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.
Good news, good news! We've been following the Oomlout system of learning Arduino since last February, and we've finally finished putting together our own Solarbotics Edition of the open-source ARDX Arduino Experimenter's Kit. Besides just working with the fine folks at Oomlout to make sure our edition meets their high standards, we've also been contributing […]
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Well folks, it's winding down to the last few days before Christmas. If you're aiming to get something delivered in the US before the 25th, you might be in luck if you order now and get it sent via UPS Express. We can't make any guarantees this late in the game, but we'll do our […]
Well, last week I told you that I'd have (and I quote) "something more exciting and substantial for you." So I'd like to take this opportunity (on behalf of the other fine folks at Solarbotics) to welcome the newest addition to the team, Tom! He'll be heading up purchasing and finding neat new toys to […]
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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.