The Moto Magic, or magic motor, will run on a smooth floor over a long distance.When you let it hang from the stick it will rotate like a magic drum, and if you hold the can, the stick will run like an airplane propellor or windmill, you can even make it look like a helicopter!
The materials you need can all be found around the house or at the local restaurant or delicatessen shop. You need a tin can, we used a larger type, about 1.5 litres, but you can also try it with any other empty tin can, just make the elastic a little shorter. The rest should be about the same size. The wooden stick is about 30 cm long, 1x1cm. or you can use a piece of dowel wood or even a twig from the forest or the garden.
Here are the main dimensions of the wood parts an the elastics, compare them with the 30 cm ruler. We combined two havy duty elastics, about 5 mm wide and linked them together to get the right length, about 3/4 or the length of the can.
The Moto Magic end block is a piece of wood about 2x2 cm and just as long as the diameter of the can at the open end. Note we have made to steps at the end by sawing or carving a little away to about half way at each end. This makes the piece stick nicely in the open end of the can and it will be the base to hold the elastic at the open end.
You can also make the piece just long enough to stick inside the open end and then use two small nails from the side to fix it in place. The only problem with this is that when the elastic breaks after lots of use, you have some difficulty replacing the elastic. But when that happens you might find a solution yourself. Have fun anyway!
The hole in the closed end of the can is made with a nail and hammer and then opened up with a conical piece of steel pin or use the nose of a pair of nosepliers, or any tool that will push the tin arond the nail hole to the side. But, don't make the hole too big! The 1/4 inch nut or any washer or nut of about the same size should cover the hole to make it work. Also make sure that you don't push the bottom of the tin can inwards, the washer must reach above the rim!
At the drive side the elastic is stuck through the small hole at the centre. The steel nut serves as a washer. Slip the long stick through the loop of the elastic, then pull the elastic from the other end and loop it around the bottom block.
The driver is an elastic that is fixed at the bottom and the top of the can, look at the photos how this is done. Make sure that the stick only rubs on the washer, IT SHOULD RUN FREE OFF THE RIM , otherwise your have too much friction. Put a little vaseline between the washer and the tin can to lubricate the parts and reduce friction, the Moto Magic will run much longer and goes faster with the least friction!
Bottom block holds elastic in place. Note the bottom block should not stich much out beyond the edges of the can. It would give a bumpy ride!
Moto Magic is ready to go...! But you must energize it first by turning the stick many many times in one direction untill the stick starts to turn around on itself when you let it go, that shows that the elastic has enough energy to motor the tin can. Put in on a smooth hard floor and it will run... You will discover other fun things to do with this. Remember, you put energy in and Moto Magic uses it to do some most amazing things!
The air compressor pump.
Maybe you have a hand held bicycle pump? Well this is one you can make yourself! When it is done, you can experiment with it. When you FORCE the PISTON in to the tube you do WORK, While the other end of the tube is closed off by the cork, you compress the air inside. Your work is stored in the compressed air as POTENTIAL ENERGY. What is so “potential” about this you might ask? Well when the cork pops out of the other end the compressed air escapes suddenly with a loud “POP”, the potential energy becomes suddenly SOUND ENERGY. When the sound is gone your hard work or energy you put in the pump has disapeared in the great blue yonder of the universe. Wow, just try it again, if you do this many times you get a good WORK-out which makes you energetic!
The materials you need
These materials can be scrounged from an electrician and wood worker, most hobbyists also would have some of these pieces for you. If you explain what you would like to make, most adults would help you as best they can!
You need a piece of plastic electrical tube, what the trades people call 3/4 inch electrical conduit. It should be about 30 cm long. A piece of wood, same length and less than 2 cm square with the edges removed by carving or planing so that it fits easily into the plastic tube. You need a cork that fits in the tube and a string. A leather disc the size of a Canadian five cent piece, it should fit tightly iinto the plastic tube, use some vaseline to grease it. A roofing nail is perfect for nailing the leather disc to the end of the wooden stick. Use electrical tape for decoration and construction, for example fixing the string to the tube and to the cork.
We made the leather discs by using a punch, just a piece of steel tubing that we filed or ground at one end to make a sharp edge and then used this as a punch, see the piece of leather with the holes in it, the punch is beside it. But you can use scissors to cut your disc, MAKE SURE YOU HAVE AN ADULT HELPING YOU WITH THE CUTTING!!! Safety first!
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Tape enough electrical tape around one end of the wooden stick so that it no longer fits in the tube. The wooden stick is made of a piece of a plank less than 2 cm in diameter, with the edges removed by sanding or planing or carving. The stick should move freely in the tube, except at the end wheter the tape is.
The punger or PISTON the leather seal is nailed on to the end of the wooden stick that is the PISTON.
This is the leather disc that will seal the piston against the cylinder wall. Just cut it with scissors from a piece of leather. We made it by using a steel tube or the right diameter and filed a sharp edge on one end, then used that as a punch. Either way will work. The leather disc must fit tightly in to the tube. If you make it the same size as a Canadian five cent coin, it will be fine. The nail is a flat head roofing nail, any other nail, such as an upholstary nail will work.
