This instructable is a guide for making the 'complimentjesmachine'. But what is the complimentjesmachine? Well, this is a machine with the soul purpose of giving kids an experience to understand what receiving a compliment can do for the state of mind. But also, learn to experience the joy when you give someone else a compliment.

Today, we bring you the complimentjesmachine (compliment machine). Like we see on the picture, this machine is shaped like a hollow train and this is how it works:

A child enters the machine --> takes place in a chair that moves forward through the train --> while moving forward, the child receives compliments --> these compliments are:

A massage
A high-five
A complex pipe system that echoes the compliments inside the train yelled by kids outside the train
A spectacular lightshow
A polaroid picture which is given to the child

As the child comes out af the front of the train, he/she should have experienced a compliment-journey. It should be a boost for the self-esteem.

Step 1: Three Segments

Building the 'complimentjesmachine'

We can assembly the machine out of 3 segments of united parts.

--> The tunnel

1st base plate: aluminium
2nd base plate: multiplex
Sidewalls: OSB and multiplex
Curved top bars (rooftop): Multiplex

--> The chair + rail system

Racing chair from an old car
Construction under chair
Rails that guide the chair

--> The compliments included in the machine

High five system
Massage system
Pipeline system
Led system
Electric system

Step 2: The Tunnel (train)

Dimensions tunnel: 480 x 86 x 180 cm

Things you need:

- 2 x aluminium plate: 2500 x 1250 x 4 mm

- 9x OSB plate: 2440 x 1200 x 18 mm

- 2 x Multiplex: 2440 x 1200 x 18 mm

- Woodscrews

- 25 x L-brackets

First we lasercut the aluminium plate with the following dimensions. You can use this file for the dimensions.

(Drawing Aluminium plaat & file)

This will be the first base for the machine (notice we have 2 sleeves cut out that are destined for the rail system)
We build further on this plate.
We want to make a strong base.
Take the 2 multiplex plates and cut them in the following dimensions:

(Drawing wooden baseplate)

We connect the multiplex and aluminium plates to each other with screws. The aluminium plate is provided with holes to guide the screws in the wooden plate.

As these are connected, we can start building upwards.

For this we cut 4 OSB-plates in the following dimensions: 1360 x 2400 mm

(drawing OSB sheets 1)

And 2 OSB-plates in the following dimensions.

(drawing OSB sheets 2)

The OSB plates can be placed on the aluminium base. They will be attached using the L-brackets.
For these L-brackets we've milled slots in the wand and the woodenbase plate to make a better and more qualitive design.

(screenshot Aluplaat + wooden baseplate + 3 upstanding walls + L-ijzers

After this we should have a base plate and the upstanding side-walls. Also notice the double wall. This part will be used to hide al the electronics and other mechanisms that should be hidden from sight due to ethical and safety reasons.

The rooftop

Now we're going to make the top of the train cabin. This is a combination of ribs that connects the left wall with the right wall. There are 12 ribs, this means 6 ribs per OSB-plate.

The first ribs will be placed with 400 mm between each-other and then 380 mm between each-other (this is on the side where we have a radius in the contour.

Now we have almost finished the tunnel, but there are still a few more things we have to do.

Make the roof light-proof and closed by using thin multiplex or fineer. We use a thin material so we can just bend the plates in the correct form over the ribs and secure them with screws through the plate in the ribs. Make sure the plates don't crack so use washers to spread the force.
Put in the doors, these fit in the cut-out parts in the upstanding side-walls. We secure the doors with hinges. After all it's still a door. The dimensions of the doors are as following: (Drawing Door)
Now we have a tunnel but as we have installed doors, we have to close the other entrances. The back and front of the train will be closed. For the back we make an OSB-plate with the following contours:

(Drawing Back plate)

For the front plate it's somehow a little different because of the round contour we have to follow. Here we use a multiplex plate (thickness 3). Take a low thickness so it can bow a little without breaking. Dimensions:

(Drawing front plate)

To attach the multiplex front plate with the tunnel, we've milled a sloth in the OSB-side plates so we can shove the plate in the sloth. (It's recommended to do this at the end so we can still walk through the train with ease)

When all this is done the train-tunnel is ready

Step 3: The Compliments

2. The compliments

As mentioned before the compliments included in the compliment machine are:

1. Massage

2. High Five

3. Pipeline system for yelling compliments

4. Lights

1. Massage

First thing we come across on our journey trough the train is the massage. This massage is given by a person outside the train by putting his/her hands in 2 sleeves that go inside the train and give the massage. For this, we've cut 2 holes in the side plate.

The next step is attaching the sleeves.
Sleeves:

Take big rubber hand gloves with long sleeves.
Then cut two flowerpots so the diameter on the cutted side is more or less the diameter of the end of the sleeve of the glove.
Glue the end of the sleeve on the flowerpot and attach the end of the pot on the holes by using rivets.
Make sure the gloves are properly oriented so the massage can be qualitative.

2. High Five

For the high five, we've also cut out a little square piece in the OSB-side plate.
The high five is a 3D printed hand in ABS and the arm is made from wood.
Attach the hand to the wooden arm and stick it through the hole.
Make sure the length is long enough so another child can manually move the high five.

The arm will be attached on the inside with a hinge.

3. Pipeline system

For the pipeline system, we've also cut out 6 holes in the side-panels. Here we place PVC-pipes from the outside to the inside. On the inside we puzzle the pipes with the purpose of making a construction of PVC pipes that cross each other. This will make an echo-effect in the train. The more complex the pipe circuit, the more awesome this will look.

4. Lights

We place led lights on the inside of the train against the roof for an enchanting effect.

Step 4: Chair and Rail System

The chair and rail system includes:

Chair
Motor for opening and closing a gate
Motor arm

This is how it works:

--> make a chair with the following dimensions

(dimensions chair)

Notice there is a compartment under the chair for placing the motor. The gate-arm will be attached to the motor and the back-plate of the train. So when the motor turns, we get pushed away from the back straight to the front of the train. The rail system: The sides of the chair will slide in the sloths we've milled in the ground plate. On the bottom of the sides of the chair we place wheels. So a smooth and silent way of moving through the train is created.

stoel voorbeeld.prt
Download

Step 5: NX Files

We also provide the NX-files for lasercutting and CNC

Step 6: Exploded View

Here we can see clearly how the machine is made.
Also, notice the train view we created in Illustrator. This image is made on the accurate dimensions of the train and can be printed on a sticker. In case this is too expensive, a good alternativ would be painting it by hand.
Just make sure the lines are straight. This effect can be achieved by taping parts at a time off.