Rubber-Band Powered Autonomous Vehicle
Intro: Rubber-Band Powered Autonomous Vehicle
Hello Reader!
Are you a person who likes to collect the discarded items thinking that it might be useful for something in the future, like me? Then this might be a good instructable to create. This rubber-band powered vehicle is an All-terrain, which can run over small obstacles and a fabulous racing toy among friends.
STEP 1: Ready the Wheels
1) The bottle caps are gonna be bent a little during opening so, use a flat punch and hammer to remove the nicks and dents on the bottle cap.
3) Hammer the bottle cap sides slightly to make them fully round.
4) Drill a 2.5 mm hole in the center of the bottle caps.
5) Use the sand paper to remove the burrs on the bottle cap.
Now the Wheels are ready!
STEP 2: Friction Plate
1) Cut a small piece of the the plain candle from the bottom (1 cm).
2) Use the X-Acto knife to make a hole in the center of the candle piece that we cut.
3) Rub the top and bottom of it on the sandpaper to make it even
This wax piece acts as a friction plate between the bottle cap wheel and the toothpick to have a slow and smooth movement.
STEP 3: Assembly
1) Insert the crochet hook needle into the candle hole and pull the rubber-band (2 Nos. if required) through to the other side.
2) Insert a full toothpick into the rubber-band at one side to act as a stopper.
3) Insert the crochet hook needle through the bottle cap and and pull the loose end of the rubber-band through.
4) Follow the same method to pull the rubber-band through the thread core and the other bottle cap wheel,
5) Insert a 1.5 cm toothpick into the rubber-band end to act as the stopper.
6) Use Duct tape to hold the small toothpick in place. (Optional)
STEP 4: Working Mechanism
1) Hold the assembled piece in hand and gently turn the full toothpick to wind the rubber-band, till you feel it's okay.
Caution: Over winding will break the rubber-band.
2) Place it on the ground and watch it move slowly on it's own... running over small obstacles.
Have fun racing it with your friend's autonomous vehicle!
Comments
andybiker 4 years ago
When I was in primary school we used to make these with a cotton reel, rubber band and two matchsticks.
one was broken in half to hold one end of the elastic band which then went through the centre of the cotton reel.
The other matchstick was the one that pressed against the floor.
we used to rub wax against that side of the cotton reel.
That was almost 50 years ago!