|
2015/08 © Hideo Nakano
nh1886@yahoo.co.jp
WIND
CAR (revised)
Introduction
This is the instructions of a rubber
band propelled wind car. The wind car has three wheels, a toy propeller
and a body, built up with plastic straws. You can wind up the rubber band
stored in a hard plastic straw through rotating the toy propeller clockwise
(the lower right photo). Place the wind car gently on the flat floor
and release the propeller blade; you can see the car go forward.
Materials and tools
|
Materials
|
Tools
|
|
The straw cutting template for the
wind car,
220 mm long, 6.0 mm in diameter plastic straws,
200 mm long, 7.0 mm in diameter hard plastic straws,
a 4.0 mm in diameter plastic straw, good rubber bands, a bamboo skewer, a
toothpick, three toy rubber wheels, and a toy propeller unit (Please read
“Rubber band helicopter” manual.)
|
A pair of scissors, a pair of
pliers, a ruler,
insulation tape (18 mm in width)
and a 50 cm 24 G copper wire (or a 50 cm fishing line),
|
1. How to cut straws
Please print out the cutting template
on page 3. Measure the ruler pattern length on the printed
template. If it is 249 - 251 mm, you can start cutting straws along the
images on the template. If the length is much longer or shorter, please
check your MS Word® options and the printer setting.
The short lines on the straw drawings
mean transversal cuts. The black arrows on the straws mean longitudinal
cuts. We have some tricky cuts to explain using the following images.
|
|
Tricky cut 1
The rear upper beam
|
|
|
Tricky cut 2
The upper central beam holder
|
|
|
Tricky cut 3
The front wheel axis holder
Please make two holders.
|
Straw parts are ready.
2. Let’s build up the wind car body
|
|
|
|
Fold the upper central beam holder
like the image above.
|
Insert two arms of the upper central
beam holder into the two holes at the top of the rear upper beam.
|
|
|
|
|
Push the upper central beam holder
arms deeply in the rear upper beam.
|
Just a semicircular part of the
upper central beam holder is left at the top of the rear upper beam.
|
|
An image from left side
of the car
|
An image over the upper
central beam
|
|
Insert the upper central beam into
the semicircular part of the upper central beam holder like the photo
above.
|
|
|
|
|
|
Connect two lateral lower beams like
the photo above. Insert one of the short arms into another beam’s
short arm hole next to the beam hinge.
|
Connect the beams firmly.
|
Pass each long arm of the lateral
lower beam through a front wheel axis holder.
|
|
|
|
|
Connect two rubber bands like an “8”
shape.
Pass the upper central beam through
two “8” shape rubber bands like the photo above.
Insert short arms of the lateral
lower beams into the upper central beam. Insert short arms of the
rear upper beam into the long arms of the lateral lower beam.
|
The nose has three openings.
Make sure three holes must make a straight line or a beautiful triangular
shape.
|
|
|
|
|
Insert two arms of rear lower beam
into holes at the end of the lateral lower beams
|
Insert the rear lower beam arms
deeply.
|
|
|
Make sure that the lateral lower
beams, rear upper beam short arms and rear lower beam arms are connected
firmly.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Pass 50 cm copper wire through free
rubber bands and fold the wire like the photo above.
|
Insert two ends of the copper wire
into the lower end of the upper central beam. Pull the copper wire’s
ends to pass the rubber bands through the upper central beam.
|
|
|
|
|
Catch the rubber bands’ end and
remove the copper wire. Connect toy propeller’s hook with the rubber
bands.
|
|
3. Installation of the wheels
|
|
|
|
This is a sample of installation of
the wheels. You can use different toy wheels. In the above
photo you can see three rubber cylinders (15 mm high, 24 mm in diameter), a
plastic straw 4.0 mm in diameter, a bamboo toothpick, a bamboo skewer and
two spacers.
|
Make a hole in the middle of one
rubber cylinder and pass the plastic straw. Trim off the straw nicely
(the front wheel).
Pass the skewer through the middle
of one rubber cylinder and pass the skewer through one of the spacers.
|
|
|
|
|
Insert the free end of the skewer
into the rear lower beam. Then pass another spacer through the skewer
and the last rubber cylinder.
|
Trim off the skewer nicely with a
pair of pliers.
Make sure that you have to leave
small spaces indicated by the red arrows.
|
|
|
|
|
Turn the wind car and pass a bamboo
toothpick through a space between left lateral lower beam and the front
wheel axis holder. Then pass the toothpick through the front wheel.
|
Pass the end of the toothpick
through the space between right lateral lower beam and the front wheel axis
holder. Please trim off the sharp ends of the toothpick with a pair
of pliers.
|
4. How to make the wind car run straight
After you wind up the rubber bands in the upper
central beam through rotating the toy propeller blade clockwise at least 50
turns, you can place the wind car on a flat floor and release the car.
The wind car starts running forward. Then you might gradually find the
car goes rightward.
|
|
Since the toy
propeller rotates anticlockwise, the torque effect, generated by the
propeller rotation, twists the wind car body clockwise. That is why
your wind car goes rightward.
|
|
|
You can
move the front wheel axis like the left photo to make the wind car run
straight.
Please
find out the suitable angle for the driving direction adjustment.
|
|
