Simple mobile/ornament rotator.
bigclivedotcom 8:10
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A long time ago I came across a decorative mobile being sold in a gadget shop. It had a battery operated rotator and a choice of mobiles to suspend from it, mostly UV-active fluorescent plastic.
The most intriguing thing was the rotator, since it claimed to run for months on 2 AA cells. I bought one to take the rotator apart and found that it used a motor directly driving the attachment point and relied on running the motor in short bursts to wind-up the thread between it and the rotating mobile. It was basically using the thread to store the rotation like a spring and release it slowly.
I'm not sure if they make those any more, so here's one you can make out of a cheap air freshener unit, which provides the motor and the circuitry that runs it briefly every several minutes.
If you enjoy these videos you can help support the channel with a dollar for coffee, cookies and random gadgets for disassembly at:-
http://www.bigclive.com/coffee.htm
The most intriguing thing was the rotator, since it claimed to run for months on 2 AA cells. I bought one to take the rotator apart and found that it used a motor directly driving the attachment point and relied on running the motor in short bursts to wind-up the thread between it and the rotating mobile. It was basically using the thread to store the rotation like a spring and release it slowly.
I'm not sure if they make those any more, so here's one you can make out of a cheap air freshener unit, which provides the motor and the circuitry that runs it briefly every several minutes.
If you enjoy these videos you can help support the channel with a dollar for coffee, cookies and random gadgets for disassembly at:-
http://www.bigclive.com/coffee.htm
Category (YouTube): Science & Technology
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