Tiny Cork Dragon
A #STEAMjunk project
A fun, cork based project for you to download and make. Take a few household items and some simple tools and make this delightful tiny dragon!
The project comes as a pdf download with fully illustrated step by step instructions and printable templates for the card parts
As always, paid subscribers to this newsletter can download the pdf files below, as well as all the projects from previous newsletters. Thanks for your support! You can also download the file at www.robives.com/project/corkdragon
The idea for the project came from an experimental mechanism. I was seeing what could be done using a zip-tie as a kind of leaf spring mounted on a cork and came up with this.
In this prototype I connected a wire crank to the glued-on zip-tie using a strong thread. I added the two coffee stirrer sticks on either side to keep the thread centred. I played around with the mechanism for a while, trying to visualise an interesting character that I could add to it. Seeing the swooping up and down movement of the zip-tie I settled on a dragon, I could fix the body to the zip-tie then use the relative movement between the cork base and the dragon to make flapping wings.
I replaced the two coffee stirring sticks with a ‘U’ shaped wire which works both as a guide for the thread and a mounting point for the two wing push rods. After that it was a case of getting the crank throw the right length so that the body moved up and down the right amount then putting together the final project. Even dragons can have googly eyes!
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