The Flying Scrooge: Ornithopter of Household Items

Step 3 Add Bearings

Make three bearings by wrapping a large paperclip around another large paperclip. Straighten the paperclips out before you begin. Coil the wire onto a small screwdriver or a dirll bit that is slightly (slightly!) larger than the diameter of the paperclip wire. This slight diameter change allows the paperclip to rotate freely inside the coil. Clip off excess wire. Based on user feedback, it seems this step is harder than it appears. When you are done making your bearings, test them for smoothness of turning.

When you have three bearings, make some bearing support pieces as pictured. Glue a bearing to the bottom of the body. This is the main crank bearing. Glue two bearings to the top, side by side in the channels created by the support pieces. These are the wing bearings.

I found it helpful to slip a couple straight pieces of paperclip inside the bearings as I was positioning them. This helped me ensure they were all parrallel.

Comments

[micaiah2000]

what r the inches cinimeter to all this bamboo i dont no how much to cut and with the paper clips what do u mean put one at the bottom of the body

[intiguy]

hey can we use a spring?????????

[BraisedDuck]

rather than coiling maybe you can use a balloon stick,maybe?pls reply..

[goofy102938]

great idea ive made 3 ornithopters and im sure thet would work

[royalestel]

What's a balloon stick? You mean, like a straw?

[goofy102938]

instead of making the complicated paper clip bearing you can make a paper tube and super glue it and its practically like plastic

[hyun20005]

Argh! Dis is so hard!!! Can anyone give me advice?
Also, wat is the paperclip wire thingy for?

[ilikeicecreamandjuice]

i dont get any of this

[BraisedDuck]

I just put too"maybes" in that sentence i'm so dumb!

[asdfghjkl;]

I have a tip for other people making the coil, wrap the paper clip around a small screwdriver, this makes it soo much easier.

[royalestel]

You know, I'll add that to the instructable. Another builder wound the wire around a small drill bit.