Motorized Automaton for 4th July
Lady Liberty celebrates by shaking her booty, waving her flag and burger.
Video, description and detailed photos below....
Video, description and detailed photos below....
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I made this 5-foot high, motorized automaton to decorate our front yard for 4th July 2022 and terrorize passers-by!
I designed it using my animation software (Moho) because I can't face the prospect of spending months learning how to use a CAD program. It uses a similar mechanism to the dancer in Peter Markey's Guitarist and Dancer, although I've made the linkages vertical so that they connect to the crankshaft and motor which are hidden inside a box at the base. The box was assembled from two wooden wine crates!
The 5-foot high version was relatively easy to make because I'd made a small prototype first. The critical thing was to ensure the head/arm layer was well balanced. Fortunately, my design was pretty perfect in that regard. Another key was using a hand crank to ensure that everything worked well, with minimal resistance, before connecting the motor. I'd definitely recommend that to anyone who wants to build their own motorized automaton.
The motor is a Makermotor 12-volt, 50rpm model. I attached it to a transformer and a speed controller. I set the latter to run at about 30rpm, which seemed to be the sweet spot. It runs well, although I had to lubricate the main crank with graphite to stop some loud creaking!
The flag that Lady Liberty waves is allowed to pivot. This gives the automaton some extra, free, random movement which I approve of. The flags and hot dog on the base are driven by a brass rod that's attached to the leg layer. It would have been better if the hot dog rotated more by using a similar pivot system to the flags, but I ran out of time.
I painted this the old fashioned way; a coat of Liquitex heavy body acrylic paint on a base of gesso, followed by several layers of diluted Liquitex soft body paint which I dabbed off to soften the edges.
I'll let you decide what the burger is made from based on your religious or diet preferences!
This is the first motorized contraption I've made and it's given me confidence to make one for Halloween 2022. Stay tuned to see that!
I designed it using my animation software (Moho) because I can't face the prospect of spending months learning how to use a CAD program. It uses a similar mechanism to the dancer in Peter Markey's Guitarist and Dancer, although I've made the linkages vertical so that they connect to the crankshaft and motor which are hidden inside a box at the base. The box was assembled from two wooden wine crates!
The 5-foot high version was relatively easy to make because I'd made a small prototype first. The critical thing was to ensure the head/arm layer was well balanced. Fortunately, my design was pretty perfect in that regard. Another key was using a hand crank to ensure that everything worked well, with minimal resistance, before connecting the motor. I'd definitely recommend that to anyone who wants to build their own motorized automaton.
The motor is a Makermotor 12-volt, 50rpm model. I attached it to a transformer and a speed controller. I set the latter to run at about 30rpm, which seemed to be the sweet spot. It runs well, although I had to lubricate the main crank with graphite to stop some loud creaking!
The flag that Lady Liberty waves is allowed to pivot. This gives the automaton some extra, free, random movement which I approve of. The flags and hot dog on the base are driven by a brass rod that's attached to the leg layer. It would have been better if the hot dog rotated more by using a similar pivot system to the flags, but I ran out of time.
I painted this the old fashioned way; a coat of Liquitex heavy body acrylic paint on a base of gesso, followed by several layers of diluted Liquitex soft body paint which I dabbed off to soften the edges.
I'll let you decide what the burger is made from based on your religious or diet preferences!
This is the first motorized contraption I've made and it's given me confidence to make one for Halloween 2022. Stay tuned to see that!
