Wednesday 26 December 2007

Kinetic Horse Project.

So I'm trying out this thing they call blogging...

I've been tinkering around with a paper sculpture design called WHITE HORSE and MARBLE HORSE for a year now and finally, after many messages begging, offering bribes and generally demanding I sell people a paper horse or its plans, I've at last come up with a form of the work I feel happy sharing.

Battery Powered Kinetic Horse. James G Watt. December 2007

To build your own paper horse I have created a kit for you. The kit contains patterns and instructions on CD along with a small motor and gearbox and other hardware you require. Following the full colour instructions you can chose between creating MarbleHorse, WhiteHorse or using WhiteHorse as a blank canvas upon which to create your own skin pattern. You will have to print out the paper pattern on 10 sheets of 160gsm paper.


To build the horse, in addition to the kit, you require a printer,
10 sheets of 160gsm paper, scissors, glue, a ruler and a set of
pliers. No other tools or materials are needed.


Here are a few pages from the instruction manual.


The Horse was originally conceived as free hanging mobile but people
often asked if it could actually walk under its own weight. This cross eye
3D image illustrates that with a little stabilisation The horse is quite capable
of self locomotion.


The Kinetic Horse in action.

If you'd like one of my paper horse kits then simply follow this link.

For those who may not have followed the evolution of my paper horse I thought
I'd present some of its history here. The Kit version was developed from a set
of 6 robot animals I created for an art show during the 2007 Brighton Festival.

This is a 3D anaglyph of one of the stampeding animals from the Brighton show
This one is fitted with Solar Power although they can also be computer operated.


Solar Powered Paper Horse and Computer Operated Giraffe.

I know many people would like my kit version to be solar powered instead of
battery operated. I made this decision in order to keep the kit as simple as
possible but I agree solar power is the way to go so I'd encourage people
to modify the kit themselves if they have the know how . Here's the circuit I used:

I used a 1381j with a trigger voltage of 2.6volts
A 1F 5.5v capacitor (where the schematic shows the 4700uf)
and my solar panel was a 1inch by 3.9inch 3volt flexible panel.


If that's complete gobbledygook to you then if you're very patient and lucky I may do
a retrofit solar power conversion kit to go with the horse one day.


LOCOMOTIVE. James G Watt 2007. Copper and Steel.




White Horse first prototype.



The inspiration for this work includes Eadweard Murybridg motion studies
and the amazing machines created by Theo Jansen.


We begin with the sketchbook.

8 comments:

Unknown said...

Do you no longer sell these kits? every link to ordering is dead. I would love to purchase this kit. Thank you.

Arnaud said...

Same for me, this work is amazing, how can I buy the kit?

RM Stufenfedder said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
RM Stufenfedder said...

This is a marvel. I, along with many others, would like to experience this crafting first hand. Please let me (us) know if, when, or where this kit might be available. Thank You. mrwizard@fleasonline.com

Unknown said...

I have the kit but no instructions :/ I will gladly pay for the plans/parts to all of the kits all over again.

Sir said...

Hi I bought a kit years ago - I came to make another one but I'm missing pg10! Happy to pay for the pdf again!

RM Stufenfedder said...

It is rather frustrating to be receiving these emails when none of the links function.

CodePosse said...

I will try to read the CDRom again.