magna Tiles
• Magz by Progressive
• Playmobil
• Quercetti Toys
• Rokenbok Construction System
• Taurus Toy
• Superstructs
• Zometool Building Systems
• Zoob Toys
• ZOOMORPHS

Find a wide variety of building and construction toys at KazooToys.Com.

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Reciprocating Motion from Rotating on Same Axis

One reader of The Automata / Automaton Blog wrote to me with an interesting question. He wrote:

"I'm looking for a simple mechanism to convert rotational motion to reciprocal motion along the SAME axis as the rotation, not perpendicular."

I decided to investigate potential solutions in one of my favorite books on mechanisms, Five Hundred and Seven Mechanical Movements. Below are some of the solutions I found listed by the numbers that appear in my copy of the book (Astragal Press, 1995).

• 95. Oblique disc imparting rectilinear motion to rod resting upon its surface
• 106. & 107. Uniform reciprocating rectilinear motion produced by rotary motion of grooved cams
• 136. Crown tooth gear with rod pressed against rim
• 143. Sliding worm screw and toothed wheel
• 165. Circular to rectilinear motion via waved-wheel (or cam)
• 167. Drum or cylinder with endless groove and follower
• 237. Crown-ratchet (driven by crown, not pawl)
• 272. Beveled disc with follower on its circumference.
• 351. Partially toothed pinion and rack with return mechanism

I have probably missed a few in the book, and there are certainly many more possible solutions.

Order your own copy of Five Hundred and Seven Mechanical Movements: Embracing All Those Which Are Most Important in Dynamics, Hydraulics, Hydrostatics, Pneumatics, Steam Engines...

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Featured Mechanical Artist: Jason Lane

Here is a piece by artist Jason Lane entitled Dragon With Flapping Wings.

He has created a series of mechanical sculptures ranging from hand-propelled works to a large scale human hamster wheel which generates electricity and plays old fairground organ music. Pretty cool.

Check out a portfolio of Jason Lane's work. Discovered via BoingBoing.net

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Automata Mechanisms and Pegasus Automaton

Here is a nice video of several useful automata mechanisms including a crank and piston, a ratchet, and a Geneva mechanism.

The latter half of the video features a beautifully done Pegasus. The piece appears to be driven by the music box movement. I am told that this piece is part of a collection on display in Guma, Japan and is by artist Minoru Takahashi Akira Murakami. Look at all those gears! Well done.

To learn more about making mechanical toys and automata, check out Making Mechanical Toys.

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Man Swatting Fly Automaton

The maker of this piece, Dave Johnson, says it is his first at automata. I've got to say...this is someone with some mechanical aptitude! Note the wooden worm gear and ratchet mechanisms: not the sort of thing one typically sees the first time around. I especially like the way the piece cycles and the great use of secondary motion created by free-swinging parts -- a great touch that adds a lot of life to the piece.

From the YouTube Description:
Since these crank-operated automata inherently cycle through their action, I liked the idea of a task that's never finished, like Sisyphus and his stone. But I didn't want it to be purely grim, so I chose Sisyphus as a young man, in a more pastoral and relaxing posture (perhaps after a picnic), trying to swat a pesky fly. And always missing.

The video of Little Man automaton is generous in showing the details of the mechanism. He also has a nice set of still photos (including sketches) of the piece on flickr.

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Paper Gears Hank-Cranked Automaton

This model captures the essence of mechanics and automata: the gear.

Build you own working bevel gear made entirely from card stock paper.

Print this model onto thin photocopier card then all you need to make the model are scissors, ruler, Elmer's-type glue and a sharp knife.

This is just one of dozens of excellent paper automata offered by Flying-Pig Paper Animation Kits. Cool stuff like a warded lock, air turbine, and combination locks can all be made with paper!

Click here to view more details

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Interactive Gear Template Generator

Matthias Wandel's excellent site has an interactive gear template generator "intended for generating paper templates for cutting low precision gears from plywood, phenolic, or other suitable materials with a band saw."

This elegant online tool allows you to input a handful of values to generate involute gears of various sizes and teeth. Most likely, you will want to check the "Two gears" checkbox and punch in the gear ratio (as number of teeth). You can then check that the values will create a gear pair that won't jam by checking the "Animate" checkbox. If you see the teeth of one gear overlapping the teeth of the second, you need make some adjustments.

This tool uses printer-friendly Flash. Use the on-screen "Print gears" button to print out only the gears and not the entire web page.

He even shows how to cut the wooden gears on the bandsaw.

Generate some gears to cut from wood using the Interactive Gear Template Generator. [via Make Magazine's blog]

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Gear Lab - Cool Gear Toy Set

The folks over at Edmund Scientifics have an interesting gear toy. The Gear Lab consists of a gears workbench, an assortment of pulley wheels and gear cogs, long and short axles, cranks, and a cord. The entire set is contained in its own storage box. Nice.

This Gear Lab looks like fun to me!

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Trevithick Locomotive Model with Paper Gears

Though not as well-known a name as Newcomen or Watt, Richard Trevithick was a British inventor and engineer who built the first working railway steam locomotive...in 1801!

Here's a great site that features a model of Trevithick's steam locomotive. The paper gears are very nicely done (as is the entire model).

You can see a gallery of the model and download .PDF plans to make it yourself (for a $5).

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Hand Cranked Marble Machine with Wood Gears

Matthias Wandel, the same guy that has one of the only detailed online articles about cutting wooden gears, has made an amazing marble rolling machine.

I don't normally post about rolling ball machines because they are a complete topic unto themselves with some great web sites fully dedicated to the subject.

This machine stands out for two reasons:

1 - It has wooden gears, so I HAVE to post about it.

2 - It is hand cranked like many automata.

Here's a link to the Marble Machine 2 page. I learned about it from the blog over at Make Magazine (my favorite).

Here's the video of the Marble Machine.

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Wooden Gears Supplier Online

I've been reminded by fellow automata-maker Dan Torpey over at Barking Dogs Automata that wooden gears can be purchased from Patriot Mill Cogworks in New Hampshire, USA.

I ordered some of these a few years ago, but had lost track of their website. I'm glad to have found it again and to share it with my readers.

The cherry gears I ordered have mineral oil finish and are still beautiful. Look closely inside my piece A Boybot and his Dogbot and you will see three of these gears. (This is only piece I used them on to date.)

Though their site features educational kits composed of wooden gears, axle pegs, and pegboards, I believe you can order individual gears, as I did.

Happy Cranking!

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Automata and Mechanical Toys by Rodney Peppe

I have said in the past that if you want to make a wood automaton, and can only get just one book, Automata and Mechanical Toysby Rodney Peppé is the book to get.

This wonderful book is currently available in hardcover at amazon.com for 31% off the regular retail price. This is a great deal.

The book is printed on fine glossy paper and is full of color photos (160 in all). The book profiles over 20 leading automata-makers, and provides step-by-step instructions for making an automata test-bed. There is also a section teaching you how to make ten fundamental mechanisms.

One of the best things about this book is that there are scale patterns to copy and use -- cams, gears, pin-wheels, ratchets, and even a Geneva mechanism.

Visit Amazon and use the Search Inside! feature for Automata and Mechanical Toys

Following as a close second, Peppé's book entitled Making Mechanical Toysshould also interest you.

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DIY Wooden Gear Cutting Indexing Jig

Here's an ambitious and clever woodworker who made his own rotary indexing mechanism to cut large wooden gears on his table saw. He's combined parts from a 1940s remote servo, a car odometer, his own wooden box, a calculator, and a lot of ingenuity.

It's a lot of work, but an impressive result. There's other cool woodworking related stuff on Matthias Wandel's site.

Here's the link to the Wooden Gear Cutting Jig project page.

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