Painted GraviTrack

Solar botics
March 5, 2018

We always enjoy seeing our products being modified, revamped and DIY-ed, as well as the results of these transformations.

Our customer Vera Kark provided us with some thoughtful feedback on adding mechanical tweaks to improve our Solar GraviTrack build and documentation. She also painted the brown MDF of the machine. She used tempera paint on the wood components still in panelized form, and the GraviTrack's performance seemed to be unaffected. 

The GraviTrack looks great in vibrant jewel tone colours, however, we do not recommend applying paint to the hand mechanism itself. You can paint the base and the rails, avoiding the hand mechanism completely. The moisture and the thickness of the paint might affect the precise tolerances of the moving parts, and will interfere with its proper functioning. Another relatively safe option might be felt tip marker since the moisture from alcohol evaporates quickly.

 

Photos & video by Vera Kark

P.S. Also, a particularly bad idea is painting your GraviTrack after the assembly is completed. Even though we were using a very watered down acrylic paint, the mechanism seized up the moment the paint became sticky. Don't be like us. Take care of your GraviTrack.

A portrait of a sad stuck GraviTrack

MORE POSTS

November 1, 2001
Having Online Order Difficulty?

If you've been having any problem whatsoever with our online orderform, would you be so kind to fire us a quick message about it? We're trying to isolate a problem we're hearing about, but cannot reproduce, especially with the final "submit" button. A copy/paste of the error message to us would be greatly appreciated...

July 12, 2007
BEP Application: Turbot

The Turbot is a member of the Scophthalmidae family of flatfish and is almost completely circular. Turbot is often found partially buried in the seabed in sand, gravel, rocks and sediment. Its fat content varies, but it usually contains roughly 1 gram of omega-3 fatty acids per 100g fillet. Barring advances in genetic engineering, we will not be building that kind of Turbot. However, this kind of Turbot can be built with a soldering iron.

December 14, 2000
Jeff de Boer on CBC Radio

If you came to the BEAM/WCRG Millennium Games in Calgary last summer, you may have seen Jeff de Boer's lecture on the aesthetic component of robotics. Jeff is a local Calgary artist (recently inducted to the Royal Canadian Order - a huge honor, considering his age), and was interviewed on CBC radio Monday with Shelaugh […]

January 26, 2017
New Product: RaspberryPi & Powerboo...

Switching Power Supply 6VDC @ 500mA CAD15.72/USD11.95 Switching Power Supply - Perfect for Arduino Uno projects! Raspberry Pi NoIR Camera Board v2 - 8 Megapixels CAD52.55/USD39.95 8MP Camera without Infra Red Filter for Raspberry Pi Raspberry Pi Camera Module V2 CAD53.50/USD40.00 New! This 8MP Camera Module replaces the older 5MP unit! 4-channel Relay Arduino Interface […]

1 2 3 253
Solarbotics Ltd Logo
Solarbotics has been operating for more than 25 years, bringing electronics know-how and supplies to both the electronics professional and hobbyist. We'll be happy to help you too!

Solarbotics, Ltd. is not responsible for misprints or errors on product prices or information. For more information, please see our Terms and Conditions.

Warning: This product contains chemicals known to the State of California to cause cancer and birth defects or other reproductive harm.
Please visit www.P65Warnings.ca.gov for more information. This item was manufactured prior to August 31, 2018.

cart