Earlier this week the Tingle Factor Item was an old, spring driven squirrel toy which the children at work had been fascinated by. They not only thought it was cute, but it was interesting to peek inside it to get a glimpse of its workings. I had a look at my old books and on the internet, but all the designs for spring driven toys looked so difficult to make! I told Roy and his Grandpa about this, hoping that between them they might be able to come up with some way to make a simple spring driven motor out of normal, every-day items. I was in luck - Roy's Grandpa remembered using wooden cotton-reels and rubber bands to make little 'cars' when he was a little boy and luckily, he also remembered how to make them! So this week, Roy will show you how to make these easy little cars too.
You Will Need:
- An old fashioned wooden cotton reel (a plastic one will work too, but a wooden one runs better)
- A rubber band
- A thumb tack
- A lead pencil
- A piece of a wooden skewer or something thin that fits through the hole in the cotton reel
Method:
- Push the thumb tack into one end of the cotton reel, leaving it poking out far enough for the rubber band to fit around it. You might need an adults help with this because sticking the thumb tack into the cotton reel is hard!
- Loop the rubber band around the thumb tack a couple of times so that it is well anchored.
- Use the skewer to push the rubber band through the hole in the cotton reel. To do this, slip the rubber band carefully onto the end of the skewer, as shown in the picture below, and then push the rubber band through the hole. Grab the end of the rubber band to keep it from going back through the hole when you take the skewer out.
- Put the pencil through the loose end of the rubber band.
- Wind the pencil around and around, to wind the rubber band up (the rubber band is like our spring!) When it is wound up don't remove the pencil.
- Put the cotton reel on the ground and watch it run! Sometimes it may get stuck - just pull the pencil holding the rubber band out from the cotton reel to stretch the rubber band and try again, as shown below.
Notes:
The design above makes a basic motor. In the spring driven squirrel earlier in the week, the spring was wound tight and drove the squirrel. With the cotton reel car, the rubber band is wound tight (storing energy), and when released the rubber band unwinds making the car scoot along. You can add to it if you like.
- Cut notches into the sides of the cotton reel to make better 'wheels'. This will give your cotton reel more traction and might make it go faster.
- Colour your cotton reel in and decorate it.
- Wrap a piece of colourful paper around the cotton reel. When you run your cotton reel along the ground the colours will melt together.