Design challenge:
Build a moving cardboard model
🎯 Objective
Build a moving cardboard model of your choice, using gears and motors from the torch, and cardboard! This could be anything that you know has circular motion - a ferris wheel, a wind up bucket, a carousel turn table...
🔧 You will need:
- Battery pack
- Different sized gears (from torch)
- Screws (from torch)
- Scissors (not provided)
- Glue (not provided) or tape
- Card (not provided)
📖 Glossary
This is a component that spins when it is powered by electricity, turning electrical energy into mechanical energy to create motion.
🧪 Science background
In modern devices, most moving parts are driven by a motor. Motors, as we learnt while fixing the torch, use magnets and electricity to make them spin. No matter what kind of motion you want to achieve, in many cases it is best to start with a spinning motor and use mechanisms to convert that spinning into the motion you need!
Connect the motor
Attach the motor to the base plate of your cardboard model.
Work out which direction your model is spinning. This could be on a horizontal plane - like a carousel, or on a vertical plane - like a ferris wheel.
Step 1/3
Arrange your gears
Experiment with the order of the gears and arrange them in a gear train that gives you the desired speed for your model.
You can use screws to secure the gears in place.
Step 2/3
Create and attach your cardboard model
Attach the designed cardboard model to the other end of the gear train!
Step 3/3
📹 Tips for using the generator as a motor with gears