James Watt, the creator of the Solar Theremin, has another great kit that I am going to making for this weeks build. This time it’s a kinetic horse made of paper. The final horse is able to gallop, thanks to a small hidden motor inside.
This kit is a fairly easy build, but it does take a while to complete. I am not going to be documenting every step of the process this time. Why? Well, how many pictures do you really want to see of me cutting and gluing paper?
You can purchase the Kinetic Horse Kit on the Clockwork Robot website.
What you get:
Almost all the parts are supplied with the kit. The CD contains the patterns which can be printed on (10) pieces of card stock, and the directions, which I just read from my computer as I assembled.
What you need:
- Glue – White glue is perfect
- X-Acto Knife – Be careful when cutting!
- Screwdriver – small
- (10) Pages of Paper – Any heavy card stock will do
- (2) pliers – For bending wire
- (1) AA battery
- (1) Small ruler or straight edge
Step1: Let The Cutting & Folding Begin
There are a lot of parts to cut and fold. I decided to cut all mine out first. Remember to keep the parts you cut with the original paper it was printed on. The piece numbers are printed on it and some parts are very similar. Use some kind of straight edge to help fold straight lines.
Step 2: Making the legs
Making the legs is not too difficult, but there are 4 of them to make. Take your time and it isn’t a problem. Make sure to allow time for the glue to dry. I switched between the parts to allow one to dry while I worked on another. In some areas it helped to have a small screw driver to help push the paper down while the glue dries.
All 4 legs are done and I am going to let them dry over night.
Step 3: Making the gearbox
Once again, this is really easy and the directions are very clear. All you have to do is insert the gears as pictured and snap it together.
Step 4: Building the body
Again, follow the instructions. Cut, glue, cut, glue…etc.
A few more pieces and the head is done!
Step 5: Bending the drive wire
Make sure to hold the wire with (2) pairs of pliers. The directions show you exactly how to bend the wire. When you are done, just slip on a pair of legs on each side.
Step 6: Adding the power
The kit comes with a (1) AA batter pack, but I wanted more power. I decided to go through my parts bin and I found a nice little battery case that holds (2) AA batteries. This should make the horse really gallop! Also, the battery case has an on/off switch, which is a nice addition. I mounted it all to the bottom of the horse with double-sided tape so it is less visible.
Step 7: Testing
Make sure everything is turning smoothly. If it is hanging up anywhere, just push, pull, or bend it into shape. I had very little problems with mine, just a small adjustment here and there.
Extra: What, no tail?
The horse didn’t have a tail, so I added one. If you got this far, it shouldn’t be a problem to cut one out and attach it to the back-end of the horse.
This was a fun project, and I really like the results. You can buy one on the Clockwork Robot website.
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