Flapping Bat
#STEAMjunk project
The flapping bat is a new #STEAMjunk project for you to download and make. Last of the Halloween based projects for this year I reckon. The #STEAMjunk hash tag comes from the educational acronym STEAM, Science, Technology, Engineering, Art & Maths with the addition of ‘junk’ for the materials used in the projects. This project aims to bring together all the STEAM fields with the simple delight of making stuff from junk materials.
The project comes as a downloadable pdf file with parts, templates and step by step instructions ready to print out. If you are a paid subscriber to this newsletter you can download the file at the bottom of this page - thank you for your support! Members at www.robives.com can also download the project for free here. Non-members can also download the project for £5 or equivalent from the same place.
In this project the bat wings are held in position by the two vertical wires on either side of the cork. The body is then moved up and down by a push rod connected to the crank. Fine-tuning the length of a wire push rod can be difficult so in this project the push rod has a spiral section in the middle.
The spiral allows the length of the push rod to be changed. Stretch it out to lengthen the push rod of squish it down to shorten it. This allows the vertical position of the bat to be set accurately. In previous projects I’ve used a zig-zag in the wire for the same effect like the one seen here in the flying man project
Here the zig-zag can be bent to fine tune the height of the character on the end of the push rod. The zig-zag is easier to make but I prefer the look of the spiral section.
Another way of making the push rod adjustable would be to use a terminal block, Two wires rather than one, threaded into the brass block. Slacken the screws, adjust the length then retighten the screws to fix the push rod’s length.
I do hope that you enjoy the bat project! Did you notice the stick-on rhinestone eyes? I really like the way they catch the light and make the bat’s eyes flash!