First one to be finished will be the last one I started. Last August I promised a friend that I would make her some motorized steampunk wings for Halloween. Well, I tried, but didn't quite finish on time. Don't worry, she was sick on Halloween so it didn't matter. ;) Then winter hit and my shed is not heated so work stopped. Now I have heat again (thank you sun,) I want to get back to work.
I managed to get a lot done before winter. Most of the structure and joints are complete.
Wings expanded. About 36 inch span. |
Wings in folded position. |
I made pillow blocks that support bearings on both sides. |
So what is left to do? I had to rethink the power system. Originally there was to be a motor mounted in the bottom of the center section that world turn a threaded rod. There was a block that moved up and down on the threaded rod and some bars that pushed and pulled... Well that all failed. The motor is a big 24v DC but it just did not have the torque. My leverage ratios were way off. The joints like to bind. It was sad.
So now that I have had a few months I think I can fix it and not have to rebuild the whole thing. I plan to add PFTE/Teflon washers to all the binding joints. The motor was originally to be mounted at the bottom but by flipping it and mounting at the top, I can push and pull the "elbow" joints. That would improve my leverage a lot. I still might have to get a new motor with a built in gear box. Now I just have to wait for my Teflon sheets to arrive.
Some more detailed images of the wings.
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