Automaton Time! : Part 2

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Hey again guys! Today I'll show how I made my automaton. Near the end of the post, I'll have a video on how it works.

For the frame, I needed...

- Tall support piece
- Short support piece
- 2 side wall
- Cardboard brace
- 7 cardboard spacers
- Cardboard locking piece
- 8 sticky foam squares

I needed to lay out the tall and short support piece so the slits in the pieces faced out. Adding a piece of sticky foam under each notch in the wood, I flipped the tall piece over and attached side walls to it. The foam keeps the pieces in place. After the tall support piece was added, I put in the cardboard brace in between the side walls, then I added the small support piece. Taking seven cardboard spacers, I put them through the vertical slits in the side walls. To make sure the spacers stayed in the slits, I turned the frame around and attached them all with a cardboard locking piece. The next part of the automaton was the crank.

For the crank, I needed...

- Wood crank piece
- 6 wood cams
- 12 rubber O-rings
- 4 sticky foam strips
- Completed frame

Turning the automaton back around again, I slid the crank piece through the hole at the bottom of the short support piece. To make the part of the automaton that moves up and down, I slid a O-ring to the closest notch near the handle. I had to also slide a cam facing down and another O-ring through the crank to the first O-ring. Repeating the steps, I alternated in between cams facing up and down until I got all six cams on the crank. The O-rings keep the cams on the crank. Finding two wide notches in the crank, I sandwiched the notch closest to the last cam with two sticky foam strips. To keep the crank on the automaton, I slid the crank through the other support piece and sandwiched the other wide notch with the other two foam strips. I just needed to add the stairs and the chute and the automaton will be complete!

For the chute and stairs, I needed...

- Almost complete automaton
- Stair pieces
- Clear stickers
- Chute
- 2 sticky foam squares

Making sure the stairs all slanted to the left, I ordered the stairs from biggest to smallest from left to right. Adding a sticker on the bottom of each stair, I slid the stairs into the automaton and on the stairs. Taking the chute and adding a piece of foam above each notch, I slid it in the slits in the automaton. THE AUTOMATON IS COMPLETE!!!! Here is a video on how it works.



As the crank turns, three of the cams go up while the other three go down, and vice versa. The way the stairs are positioned makes the balls fall down the stairs, instead of go up them. It's a really cool automaton!

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I hope you enjoyed this post about my automaton. If you did please like and comment. I'll see you in the next post. Bye guys! <3
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Automaton Time! : Part 1

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Hey guys, welcome to another post. Today I'm talking about my Automaton tinker lab.

Did you know that Automaton stands for "self moving?" Automatons have been around for many years, like the "Jack-in-a-Box." Whenever you turn the crank, you can hear a clicking sound in the box. That's the sound of the turning gears and cams. After a certain time, the jack will pop out! That's the work of an automaton genius! Let's see some more Automatons.

HANDWASHING AUTOMATON

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The hand-washing automaton was made in 1206 by a man named Al Jazari. The automaton looked like a woman beside a basin of water. If you switched it on, the basin would empty out all the water and the woman would refill it with a water pitcher. Do you know how Al made the basin empty out the water? He made a flush mechanism just like the mechanism in our modern toilets. Al Jazari was a genius!

This is the flush mechanism for the
automatons.

THE PLEASURE GARDEN

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In the 1200's, Robert II, added a place to his castle known as "The Pleasure Garden." There were many automatons, like monkey marionettes, a self-playing organ, mechanical birds, and many more things. The pleasure garden lasted until the 15th century before the English army destroyed it. If it survived until today, what do you think it would be like?

DA VINCI'S MECHANICAL KNIGHT

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In 1495, Da Vinci had made a mechanical knight. The knight had a suit of armor hiding a complex set of cogs, cams, pulleys, and other things. It could stand up, sit down, and move it's head. Cool!! Da Vinci was a genius!

THE DIGESTING DUCK

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The Digesting Duck was made in 1739, by a man named Jacques de Vaucanson. Somehow the duck was designed to eat pieces of grain and somehow defecate it. ( Gross!) Voltaire, a famous writer once said....

"Without the duck of Vaucanson, You  

would have nothing to remind you of  

the glory of France." 

...France is definitely inventive, perhaps glorious too.

Thank you Vaucanson!

MECHANICAL TURK

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 The Mechanical Turk was made in 1769, by a person named Kempelen. (Last name unknown.) It was a chess playing master and amazed crowds with it's chess skills. Later in the 19th century, people found out it wasn't an automaton at all! The Turk was just a machine operated by a chess master hiding inside it! In 1850, it was destroyed in a fire.



 This is a recreation of the Turk.
It was designed so someone
 could sit under the table
to play chess. TURK JERK!

THE CUCKOO CLOCK

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No one knows when the first cuckoo clock was made. Cuckoo clocks had an automaton bird in the clock that would move and/or flap it wings and sing on the hour. It must have been very complex clockwork. No one knows when the tweeting timepiece was invented. I always wanted my own cuckoo clock.

People still make and celebrate automatons today, like dragon automatons having tea! I think it's weird. Which automaton is your favorite?

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I hope you liked this post where I talked about different automatons. If you did, please like and comment. In the next post I'll talk about my automaton blueprint. Bye guys! <3

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9th Tinker Crate

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Hey again! Hope you enjoy my video!



Hope you liked the post! Please like! See you in the next post! Bye! <3
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Making Electricity: Part 3

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Hey again! In this post I'm going to talk about going "off the grid."

 

GOING OFF THE GRID

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 Over 1/5 of the world's population has no electricity. We can help those people by making things that don't need to be powered by power-lines or power-plants. Here are some ideas.

IDEA #1

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 If only you had the power for a computer without cords and power-lines. An answer is a pedal powered laptop!! This idea is from an organization called "One Laptop Per Child." Their mission is to make a laptop for many kids around the world that don't have  electricity. The organization is making these laptops so those kids can be empowered through education.

As you turn the pedals, it generates electricity to power
 the computer. That way, kids have the power of
learning in their hands!



IDEA #2

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Did you know there's a company that makes toys that generates electricity while you play with them? The company is called "Uncharted Play."  This company makes toys that require motion to make electricity, like a soccer ball that can work as a charger or lamp!




As you play with the ball, it makes
energy so you can use it for
many things! Cool, huh?

IDEA #3

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The last idea for this post, a hand-crank fridge. This idea was from a man named Rogers Feng. This type of fridge is for keeping vaccines cold. If you turn the crank for a certain amount of time, it will keep the medicines cool. Please post in the comments which idea you like best.

This is the design for the hand-crank fridge.
With this fridge, you won't spoil any more medicine.

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I hope you enjoyed this post where I talked about going off the grid. Please comment which idea you liked best. Don't forget to leave a like! I will see you in the next post. Bye guys! <3
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Making Electricity: Part 2

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Hello again guys! Today I'm going to show how I made my hand crank flashlight.

First, I want to talk about the breadboard. The breadboard is for connecting circuits with wires and diodes and other things. If you wanted to connect a light and wire together in line 1, put them both in line 1 in any of the 5 holes. There are at least 7 vertical lines in the breadboard. The breadboard is very important for the flashlight.

This is the breadboard. Each 5 holes
in a vertical line is connected together.

I had to attach one red and one black wire to a motor. Then I attached the red wire to line 1 and the black wire to line 7 in the breadboard. I had to do the same thing with another red wire and black wire. I connected the other two wires not attached to the motor to an LED light. For the crank, I slid a binding post through a plastic part of the crank. I also slid a rubber ring and rubber cap onto the binding post to make the handle for the crank. To make the flashlight work, I attached the crank to the motor shaft.

I didn't get to make the outside of the flashlight yet. I had to make the circuit work for two LED's. I moved the red wire connected to the LED from line 1 to line 6. Then I connected a resistor to line 3 and line 6. I took my diode and connected it to line 1 and line 3. I had to test the circuit before I added the capacitor. Then I connected the capacitor to line 3 and line 7.
To have two LED's, I removed the black wire from the LED and connected it to a second LED. I also attached a yellow wire to both the LED's. THE CIRUIT IS COMPLETE!! All I had to do was attach the circuit to the flashlight box, close it, and test the flashlight.


In order to have the crank outside the flashlight box, I took off the crank and stuck the motor shaft into the large round hole in the box. The tabs lined up with the small round holes and attached the tabs on the box with brads. To make the crank better, I took a sticky foam circle and attached it to the side of the crank with the handle. I also attached another sticky foam circle, this time with a slit, to the other side. Flipping the box over, I attached the crank back on the motor shaft. Adding two sticky foam strips on the bottom of the breadboard, I flipped the box over and stuck it on the box so the pegs were in the holes above the window.

Right next to where the breadboard is, there were slits for the LED's. I took the LED's from the wires, put them in the slits on the box, and reattached them to the wires. Bringing the bottom panel up, I attached a hook Velcro strap to the top panel and a loop strap to the bottom panel. Folding the top panel inwards, I attached them together and folded the rest of the flaps in. The last thing I did was put a tinker lab sticker on it to keep the handle from hitting the box. THE FLASHLIGHT WAS DONE!!! It's way better than my stemist kit flashlight!

Here is my flashlight in all of it's
glory! Cool, huh?

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I hope you liked the post about my flashlight. Please like and comment if you liked the flashlight! See you in the next post. Bye guys! <3
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Making Electricity: Part 1 (The Current War)

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Hey again!

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Let's talk about something that people known throughout electricity history! You know what it is?
THE BATTLE OF THE CURRENTS!!!!!! Nicola Tesla VS. Thomas Edison! Who will win the battle?


Here is some history about how the battle started.
Thomas Edison was known for creating the light-bulb. He also made a power system. He created Americas first direct current (DC) power plant in New York City in 1882.

 At the time, people thought that electricity was scary. Edison decided to make something to make people see that is wasn't scary. He hired somebody to tap-dance on an electrified floor. When the dancer touched the floor, the light-bulb hat on his head lit up!

In 1884, Nicola Tesla came to New York. He asked Edison if he could improve his design. Edison said he would give him 50,000 dollars (That's a million in today's money.) if he was successful. A few months later, Tesla finished the improvements he promised. Instead of giving Tesla the money, Edison just said "Tesla, you don't understand our American humor." It was all a joke! Instead, he offered 10 dollars a week in his salary, but Tesla was so furious, he quit his job.

Edison's popularity grew as he gained more and more customers, but there was a problem with the system. If you were within range of the power plant, you would have had enough power for your house. DC loses power over long distances. If you live in a house a little more than a mile away from the plant, you wouldn't have enough power for an electric toothbrush!! (Too bad there were no electric toothbrushes back then.)

Nicola Tesla decided to take on DC. How did he do it? WITH ALTERNATING CURRENT!!!!
Instead of flowing in one direction like DC, the current alternates in zigzags(Hence the name AC.).
In 1888, Tesla invented and patented an AC motor and power system. The WEMC (Westinghouse Electric and Manufacturing Company) hired Tesla to make AC motors. AWESOME!!!
That wasn't good for Edison, so he decided to make up  rumors about bad accidents with AC. He even told people to use word "Westinghoused" instead of "electrocuted." The worst part was, he shocked stray dogs and cats with AC to show how dangerous it was too! (HE'S A BIG, BIG JERK!!!!)
He was kind of right about how dangerous it was. He was wrong about one thing. When AC reaches a home to power it, it's safe to use.

Alternating current didn't have much popularity, but the advantages were hard to ignore. 5 years later, Tesla's AC system beat Edison's DC system. Tesla made a power plant at Niagara Falls that made AC power. It was the first plant that used water to create electricity. was worth tons of money to build the power plant. In 1896, Tesla flipped the switch and the plant was powered! Years after, people were using AC in New York for years! AC WON THE BATTLE OF THE CURRENTS!!!!

AC may have won the battle of the currents, but we use AC and DC power everyday. Any electronic devices use DC. Computers, TV's, and other things have AC adapters in them to turn AC into DC to work. After the battle of the currents, Edison and Tesla never worked together again. They were both geniuses everyone will remember.

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I hope you enjoyed this post. If you did please like and comment. In the next post I'll be talking about my hand-crank flashlight. Bye guys! <3 ^_^
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8th Tinker Lab

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Hey again guys! Today I have a new Tinker Lab about making electricity! I hope you enjoy the video!

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I hope you enjoyed the video. If you did please like and comment. Bye guys!
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