The America Solar Challenge finishes here in Calgary tomorrow (July 27) betweein 11 and 3:30pm! The teams are coming up over McKnight Blvd., which isn't far from our offices. We'll be out watching them go by for a few hours tomorrow, so if the phones don't get answered for a bit, you'll know why. Go […]
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
Holiday Hours, Christmas (Tree) Links
Well, it's that time of the year where the snow falls and us Canadians need to hibernate. As a result, Solarbotics will be closed December 24th, 25th, 26th and January 1st. Apparently our sleep schedule is kinda wonky. As usual, feel free to submit orders and emails, and we'll get caught up on a first-come […]
Shipping Update
We are being informed that our air/courier shipments are almost back to normal. Although delivery times are still not guarranteed, most shipments should arrive on time.
Wednesday Cool Links, Announcements and ...
We were at the San Mateo MakerFaire, and were representing for BPS breadboards. They've announced their winners, and the first place went to Elizabeth from Houston, Texas (age 11) (and we like unicorns too): Now that we have established our stance towards robotic (roboCorns) and regular unicorns (unicornus vulgaris), here's some links. They are just […]
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.