My son Nate has an uncanny ability to find things that fit my interest! From flutes to coffee roasting he seems to strike notes that resonate in my brain! (No, other kids, I am not saying that you don't resonate too!) We have chosen as a family to not buy birthday presents and we exchange names for Christmas presents, but sometimes we do give gifts, make things or promise dates. This year Nate did it again...
A few years ago we shared some web sites, pics and YouTube clips about amazing beach wind walkers called Strandbeests invented in 1990 by Theo Jansen of the Netherlands.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HSKyHmjyrkA
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZWK75_3S6Kg&list=PL199650F0D691ACD6
He makes most of his "beests" from PVC pipe, so that is right up my ally. Nate gave me a small, injection molded kit to make one of the incredible works of "engineering art".
Here is the kit and the parts laid out.
With all the pile, it seems quite daunting, but really there are just 12 legs made from 4 parts each and hooked to a frame with ties. Here are the 12 leg assemblies.
Once the legs are made, the frames are hooked to the crank shafts and then the legs are hooked on.
Once the 6 legs are added to each half of the "beest" the halfs are joined.
I got a little confused about finishing a leg set. I thought they were hanging the first legs on both crank sides and left off 2 of the tie rods! After I got the whole thing done it was sort of floppy... I figured it out, what with all the extra ties duh, and I was able to slip the missing rods in without taking anything apart. I also was having trouble with the slip together joints falling apart... that was much better once the movement was more limited by having all the ties installed.
Build the fan and add the gears...
I also had some trouble with binding at some points as it walked. The instructions advised the builder to verify the order of the ties on the cranks, so I checked them and sure enough there were 2 where I had the order wrong. Once I fixed that I could easily blow on the fan and watch the "beest" walk across the table!
I had hoped to build this with my 4 yo, but once I got it open it seemed clear that it was not a good project for him. However... I am pretty sure there will be PVC models scaled up from these plans! The little guy was installing bolts and nuts with me at 2, so I think he will handle that easily!
Thanks Nate!
Update 3/2/15... I had a dream about a "beestbike" that I made out of conduit pipe. I searched YouTube and found a few similar ones but then tonight, I stumbled upon this one... nailed it! Then... from the sublime to the ridiculous...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CzzAgVOsTKQ
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dOKabtU3fDk
Nois...
Update 3/6/2015... With almost forgotten CAD skills, being new to Google SketchUp and never having done an articulated model animation... I guess this did not turn out too bad! Now I can play with different configurations without needing to cut 120 pipes! (this shows one set of legs)
