Polar Bear
A #PaperAutomata Project
A new paper project to download and make. Crank the handle on the Polar Bear project and bring it to life!
The project comes as a downloadable pdf file with all the parts ready to print out onto thin card and a full set of illustrated step-by-step instructions. If you are a premium subscriber you can download the pdf from the end of this newsletter. Free subscribers can download the project from www.robives.com for £5.00 or equivalent.
Alternatively as a member of robives.com you can download the file there for free.
With my new book coming out soon I’m planning on running some workshops at bookshops, libraries and other suitable venue. One of the issues that I have come across in the past is the use of sharp knives. They are intrinsically dangerous especially in the hands of young children and they necessitate the use of cutting mats to protect the work surface. To overcome that problem I thought I’d have a go at creating a cam in a box that could be made with only scissors, ruler and glue.
The tricky part with cam powered projects is the need for a hole for an axle to run through. To get around this I made the box sides from two parts with ‘U’ shape cut outs that meet together so that the bottom of the two ‘U’ shapes join to make a circular hole.
This single piece is folded up and glued to make the complete box with the slots meeting together to make circular holes.
The cam design works in a similar way. Normally it would require a hole in the centre of the cam for the axle to pass through but by lining up two cut-outs back to back a scissors-only cam is possible.
Putting it all together makes a neat little box with a cam, a cam follower and a push rod. The finished box, which I had made in white card, reminded me a little of an iceberg so I thought I would add a polar bear!
