This week we started putting our automatas together!
The first step was creating the outside box. We hot glued a top, left, right, and bottom that were similar to puzzle pieces. Then we added the follower, which was hot glued to the piston, and the cam, which was hot glued to the axel. The cam would spin on the axel, while the follower would be on top of the cam and would spin up and down, or in a circle depending on the shape of the cam. We are going to have something going on on top of our box, so we put a cylinder (cut up straw) to keep the piston in place.
Basically, when you spin the handle from outside the box, the axel turns, rotating the cam, which makes the follower either spin up and down or in a circle depending on the shape. The follower which is attached to the piston, powers whatever is going on on top of the box.
I am so excited to see how my automata turns out!!!!!