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 9, 2011
DragonTail Project, New Stuff, Sales

IT IS NOW NOVEMBER. THIS IS NOT A DRILL. STAY CALM. While a change in month is always an unsettling event, this one is particularly dreadful. Why exactly, we're not sure. But we have the feeling that if it was called 'Yesvember', things would be a lot more... Positive. So we're doing what we can […]

March 7, 2017
Tech Tip: Micro Terminal Blocks

We use many, many devices with 0.1" spaced holes, which are pretty much an electronics design standard. We're finding these 0.1" space terminal blocks incredibly useful for making solid, secure, yet serviceable connections to the rest of our designs. We'll often reach for a microcontroller board, then reach for a necessary handful of these parts […]

October 30, 2008
Pololu is neat.

They make neat things. Like wheels that fit the 3mm "D" shafts on GM11a/12a/13a/15a/18 gear motors. And super-cool motor mounts. This stuff is so neat, that we're selling it now. 32x7mm Fine wheels 42x19mm Fat wheels Standard Mini Metal Motor Mount Extended Mini Motor Motor Mount Oh, did I mention that the MAKER Faire: Austin […]

July 7, 2016
New Product: Thymio Robot and ESP01

Thymio II Educational Robot $182.25 The Thymio 2 is a fully-functional robot out-of-the-box, with a excellent pedigree. Thymio II Educational Robot - Wireless $249.75 The Thymio 2 is a fully-functional robot out-of-the-box, with a excellent pedigree. This wireless version offers some excellent live features not available in the stock version. ESP01 programmer $7.80 The ESP-01 […]

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