The Sea Beast - a 12 Legged Walker

by Kairah

11K5859

Intro: The Sea Beast - a 12 Legged Walker

This beast has 12 legs and is driven by a motor in the center. The legs walk the same as those from the "Strandbeest", made by the famous kinetic sculptor Theo Jansen.




Piece list for one pair of legs:
Rods
10 white
8 green
1 Blue

Connectors
18 black hinge halves (These are a must!)
10 gray 1-way
10 gray 2-way
8 tan

2 blue spacers

note: In my own model I used black snap-on caps instead of tan connectors, you could use them as well if you have them.
note 2: This uses a lot of black hinge parts, you can buy these at knexusergroup if you live anywhere but in the US.

Enjoy!

~ Kairah ~

STEP 1: Making the Legs

This step is for making one pair of legs. You will have to make this part 6 times.


So the legs are pretty tricky, lets start with making all the loose parts forone leg first.

Once you have made these you can put them together like shown in the next pictures.

Alright, then you have to make another one, and connect them together with a blue rod, two spacers and two gray connectors, and your'e done!

STEP 2: The Axle

Alright, this part that goes between the pairs of legs. Simple.

You could also use a gray connector instead of the black hinge I've used.

STEP 3: The Frame - Part One

 Make this two times.

STEP 4: The Frame - Part Two

The motor can be any motor, but preferably this type (not the ones with a red batterypack). As for the axle, its a yellow size rod. Make sure to put the connectors at a 90degree angle!

Also at one side the green rod should pop out a bit, see picture 4.

STEP 5: Connecting the Legs

Now we have to lace 3 leg pairs together on two gray rods. Just follow the pictures, but make sure you don't miss any blue spacers.

In the fourth picture you have to shove the axle part onto the blue rod from the legs.

Make two of these

STEP 6: The Head

 Right time to put the head together! :D

STEP 7: Put Everything Together

 The last step is to put all the parts together. You might want to zoom in on the picture.

STEP 8: You're Done!

Congratulations you're done! Say hi to the sea beast! ^^

59 Comments

sophiaruthmarie 8 years ago

Can you provide the rpm details for the motor you used and make a piece list like you did for the legs for the other parts, ie the axle, the frame and the head? Trying to figure a total list of all the pieces I need to buy to make this.

GWorks 7 years ago

The green motor turns at 34 rpm :)
(other motor can be found here: https://www.instructables.com/id/KNEX-Motor-Gear-Guide/ )

Kahsyrbag 13 years ago

If only I had that motor, yours is 190rpm I got the black 22rpm motor.

interman 13 years ago

I made it 5 stars! :)

aleceatsfood 13 years ago

WOrks well (I haven't built it yet) but Just saying this thing would be a nice back massager! I cant see what are the peices on the legs that are on the white rods in the middle of the first picture?

aleceatsfood 13 years ago

oh I have the hinges but not the caps too bad...

Kairah 13 years ago

You could use tan connectors instead and make only 4 pair of legs.
Just keep enough distance between the legs.

Kairah 13 years ago

One leg uses 9 hinges, as you can see in the first picture :P

aleceatsfood 13 years ago

oh i guess i was too lazy to look. And I only have like 4 hinges :P

michiel123456789 13 years ago

Very nice and compact! 5* But I've got a question, does it matter how long the axle is??? You used a yellow rod, can it also be a red rod (I'll have to 'cause my motor is pretty wide).

Kairah 13 years ago

Cheers! If you are going to use a red rod, you will need to make some more distance between the first pair of legs and the motor. Otherwise the axle will stick between the legs and it cant walk! :)

Fr-Pa-Co 13 years ago

did you enter this into the kinetic sculptures contest

qwerty2008 13 years ago

i built one of these about a year back. i just saw how they worked then started building. i used this same structure just longer rods.
More Comments