These past couple of weeks has gone by quickly. Painting takes focus, and then there is the drying time, which is both important and frustrating. After I reassembled, the drive mechanism proved unreli

Greetings from San Diego... Well, I've created three new videos. A brief introduction to 3 product spinning automata. Stair Stepping Bottle Spinner, a product spinning automata. Peddler #1, a product

I would like to publicly thank Marc for the 12 (and soon to be 13) issues of Automata Magazine. I have benefitted greatly from many of the articles. I'm a better person and automatist because of the m

Sudden stoppage of posts. Everyone OK? Ron

I was just reading Cecilia Schiller's article on the making of "Il Mago" in the last issue (Sept-Oct 2020), which is awesome, and she mentions using Williamsburg Wax for finishing wooden mechanical pa

Greetings from San Diego... I've created my stair-stepping bottle spinner. At this stage of the process it has been tested and it works It's hour meter reports approximately 15 hours of run time so fa

If I was building a telescope it would be "First Light" the first time light was allowed all the way through the telescope to the eyepiece or the sensor, or whatever. I'm not building a telescope so m

Greetings... This automata is the third in my "product spinner" series. This is the smallest one...with a turntable that is small...for use with a can or bottle. This first image shows the biped that

The crankshaft is completed with blanks cams, which are 80mm 6mm ply, attached to the shaft by a brass boss, secured by grub screws. A 12 V DC motor is coupled to the shaft. The motor drives a worm ge

I'll start by mentioning that I just ordered a Prusa Mini 3D printer. I've done a lot of research and believe that it will do what I need to do. That said...it's back-ordered 7 weeks. I'll receive it

Greetings... This past week I've been working on heads. Heads have been a problem for me I've tried carving them, I've tried buying them, I've tried Apoxy, and I presently am settled on Sculpey. The f

The body, and most of the control elements is completed. A "skeleton" will be added to give form to the body so the suit will sit properly. To follow next is the mechanism control cams, and the motor

Good evening... Peddler #1 is what I call a product spinner. I've spent the last week and a half worrying about the arm-waving mechanism. I started with magnets in mind. That didn't work. Then activat

Old saying I was taught a long time ago: You can have any two: Good|Quick|Cheap| and I've often found myself trying to achieve a reasonable balance. In my experience, the value of your time is often t

I've been wanting to create an automata that remembers COVID-19. I spotted this article this morning and I cannot get the idea out of my mind in terms of building an automata that demonstrates this id

I was revising Cabaret Mechanical Movement for the umpteenth time and saw this title in the bibliography. Learned it was printed in 1922, but the only ebook I could find is the one I've posted the lin

Like many of us, I'm fascinated by the writer and the draftsman found in these two links: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ux2KW20nqHU https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7ZiH7oF3OMM Are there any modern-d

Not being endowed with the " . . . creativity, invention, artistry, exception skill, and virtuosity. " Mr. Rudd specifies as necessary to advance the art of automata (Automata Magazine, Volume 2, Numb

Hi Ron... Thanks for purchasing and uploading. Looks complicated. Will try to digest later today. Mystery solved! Thanks again for the images! Cheers -Jim Coffee- one of the Automata Group Moderators

Hi everyone, I've always been fascinated by drawing/writing mechanisms and recently stumbled across "Teddy the Artist" made by Yonezawa: https://www.grandoldtoys.com/toydb_Detail.php?id=526 Videos in