Not every project has to be an AI-powered particle accelerator using lasers. Sometimes simple projects can be very satisfying, and a simple project can be a great gateway to introduce a friend or a child to our hacker ways. That’s why we noticed [Crazy Science’s] bubble machine upcycled from a CD and a water bottle. It isn’t likely to figure in anyone’s Ph.D. dissertation any time soon, but that isn’t the point
Once you see the pictures, you can probably figure out how to build it. For extra points, consider scrounging everything from stuff you already have. We were curious about drilling holes in the CD as we’d imagine they’d crack with an ordinary drill bit. Apparently, a soldering iron will pierce the disk, but we would advise doing that in a well-ventilated area. Small Plastic Recycling Machine
You can also 3D print a wheel if you prefer. We imagine you could get artistic with the wheel, making holes of different sizes or decorating the wheel for a particular theme. There are plenty of other additions you could try. LED lighting or even a laser or two, if you must. Perhaps make the motor start on some stimulus like a motion sensor or sound.
A great rainy day project to share with a kid. Making projects with or for kids is a blast, and what kid doesn’t like something their friends can’t buy in the store? This would be a great Tinkercad and 3D printing project for a kid or a class. Probably better to have them running a printer than a table saw. Then again…
Secretly, deep down inside, you DO want this project to be an AI-powered particle accelerator using lasers.
“There are plenty of other additions you could try. LED lighting or even a laser or two, if you must. Perhaps make the motor start on some stimulus like a motion sensor or sound.”
so he had a 3d printed mount for the geared DC motor but at the same time hot-glued everything… cool.
If he’s managed to 3D Print that large mount, why not 3D print the central disc, with the correct dimension to hold the dang motor in?! You’d get a much cleaner finish all round. Just because you can, doesn’t mean you should, very much applies here.
Just because you CAN do it the right way, doesn’t mean you should :)
We’re coming to a point where, like VW beetles, we have to look at CD’s not as a commodity that can be used for such low-tech stuff as coasters or wall decoration, but must respect their scarcity and only use them where their strength lies and that have no tinkerer-available alternative, such as in experiments that require diffraction grating or need to scare birds from a fruit tree.
I’m sure they’ll start selling blank CD-Rs, or thin acrylic discs made to look like CDs, in hobby and craft stores – just like they started selling specially manufactured drink can pull tabs for people who want to make soda tab jewelry without actually having to buy and recycle the cans.
They’ll be back in a year. There’s an artesan cassette market now. Not joking. Thanks, hipsters with disposable income.
I actually bought a misic CD yesterday (the same album also is available on vynil and casette). I haven’t bitten into the streaming model yet.
My birds ignore them = no fruit. So my hack for the cherry trees is to slit open old PET bottles lengthwise. When the fruits start to form, put the PET bottle over the fruits like a clamshell. Put the slit downwards so water will drain out.
This looks like it could be a fun family weekend project! I would build it but I still have an hour left on my AOL CD…. and I can’t light it up because my shark still has my laser…
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