A book of mechanical actions is a wondrous thing — mechanically inclined children have lost collective decades pouring over them over the generations. What could possibly be better? Why, if the mechanisms in the book were present, and moved! That’s exactly what [AxelMadeIt] produced for a recent video.
Being just four pages, you might argue this is but a pamphlet. But since it takes up a couple inches of shelf space, it certainly looks like a book from the outside, which is exactly what [AxelMadeIt] was going for. To get a more book-like spine, his hinge design sacrificed opening flat, but since the pages are single-sided, that’s no great sacrifice.
At only 6 mm (1/4″) thick, finding printable mechanisms that could actually fit inside was quite a challenge. If he was machining everything out of brass, that would be room for oodles of layers. But [Axel] wanted to print the parts for this book, so the mechanisms need to be fairly thick. One page has a Roberts linkage and a vault-locking mechanism, another has planetary gears, with angled teeth to keep them from falling out. Finally, the first page has a geneva mechanism, and an escapement, both driven by a TPU belt drive.
All pages are driven from an electric motor that is buried in the last page of the “book”, along with its motor, battery, and a couple of micro-switches to turn it on when you open the book and off again when you reach the last page. Rather than a description of the mechanisms, like most books of mechanical actions, [Axel] used multi-material printing to put lovely poems on each page. A nice pro-tip is that “Futura”, a font made famous by flying to the moon, works very well when printed this way. If you just want to watch him flip through, jump to 8:00 in the video.
This reminds us of another project we once featured, which animated 2100 mechanical mechanisms. While this book can’t offer near that variety, it makes up for it in tactility.
Awesome!
Marvelous! I want one!
Wow! Absolutely brilliant and beautiful! Are the designs files for sale or available somewhere?
First step in making Neal Stephenson’s “The Diamond Age” come true.
Microscope included.
I have a grandson that would love this. How can I get the files to print?
Covers broad subject matter.
Geology!
I think you mean ‘escapement’, but could be wrong, didn’t watch.
Well, pouring over the escarpment makes more sense. A waterfall!
Though poring over escapements sounds fun too.
An escapement pour-over? Does it serve several cups at a time?
Freudian slip. Guess I need to get back to writing about rocks.
They really need to make the pages able to flip 180 (as they originally wanted) and then release a base page template and allow the community go go crazy making all sorts of wonderous pages…
Go for it. You’ve seen a working example. Now make your own improved version, then document and release it. I’ll eagerly await your video and build instructions.
This should be used to teach young people the principals of mechanical engineering, one ‘page’ per quarter. It would also make a great “Heath Kit” type package containing a printer, CAD package, etc. like when they sold 286 computers when I was a kid.
This is one of the most impressive, creative projects i saw for long. Mechanical art combined with literature that is really a new aspect. I’m really impressed.
Congratulations !!!
“507 Mechanical Movements: Mechanisms and Devices” by Henry Brown comes to mind.
What a great and fun idea and very nicely executed!
Wow! Thank you! I can’t wait to try this out!
Wonderful, the video will now be a teaching resource for me for many years to come. Thank you for making this happen.
Are the design files available. I’d love to make one for Christmas.
I would suggest replacing the electric motor with a thumbwheel. It makes the experience more tactile and could also make the book thinner. Not to mention that it’ll never run out of batteries.
Right, or the option for that interaction.
This is a work of all round beauty and inspiration that a keeper would keep forever. The guy is a hero especially in this cheapening world.