Building Tips 2:

Q. Where do you get ideas for automata stories?

Ideas come from anywhere; sports activities, playgrounds, gardens, anywhere people are in action!  This skiing story came from the local news.

View the story at Kamloops This Week: Owl attacks skiers a Stake Lake

Q. Why is it necessary to always turn the crank clockwise and how do you prevent people from turning it the wrong way?

Turning the crank backwards can actually cause damage, so it’s important to fit a ratchet into the works.

In the skiing video above you can see how a ratchet is set against a gear and it won’t allow the cylinder to turn backwards.

Q. How do you create actions happening simultaneously, but at very different speeds?

 Gears and pulleys, depending on their diameters, can reduce or speed up an action.  In this video, EVOLUTION, you can see the ‘wheel of evolution’ turning very slowly. Watch the red dots on the gears.  

The fish, Tiktaalik roseae, is recorded as being one of the first creatures to crawl out of the ocean and develop legs. He’s not very swift or agile, but he is picking up some speed on the middle gear.  Evolution has brought us to present times, and humans have developed precise motor skills with rapid movement (and high tech devices to film ourselves.)

On the fastest gear, this nimble fellow, ‘TikTok’ Alek,  has some pretty impressive dance moves to show on his next TicTok posting! 

Q. How is the Tiktaalik able to move up and down as well as back and forth?

A double cam which uses 2 offset circles is the mechanism used for the Tiktaalik roseae. (See the third diagram below)

Q. What material is the Tiktaalik made from?

All of my animals, fish and birds are molded to shape with scrunched tin foil, then covered with Rigid Wrap.  It dries very hard and is paintable, but more importantly, it’s much lighter weight than clay.