The Halloween Machine ...

Recently we've been showing the kids how things work, and how things are made and I was trying to explain to the kids what cams are, and how they are used in engines and in other types of machinery, I wasn't convinced I was explaining in a way that they would understand.

I've worked with machinery/engines of various sorts since I was 15 and because of that I sometimes forget that I might need to simplify things a little, so we built The Halloween Machine, which uses cams to animate a Halloween type scene.

It's made of wood, and although it's not very precise I have taken some care with it, other wise it wouldn't work properly, there's a video of it in action at the end of this, it shows it working in the dark and in the light so you can see how the cams work.


Here's what it looks like in the dark and back lit -

Spooky.

It has to be said I got a little carried away with it, but it turned out well, and it's a good demonstration of how cams can be used to turn rotary motion into liner motion, this is basically how the valves in a car engine work, they are operated by cams, these open and close the exhaust and air inlet valves.

The first thing I did was to make a cam template, to do this I marked out the centre of a piece of wood and then using a hole saw I marked out a slight circle on the wood, next I marked lines either side of the circle and then marked lines from each edge of the circle, then I cut out the shape on my scroll saw.


Here's a few pictures to show you what I did -

Centre line marked out.

Circle and hole made with hole saw.

Lines marked either side of circle.

Basic cam shape sorted.

Once the template was done all I needed to do to make the other cams was to drill a hole big enough for the dowel I used as a cam shaft (I used 9mm dowel) and with the template on the dowel I just pushed it into the hole and drew round it.

Here's how - 

Off cuts come in handy.

Just need to draw round it.

I originally wanted 3 cams, but ended up with 6 small cams for the bats and a larger one for the witch (see what I mean about getting carried away?) so once I'd got enough cams for the bats I needed to make them all the same size, so I put all 6 cams on a piece of dowel and then sanded them until they were all the same.

Like so - 

Cams ready for sanding.

Seems I wasn't very careful when I cut them out.

  

All sanded and virtually identical.

Next I drilled a small hole in each cam, the reason for this is because once I had the cams where I wanted them on the shaft I didn't want the moving about, so once they were right I used the holes I'd already drilled as a guide and drilled into the shaft, then used a small peg to lock them in place.

Locking holes drilled - 

Cams done.

On to the box to hold the cam shaft, this is basically 4 bits of wood with a hole drilled in each end for the cam shaft to fit through.

Making the box - 

The 4 parts ready cut.

Centre of each end marked.

Fixing holes and cam shaft holes drilled.

Box finished.

The box that holds the cam shaft and the bat and witch figures is really simple to make, once I had it fixed together I marked out and drilled 7 holes along one of the longer sides, these holes are where the posts that hold the witch and bats will sit, I made the holes 10mm and the posts that hold the bats and the witch are made from 9mm dowel.

Post holes marked and drilled - 

post holes marked out.

Post holes drilled.

Next I cut out the bat shapes, these I printed out and stuck to the wood I used, I did the same for the witch, but forgot to take pictures of that.


Bat shapes ready to be cut out -

Simple bat shapes.

The kids painted the bats using a water based black enamel paint, and the witch and the scene were also painted in the same paint, the graveyard and village scene are cut out from a thin piece of pine.

Painting - 

They did an excellent job.

And here's the finished article - 

Ready for action.

Here's a close up of the cams - 

The cam on the left is the one that drives the witch.

You can see that I've added a little wooden plate to the end of each post, this stops the whole thing jamming up, and you can also just about make out that the cam on the left has 2 metal parts either side of it, I had to add these to stop the post the witch sits on from turning round, she had a tendency to face the wrong way, the cam that drives the witch is also a different shape as we wanted her to have a different movement from the bats, which it has to be said are slightly erratic in their movements.

Here's a close up of those metal pegs, which are just bits of wire - 

A simple solution.

I also made a handle so that the cam shaft can be easily turned, I made this from a circle of wood I cut out with a large hole saw, then I drilled another hole in it and added a piece of dowel, and then I made a collar for the dowel.

The handle - 

Peg.

Circle of wood.

Finished handle.

I haven't included all of the steps involved in building this, but I plan to make another one, all be it a little less complicated to show how to make one, I think the kids get the concept of cams and how they work, and if not, well it's a fun thing to mess about with.

Here's the video of it in action, the first video is a little dark, we had some back lighting issues (mainly the lack of it) hopefully this should give you an idea of how it works.

The Halloween Machine - 

Thanks for reading.

Today day I made a snake ... ...

Just a quick post, and as the title suggests it's about a snake.

My son has a wooden snake that we got him last christmas, and my daughter has decided she likes it very much, which has resulted in some small arguments between the two of them, so in a flash of genius I decided I'd make another snake, and thus solve the problem.

Here's the snake -

It's not to scale ;-)

Okay so it isn't anatomically correct, but it is vaguely snake like, at least the kids thought so.

It's made from a piece of eucalyptus, which was basically the first thing I picked up, some string and a bit of red felt.

It was easy to make, I tried to get a bit clever by cutting the segments with a curve in each to make it articulate a little better, the head and tail I carved a little to a sort of snake like look.

To hold it all together I used some string, which I fixed into a hole I made in the head and tail ends with a drill bit, using a little glue helps make sure the string won't come out easily, each segment had a hole drilled through it so I could thread the string, then I put a knot in after each segment to help it stay together if it gets pulled at each end.

Another couple of pictures - 

Can you tell what sort of snake it is ? ;-)

It ended up with a kind of cheeky looking face.

After sticking all the segments together I drew a couple of eyes on it and made a mouth shape and stuck some red felt into it to create a snake type tongue, the felt may be a little large.

It's not meant to be an accurate model of a snake, it's a toy for my daughter, which she likes a lot, and as it turns out so does my son, so much so that he now wants a snake like this, and I've got to make another one, so I guess I did good, maybe a little too good, I think it's great though that in this day and age, with all the technology that's about my kids get enjoyment out of a few bits of wood and some string, why not have a go at making a wooden snake ? it's easy to do.

Instructions.

Just find a length of wood, maybe from a tree that's been pruned, you could even use a piece of wooden dowel from a diy shop.

Cut it into how ever many segments you want, making sure to leave slightly bigger segments for the head and tail, then drill a hole about an inch deep in the head and tail end, this will be where you glue the ends of the string to make it secure.

Drill holes through each of the remaining segments, you should use a drill bit slightly bigger than the thickness of string you plan to use, you can use a little sand paper to smooth any rough edges.

For the head and tail you can add as much detail as you like, I used a stanley knife to carve the respective ends into a vaguely snake like tail and head.

Then start putting it together, glue one end of the string into the tail part (or head, depending on which end you start with) then tie a knot in the string, try and get it as close to the wood, then thread the next segment and tie another knot, and so on until it's put together, then glue the end of the string that's left into the head or tail, which ever bit is left.

You can then make a small cut for the mouth, or just draw it on, along with the eyes, and once the glue has set you should have a pretty robust toy, if you prefer you can paint it what ever colour you choose, or just leave it with the bare wood.

Thanks for reading.

An English boy's home is his castle... ...

Well today was one of those day's, I had intended to go into the garden and carry on stripping the paint of the crib we got for our daughters dolls, however this was not to be, well not straight away.

After about half an hour of being outside we decided to open up the castle (yes I did say castle) it sits at the bottom of our garden, and was built with my own fair hands (well gnarly old hands) 

I built it 3 years ago now for my sons third birthday, and it's probably the best thing I've made, or at the very least it's the thing I'm most proud of.

He had always climbed into those plastic play house type things that some diy/garden centres sell, so I came up with the bright idea of building one.

I got a load of wood from our local builders yard, sheets of plywood and a load of 3x2, which I got cheap as it was old stock, and some big screws, and set about building the thing a couple of days before my sons birthday, which may have been a bit too close to be honest, but then forward planning isn't really my strong point :-)

The castle has sat un-used for the most part since his birthday, and today we decided to see what our youngest (2 years old) would make of it, as it turns out she loves it, so it may well get more use now ? I was surprised at how well it's weathered, to be honest I thought it may have suffered more than it has, I did cover it with a small tarpaulin just to make sure the roof didn't leak, even though I did take steps to water proof it.

It has some damp spots on the outside, which kind of adds to the outside look of it, but we will re-paint it with the grey coloured masonry paint we originally used (we actually had a colour made up for it) hopefully we will get it finished, I know, 3 years and it still isn't finished ! well the only thing left to do is to add some paint effects and maybe some bits of plywood around the door to make a stone kind of look, which are just extra touches really.


And here it is - 

Castle Mo.

It wasn't built from any plans, apart from the ones I had in my head for it, and basically it was built in 6 parts, those being the 4 sides, the roof and the floor.

The most complex part was the roof, which is essentially a wooden pyramid shape, and if I was to build another castle I would find another way of doing it, it was a pain to get it all lined up, but worth it in the end I guess.

The whole exterior of the castle was painted in a grey masonry paint, it's a textured one, which gave the thing an extra stone like feel, doors and windows were all cut out from the various sides and then fitted back in, and then I used an antique oak look wax we got from a pound shop, I also added wrought iron look fittings for the doors, handles and hinges.

Here's another picture, with one of my sprogs enjoying the castle.

Queen of the castle.

I had to include a drawbridge type feature, I had wondered about some kind of pulley so the kids could close the drawbridge, but decided against it in the end, I did have to add some steps to the drawbridge to make it easier for the kids to climb up, although as it turns out I had to make the steps larger as there wasn't quite enough wood for the kids to get their feet on.

Another picture.

King Mo.

If you look closely you can see one of the small windows I added to let some extra light into the castle, there's one on each side. but apart from the door and windows there is no other light source, so I'm thinking of converting a couple of solar powered garden lights to add some extra light inside when the door and windows are closed.

We chose a nice spot for the castle, it sits at the very end of the garden, by the pond, we've created a kind of grotto at the bottom that's surrounded by trees, it's nice and peaceful to sit there of an evening with a glass of something, or a cup of tea.

So if you want a good sturdy (this is very sturdy) and easy to make play house for the kids, why not build them a castle too.

I am working on some plans for the things I've built, and time depending I will eventually get them on here as well, so you can see how to build things like this.

Thanks for reading.