Idea Machine

After my dad (a talented steel sculpture artist) taught me MIG welding 101, I set off to find a project that would stretch my new welding legs while letting me explore my love of mechanical engineering. A hard mix, I would soon learn.

I quickly got inspired by steel artists who make cam-and-follower-driven automatons. The more I chased an idea, the more I fell for the idea of searching for an idea itself. I landed on animating a figure who repeatedly gets an idea: he places his pointer finger on his chin, and a lightbulb emerges over his head and lights up.

The full list of challenges is too long to cover here, but a few of the main (and fun!) ones stand out. Achieving machine shop results with a hardware store drill press (drilling and tapping dead-center down a thin shaft). Getting the motor to interface smoothly with the steel frame, sprocket, and chain, so it drives consistent rotation without binding. Shaping the cams so the followers ride smoothly while hitting the exact movement I wanted (they are wood now but will eventually be steel). And engineering the arm linkages to achieve the hand animation while keeping everything stable (brass bushings are my friend).

The next big step is animating and activating the lightbulb. You can see a video below where I'm experimenting with software to figure out what kind of movement I can get from different linkage lengths and placements. I'm still not happy with it, and I'm looking forward to more problem-solving this winter when I'm home for the holidays.