Amazing results from finger engine blitz

Being a bit bored because I had read all the new posts, I thought I would have another peek at the vids in the blitz competition.

While there I noticed the number of reads it had had, so a quick check on the vote post as well turned up a couple of amazing facts.

In just over a fortnight from 21st May until 6th June there were a combined number of 127 posts and 2,729 reads. This seems to point to the fact that a little bit of light relief at times does get a lot of the membership involved.

So when the next one kicks in a bit later on, I would like to take part.

So if anyone has a few suggestions on a blitz build, lets hear them, to give us all an idea, and maybe combine a few together. Remember, it should be able to be made in a couple of hours, and out of cheap and cheerful junk.

Eventually I would suggest a neutral member of the site, who will not be taking part, will sift thru the ideas, choose one or two essential inclusions that are easily obtained by everyone, and set us the challenge.

It shouldn't be just yet as the team build will soon be starting to come to a peak, but a little later, when it gets quiet on the site, and the temperatures in your shops are a bit lower.
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To start it off, I would suggest a small repeating toy to keep the kids quiet when it is raining outside. It should contain either a rubber band or ball bearing or both. Anything else goes, including using machinery, but remember, ALL time should be counted except for glue setting times, when all other work on the contraption must cease if that drying time is taken into account. Machine set up times must also be included.

This is only a suggestion as Ralph has already seen an idea of mine, based on the above, and just to let him know, the problem will be fixed with a twisted COATHANGER, left over from the finger engine build. He will know what I mean when I say BALLS.

If you can attach your ideas to this post they will be cleaned up and sorted, and then given to the neutral to come up with something. If a fair amount of suggestions come in I will open a separate post to accommodate them all.

John

A classic mechanical engineering class project at MIT was to build a miniature car powered by a mousetrap and then compare them by total distance traveled. What kid wouldn't love a mouse trap car? (Woodie Flowers was the innovative professor who introduced these sorts of buildathon competitions to expose engineers-in-training to the realities of building devices that must actually do something.)

electric toy dragsters look like fun. I made one as a kid with an erector set.

Erector sets and legos should be part of every kids toys.

Rc 14" electric 60mph dragster
[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yh7Yt-roABg&feature=related[/ame]

If you want to stay more engine oriented, how about a compressed air engine with the added requirement that it must run off a balloon inflated by human breath. If I were in charge, I would forbid turbine style engines but that's just me.

A ball lift to allow the balls to run down a short track.

A ball run (what the Germans call a Kuglebahnn)

An executive toy (whatever amuses an executive should keep a kid amused for 10 mins!)

A machine that can pick up a matchbox.

A machine that can pick up a grain of rice.

A table top wind generator (via a small electric motor as the generator)

A machine to mimic mechanically the logic of and - or - exclusive or (for the non electronic oriented people that is:- input A and input B create output C - Input A or input B create output C - Only input A or input B creates output C). This can be done with little more than card and string.

Mouse tram vehicle/machine using standard mouse trap as power source - longest run wins.

Elastic band powered machine.

a wearable machine. Machine must work in some way.

A machine to pour a glass of beer/wine

A machine to crack and drop an egg into a pan to fry.

A machine to deliver a raw egg without cracking it to a target 3 meters (9 feet) below it.

Don't lets get carried away lads, we need a super quickie build. Just to keep the attention span for a couple of hours.

Mike, good idea, but I think it would take a little too long, plus I don't think people would have high powered motors and batteries hanging about. Good try though.

Marv, love the mousetrap one.

Rick, a plethora of ideas. All definitely doable.
The executive one is dead easy. Just drive a round headed tack into his desktop. It would keep him occupied for hours just trying to figure it out just what it is, he could then set up quangos to research the phenomenon. That would keep him busy for years.

But if you recall, mine was only a suggestion, not a target.

We need an original idea to do something that wouldn't be too much of a challenge, so everyone could have a go if it suited them, and costs practically nothing. Hopefully ending up as a thing that could be kept and admired for years to come.

Something like a miniature, independent pogo stick that has to run for 30 seconds unaided. Again only an idea, not a challenge. I know that can be done in less than an hour, and made out of cocktail sticks, a paper tube and a rubber band, plus a few other little sundries, but I doubt if many different designs could come up on a challenge like that, unlike the finger engine one where there were a diverse range of ideas.

Another one, using a concoction of a few of the above. Make a working beam engine. But a balloon must be used somewhere in the build. Whether for power or construction. To run unaided for at least one minute (nice length for a vid).

Something like that could really spark the old brain cells into action.

All ideas should be submitted, even if totally stupid, as bits from one idea could be used in conjunction with someone else's thoughts.

Bogs



Just remember, it will need to be filmed working, so anything that needs a lot of space to work, or MGM studios to get it onto video is a definite no-no.

As long as we're brainstorming here...

My grandkids are fascinated by some of my mechanical counters - push a button and the count advances by one.

I envision something that, with each push, dispenses a BB from a reservoir into a container.
When ten BBs are dispensed, the container dumps and simultaneously dispenses one BB into the "tens" container. Extend, expand concept as desired.

Speaking of dispensing... How about the world's most intriguing gum ball dispenser? Push a button and the gum ball rolls through a complex path, bounces off a plate which opens a door, etc ad infinitum. Eventually the ball emerges to be eaten by the button pusher. Lots of opportunities for creating intriguing but useless mechanisms.

Both those ideas probably require more time than you're thinking about but perhaps you can extract a useful feature.

BTW, the real design challenge with the mouse trap is to create a mechanism that will release the spring energy gradually over an extended period instead of one big "snap".

Another idea...

A finger-operated pump that can empty a teacup of water in less than ten seconds. (Sucking it dry with a syringe does *not* constitute "pumping".) Extra points if the pumped water makes something spin/move/twirl/etc..

I've got to stop thinking about this and get on to something useful.

How about making a fire piston and see who can make a fire in the shortest time.
Look on youtube (home made fire piston)

Mike