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 GraviTrackafter 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.
Well, what a pleasant surprise - a large truck dropped by today and delivered our shipment of GM10 gear motors! They're $12.00/ea or $9.50/ea USD in pairs ($15.50/ea or $12.75/ea in pairs for Canadians) - much less expensive than converting nanoservos!
Whups! Sorry, we got a fact wrong listing Mark's lecture at the Goddard Space Flight Center. It's not in Houston, Texas - it's in Greenbelt, Maryland (March 23). Our apologies to Goddard Space Flight Center - I'm sure they weren't looking forward to a 1400 mile moveÂ…
Our GraviTrack Marble Machine Kit is our newest addition to the Marble-Drop mechanism family. Elegant, swooping hands pass marbles to each other to the top of a sweeping multi-level track, available in either solar or battery configuration! Approximately twice as wide as our spiral Solar or Battery Marble machine kits, the GraviTrack is still desk-top […]
What's worse than having to wait nine months? Having to wait a year and nine months. That's where we're finding ourselves, with Beakerhead here in Calgary aiming to land in September of 2013. Luckily, though, this festival of art fused with technology (think MakerFaire) will have a few smaller events between now and then. We […]
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!
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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.