New York Construction Worker

Last year I was asked to make an automata for a cruise liner on the theme of 'New York'. It had to be hand operated and funny. I remembered an old black and white photo I had once seen of construction workers taking their lunch break whilst sitting on a steel girder hundreds of feet above New York. I decided to use this image as my starting point. 

Step 1

I decided to use two movments. The worker would lift his sandwich to his mouth, his mouth would open, his arm would drop down again and he would appear to chew. This would be achieved by connecting the arm and mouth to two levers in the base, via thin string. The two levers would be operated by cams, round, slowly rotating discs of plywood on which imformation can be stored. The arm linkage was rather complicated but gave a good movment.

Comments

[wingnuts]

Can you please give a few measurements to give us a sense of scale? Or maybe a photo with your hand or dollar bill.

[playfulplans]

Fantastic, really enjoyed it!

Concept to execution to ible, strong work.

Kevin

[neologik]

your work is so much much beauty, i realy felt in love with it.
i'd become a fan of your work.

thx for giving the world these art, it shows all, that the brain could be used for some other thing than war, corruption and hate.

greets

[keith newstead]

Thank you very much

[stringstretcher]

Nice work! He looks like a Spooner...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8NDB5afkvXs
Here's one of mine.

[keith newstead]

very nice work

[calliopeguy]

It is so rare to find somebody with your talent willing to make this project available to the public. I love designing as well as making automata. I have never used a design from someone else but your project just looks like something I would like to experiment with. I have in the past tried to restrict my projects to woodworking only but your use of wires just seems to open up a whole new section of automata for me. What are the approximate outside dimensions of this project and did you do your own painting? Thanks again for sharing your skills.

[keith newstead]

Hi
The automata was about 16" high and yes, I did all of the painting. I got my degree in illustration so automata was a sideways leap. Thanks for your comment.

[craftyv]

Absolutely brilliant: I love it but cannot make it because I have no woodworking skills or tools. Well done .

[MichelMoermans]

Hey thanks for making an instructable of an "easy" one :)

I really like this one as well but reading through your ible I can't really say I could make my own :(

Perhaps you could insert some drawings and measurements of the wheels you made for this and how they were build or something?

Perhaps you could make an automoton (is that how you call this?) 101 guide explaining the basic principals and workings that would be hugely appreciated :)

Michel

[keith newstead]

Hi Michel I plan to do a very easy up and down movment soon. I dont like to be too exact as it discorages experement so I will concentrate on the principal rather than giving a plan to follow. I had a big amount of feed back from Indistructables for which I am very geatful and see it as a perfect way of getting my work to the public
All thje best
Keith

[MichelMoermans]

Hey Keith,Thanks that would be good :) I'm all for experiment but for my first try I generally like to make something somebody else already made and when that's finished I usually start making my own variations but never the less I'm looking forward to your next ible :)

And yes instructables is a great place to get feedback, getting your work to the public or questions you want to ask other handy people. It's one of the main reasons I love this site so much, there's so much to find in one place :D

Michel

[Brick Moon]

I'd be glad to give a little plug to one of the most brilliant automata artists of all time. There's an embedded YouTube video of the piece at keithnewsteadautomata.com -- great stuff.

[keith newstead]

Thanks

[ynze]

Cool! Great to read tips from you on building automata here! Why did you make hinges in his knees? Are they connected to a mechanism too?

[keith newstead]

Hi. I thought that the legs might swing in heavy seas.

[RaisedByRobots]

zomg! I am a huge fan! Soo cool to see you are here making instructables! welcome!

[keith newstead]

Thank you

[oferprat]

I tried to look for a video on youtube, found something similar by the same artist:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=agW_QE0ebYU.

Beautiful design!

[sgfx]

Do you have video of it working?