Release Mechanisms

Building release mechanisms came up frequently with students in my tech lab. They often wanted to create a release for Rube Goldberg type devices. I hate to admit that I was less than helpful. It wasn't an area of stregth for me. Since then, I've been exploring mechanical releases for a project I am working on and was pleasantly surprised to find this video from Make in my RSS feed that discusses two release devices ideal for heavy loads: a pelican hook or a panic snap.


Maker to Maker - Load-Release Devices on MAKE: television from make magazine on Vimeo.

[via Make]

[Image captured from Jamestown Distributers: http://www.jamestowndistributors.com/userportal/show_product.do?pid=14341&engine=adwords!6456&keyword=pelican_hook]

Egg Smashing Goldberg Machine

I'm a sucker for these Rube Goldberg machines. If you're trying to design your own machine, this video has at least a dozen possibilities you could adapt for your own contraption.

Catchy music too!




[Image captured from video: Creme that Egg: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vrCb_fNmSTA&eurl=http://www.blogger.com/post-edit.g?blogID=19364023&postID=983807203462776513

Make your own toys

I made one of these spool tanks when I was in Cub Scouts way back before they ever put a man on the moon. I believe it was one of the first things I ever built. It was fun to play with. It taught me some things about simple machines. I used a real knife to carve the notches in the spool and didn't cut off my thumb!

Mechanical Toys is a site that has directions for making a spool tank, a rubber band gun and a bunch of other cool toys. There are photos and diagrams for building most of the projects mentioned (some have a coming soon message). There are also links to other mechanical toy sites.

Now if I can only find a wooden spool in the junk box in my garage.

[Image captured from Mechanical Toys Page: http://users.bigpond.net.au/mechtoys/index.html]

Puppet Technology

My tech lab had a station dedicated to puppet building. Puppets are a fun way to experiment with simple machines. A puppet mouth is usually designed around a lever. Arms and eyes are usually controlled by a linkage of some sort. Marionettes and shadow puppets have pretty complex mechanisms controlling their movements.

I added this module after I co-taught a technology/art class in my middle school. I had the grand idea of a multi-disciplinary class built around building puppets and then using them as the actors in short videos. I had the opportunity to run this class once with a group of eighth graders. The logistics of it gave us the biggest headaches. Storage of puppets and props. Where to film. How to work multiple groups through scripting, puppet building, video production and editing. I think we could have worked it all out if the art teacher hadn't gone off to teach at the high school. (I don't think working with me drove her away? I'm a nice guy...a little odd...but nice.)

Anyway, after that experience, I was hooked using puppets as an educational doorway to the wonderful world of technology. I was pleased to discover this blog dedicated to puppet building and I've linked to a video from the site that demonstrates how to make blinking eyeballs.



Online Videos by Veoh.com
[Image Captured from Puppetmaking.com: Moving Eyelid Mechanism Video Tutorial:http://puppetbuilding.com/animatronics/moving-eyelid-mechanism-video.html]