concept
What's a project that we (Hannah Lienhardt and I) could complete in three days, that would be fun to interact with at a two day art show the following weekend?
process
After we brainstormed through a few ideas, we landed on creating some remote-controlled stanchions! Materials-wise, we had to run around and grab whatever was within reach of the MadSci Makerspace. The core were the cheapest pair of RC cars that would ship next-day on Amazon.
They had a small 2.5lb weight on top of each for balance, then a PVC pipe clad with a pool noodle. Some bronze / gold paper was spray-adhesived to the pool noodles, topped with some ceramic decorations spraypainted gold. They were hidden by some cut down plastic containers with just enough space to drive around and teeter when they stopped.
The 3D printers we had access to weren't working right, so all we got to print was the disks with slots for the rope between them.
The rope was some red fabric stuffed with polyfill, with two spraypainted 5-hr energy bottles on either end. Then, the caps had brass hooks screwed into them.
Everything came together right before the show!
They had a small 2.5lb weight on top of each for balance, then a PVC pipe clad with a pool noodle. Some bronze / gold paper was spray-adhesived to the pool noodles, topped with some ceramic decorations spraypainted gold. They were hidden by some cut down plastic containers with just enough space to drive around and teeter when they stopped.
The 3D printers we had access to weren't working right, so all we got to print was the disks with slots for the rope between them.
The rope was some red fabric stuffed with polyfill, with two spraypainted 5-hr energy bottles on either end. Then, the caps had brass hooks screwed into them.
Everything came together right before the show!
results
They were a hit. So much fun to drive around and surprise people at the show.
The only bummer was battery life. For the second day we'd tried some other batteries we had available but nothing gave us more than 15min at a time of driving them around.
The construction held together well and the weight made it so they had this delightful bobble whenever they moved or stopped. That secondary motion paired with the swinging of the cable was great for adding character to the movements.
I got home from the trip and bought a four pack of metal stanchions... V2's on the way...
The only bummer was battery life. For the second day we'd tried some other batteries we had available but nothing gave us more than 15min at a time of driving them around.
The construction held together well and the weight made it so they had this delightful bobble whenever they moved or stopped. That secondary motion paired with the swinging of the cable was great for adding character to the movements.
I got home from the trip and bought a four pack of metal stanchions... V2's on the way...
