Maquette
In order to prototype the mechanical flowers, I bought some wire to use for the structure, and attempted to build the mechanical portion of the design. I used straws to act as the hinges as I could not find hollow metal rods of the correct size. Through this process I learned 2 distinct things: soldering is not a strong suit of mine and will take a lot of practice and either metal tubing is needed to hold the design together, or a different material should be used all together. Hot glue does not hold. 🙁
I did decide with the time it took me to attempt making the prototype, I will make a maximum of 6 flowers, as time allows. As the electronics are the more expensive side of the project, I will try using tissue paper for the petals.
Shopping List
Structural
Option 1
- tubing
- brass wire for structure (100ft)
- solder (makerspace)
Option 2
- 3D printing (will need to test more) (makerspace + solidworks)
Lighting
- tissue paper
- Nano microcontrollers (6)
- electrical insulated wire (12ft)
- RGB programmable individual LEDs
I think your first attempt at the build was still super successful. You did just enough to see the mechanism working (in theory haha). Now hopefully you gained enough knowledge to make some decisions on what materials are best. What material are you going to build on top of the metal bars to make the flower petals? As for the material i suggest borrowing a soldering iron from someone and spending time just watching a lot of videos. Maybe also changing the material of the wire so it is more easily soldered. so cool!
The mechanism you made is awesome! The only advice I have is that you might have better luck finding small metal tubing by searching for capillaries. My professor once told me that he once spent days looking for small tubing but found nothing because technically, they were called capillaries.
Thanks for the advice, looking up capillaries definitely brings up more options!
I can really start to see the design forming and I think that you have something super promising despite your setbacks. (I agree that hot glue can be so deceptive in what it sticks too sometimes) I am super excited to see the frame come together because it already looks so beautiful. Are you open to using other materials? I think that if you hinge to making an indoor light piece, there are some materials that might be easier to join that are just a little less weatherproof.