Spaghetti-Powered Floating Octopus Head

Ever wanted a creepy yellow monster floating above a box full of imaginary spaghetti? Well I didn't.. UNTIL I MADE IT! Pay no attention to the star-gazing super teacher in the background of the photo, and LET'S MAKE THIS SUCKA (octopus, get it?).

Hi, I'm a junior in Ms. Berbawy's Intro to Engineering Design class, and this is my project.

Step 1: Shopping List

Okay! Here is the list of materials and tools you will be needing. I will also make notes on the way for extra items not mentioned above.

including:

• 1/4" drill bit
• 2 Crescent wrench
• hole puncher
• double-sided tape (or some kind of glue stick)

Step 2: Base Material

First we'll be needing to make the Base of the device. You'll be needing

• 4 speaker magnets
• 2 plywood strip (or something non-metal with similar durability)
• 1 block of hard wood
• 6 screws
• 2 pieces of thin construction paper
• 2 hex blots
• PLA yellow filament

Step 3: The Magnetic Arms

• Drill a hole using a 1/4" drill bit on a electric drill through the upper part of the plywood strip.

• Stack two speaker magnets on top and use 1" long 1/4" bolt, 1/4" nut and a piece of folded construction paper to secure them onto the strip.

• Tighten the nut and bolt with 2 Crescent Wrench, careful not to twist too tight and break the magnets.

• Note: (I used the paper in place of the washer so the levitating platform won't be affected as much by metal parts)

• Then repeat the process to make another Magnet Arm.

Step 4: Base Building

• Now use a 1/8" drill bit to dill two holes on each Magnet Arm.

• Put the wooden part against the hardwood block and follow the holes drill a bit into the block, not more than an inch.

• Now use a screwdriver to put in two 1" screws to secure the Magnet Arm.

• Note: (make sure the two Magnet Arms have the same pole facing each other)

• Then pull out one of your 12mm Neodymium magnet and try to balance it with your thumb, until you feel the Magnet Arms pushing the Neo magnet against your thumb.

• Note: If either side of your Neo magnet allow you to do so, unscrew the Magnet Arms and flip the speaker magnets to its other side, do so for both arms. And that should allow you to finish this step of your Assimilation towards a Force Of Nature!

Step 5: Making the Floating Platform

• Now let's do some 3D printing, huh? Use Autodesk Inventor or a software of your choosing to make a small platform according to the drawing above. I used PLA filament, which is what I'll be using for most of the prints in this project. I used white filament.

• After the print is out, stack 2 Neodymium Magnets together.

• And with the side you found out opposing to the Magnet Arms facing up, pop four stacks into the cozy homes you've made for them.

Step 6: Decorate the Floating Platform

Now let's make that plain white platform less boring looking, shall we?

• Open one of the picture above in Word and scale it to a size good enough to wrap around the platform

• Print out the document and cut out the robe, then cut it around its waist line

• Glue/tape the bottom piece behind the top piece.

• Attach the robe onto the platform like shown above by glue or tape.

Step 7: Calling in Support

If you try to balance the platform you just made without any support, you'll find that it is quite impossible for it to stabilize itself. So let's make it a support!

• Following the drawing above, recreate it like how you did for the platform. The second picture is a reference to the holes on its bottom for the screws to set in.

• Now slide the support right in between the magnet units and screw it down!

Step 8: Making the Octopus Head

Keep your computer running ,for there is yet another piece of the puzzle ready for your making!

This little ball of delight might be a bit tricky to deal with, so I'll go over the difficult steps in details.

But if you're feeling like a champion who respects no authority and is already tired of my excess gabbing (sorry, not sorry XD), feel free to skip to Step 12 after you're done making it on your own!

Now to the people who're sticking with me, all aboard!!

Step 9: Drawing Face Features

• After creating a sphere, chose the front view of it and create a plane right there where you can draw out its features as shown above.

• Then click on the inner space of the eyes shown in light blue and extrude for 0.04" into the sphere.

Step 10: Extrude the Face

• Then click on the teeth and extrude for 0.23" into the sphere.

• Click on the mouth, then select the Extents for Extrusion to "to" as shown above. Then click on the teeth you just extruded and click ok. That's it for its face!

• Note: (You might also want to cut flat the bottom for a bit, so it'd be able to stand on its own)

Step 11: Make a Tiny Hat

Now for the signature hat, remember to make it a little bit forwards towards the front for a better look, as shown in the drawing in Step 8.

• Draw a square with its corner facing forward and extrude for 0.06" up. (picture 1)

• Then draw another square on top, but keep the two diagonals there along with the sketch. (picture 2)

• Create a mid-plane of the extruded square and draw a triangle on there as shown above. (picture 3)

• Create a mid-plane between the left and right view of the sphere, and use one line to connect the altitude of the triangle you just drew to the corner of the square sketch, creating another a triangle. (picture 4)

• Then create a plane clicking the two hypotenuse, then extrude the shape as shown above. (picture 5)

• Now just mirror and repeat!

One thing I forgot to say, the first time I print it out it turns out to be too small, so remember when you reach the printing phase, multiply the size by 1.4 so the tiny gaps we did for the face can be useable.

Step 12: Coloring the Head

Hopefully you would get something similar as shown above! Good job at coming this far yaaaay (insert confetti and balloons)

• Now cover the area around the mouth, eyes with masking tape, then use white-out or white color paint to fill in where those features are.

• Do the same thing with the hat, but paint it with black paint instead.

• After that take off the tape and use a thin brush to fill in the gap you created to outline the mouth and the eyes, be patient!

• Put it aside for it to dry.

Step 13: Box!

While your Big Bad is there drying off like a smoked fish, let's move ahead to decorate the base!

• Go ahead and cut yourself two pieces of construction paper the size of 8.3" in length & 2.8" in width.

• Glue them together for structural integrity's sake (of course you can do all this with wood plane or sheet plastic, your choice!).

• Then fold it into a box with dimensions shown above, 2.35" for front and back sides, 1.8" for left and right sides. Large dash lines represent the folds you'll need to do.

• Cut out two pieces of construction paper the size of 2.35" by 1.8", glue them face to face and draw a tiny circle at the center of it.

Step 14: Decorating the Box

Now download the images in the Word file below,it's time to make your plain one-colored box something special! The pictures should be already scaled to the right size.

• Print out the spaghetti pile, and glue it on the back of the paper piece you drew a circle on.

• Now following the circle you drew, use a hole-puncher to make a hole around 0.3" on that piece, then cut it into two lids.

• Tape the edge of one of the lids to the box piece as shown, the tape working as a hinge.

• Now attach the end of the box piece together and you're good to go!

Step 15: Finished!

With the hinged lid in front of the support beams, slap that case right on the base, then slide the un-attached lid under the beam.

After that, just put your platform and the giant head on and you're done for good!