A collection of 12 paper mechanism to download and make. Three of each of four types of paper project: Cams, Cranks, Gears and Compound Mechanisms.
Each one is a great starting point for your own character based paper animation or automata. Buy the pack and you’ll have a suitable mechanism for just about any situation! Find out more…
Members can download all the projects for free, thanks for signing up! Non-members can download the entire pack for twelve mechanisms (above) for £15 or equivalent. or the individual mechanisms shown below for £2.50 each.
Cam Box
Turn the handle in the Cam Box and the push rod protruding from the top of the box moves up and down. Vary the cam profile to vary the movement of the push rod. Use this model to experiment with how cams work or as the starting point for other character based models.
Double Cam
Two cams in a box with a pair of vertical cam followers Turn the handle and use the cams to tell your story!
Twister Mechanism
Turn the handle and the vertical shaft twists side to side. Great for a character shaking its head such as the bear shown here. .
Double Bell Crank
Two bell cranks connected to a central crank drive a pair of straps up and down. Make the model as an exercise in pure paper engineering or as the starting point for your own character based model!
Crank Slider
A basic crank in a box. Turn the handle and the push rod at the top of the box makes a smooth curved motion. An excellent starting point for all sorts of models!
Crank Box
Turn the handle and the slider on the top of the box moves back and forth. Connect up your character to the slider to bring it to life.
Mesh Gears
Turn the handle on the side of the box and the vertical shaft rotates driven by meshing gears.
Gear Up.
Turn the handle and the big gear with twenty nine teeth drives the smaller eleven tooth gear.
The small pinion is geared up by almost three times the speed.
This Essential Mechanism can be made as a pure mechanism or as a starting point for other character based automata.
Co-axial Drive
Turn the handle on this Essential Mechanism and the inner axle rotates ones way whilst the outer axle rotates the other.
Gear Crank
Turn the handle and the mesh gear drives the push rod protruding from the top of the box via a crank.
Crank Cam
As the handle turns the light blue centre push rod describes a smooth curve. Meanwhile, the dark blue slider moves up and down at a different speed driven by the cams in the box. This project is ideal as the starting point for a flying character where the arms/wings move at a different speed from the body.
Geneva Crank
Here’s an interesting mechanism for you to download and make. The main handle links to a four-step Geneva drive. The movement from this is an intermittent quarter turn rotation which is connected directly to a crank.