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After coughing and hacking for a week or more I finally went to see my doctor to discover I have bronchitis! So i've been keeping a low profile, which really means not automata building. Anyway hopefully things clear up soon and i'll be back at it.
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Here's number two in the lockup. No paint yet! He will sit on the floor in the corner reflecting on his questionable behaviour, whatever that may be. In the office today working in CAD for the arrangement of the cams and followers for those in the actual lineup.  it wasn't what I set out to do when I started. I wasn't happy with my sketches of a character for the cell in the basement of the police station, so I chose to work on another character. This is what emerged. I just have to figure out what crime him and his accomplices could be accused of. Drunk & disorderly, unlawful congregation, found in a common bawdy house? Any other suggestions?  Here's the first character in the police lockup. It wasn't the first thought but when he appeared out of the block of basswood I found him/her irresistible! So here is the sheep. Their reason for being held has not been disclosed to me yet.  I've been working away on things for the "Lineup". I have roughed in the floor layer with the chain and rollers enclosed. The photo below shows the assembly.  I've been jumping around a bit, designing elements as I go this time. Shown below is a wobble plate that will impart motion to a prisoner in the police station basement. The follower is a ball as it is easier to fabricate than a tapered cone to follow the wobble plate profile.  Below is the rough-in for visualization of the jail cell.  Lastly I started working on the group of eyewitnesses to the crime for the conveyor.  Well the main drive part of the lower mechanism is coming along. A few setbacks when my printer somehow decided to adjust the scale of some of my templates. I didn't figure this out right away of course, but struggled with some misalignment before the light went on. The spider shaped support for the upper ends of the shafts I have nicknamed the platypus. In on of those, all alone, working in the shop all day, it suddenly occurred to me that it resembled a hieroglyph of a platypus. It has stuck. I'm working on the top works now. That's where i really discovered my scaling problem! Anyhow here's a photo of the progress of the lower part. Still a few cams and levers to add to animate the lineup characters and the still conceptual prisoner in the jail in the basement to add - maybe!  The wheel on the top left will have a shaft that extends up to the top level to drive the chain of chickens past the suspects. The lower mechanism converts a rotating handle mechanism to an intermittent motion to the chain.
After a little time away and time spent on CAD I'm back in the shop working on building the lower drive system for my current automata project, "The Lineup". You may notice in the photo a piece of Teflon. The pawl mechanism lays on it's side in this project and I needed something to support the pull arm and not create too much resistance to the motion. That's why I chose to add it. I also have a spring to keep the pull arm engaged with the pinwheel. Both these are elements that I try not to employ, but Gravity was in the wrong direction this time. Ah well I guess we all bend our principles sometime. Anyway here's a photo...  The video of the Dentist's Office Automata is up on my YouTube channel now. I'll be adding it to my website soon!
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Why Automata?Automata is a creative blend of my life interests , engineering, art and woodworking. Archives
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