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.
Here's a tip submitted by Rick Steenblik regarding hacking our SCC3733 for less voltage, but more current: After using your SCC3733 solar cells for a couple of bots I noticed that they can be altered to provide about 3.3v at 80ma (in full sun) by cutting the bus connector on the back to electrically separate […]
Grove - Smart Plant Care Kit for Arduino CAD 85.28 / USD 59.90 A functional kit that helps monitor the environment and care for plant growth! 200W Buck Module CAD 22.00 / USD 16.90 When mini buck converters just won't do. Grove - Ear-clip Heart Rate Sensor CAD 16.80 / USD 12.90 Grove Heart Rate […]
A while ago we showed off the prototype/demo for the All-Seeing Eye, and from the positive response it got we decided to bring it back as An Actual Thing. We even mounted it to a DragonTail, and let it go for a spin around the office. Check it out: We briefly toyed with the idea […]
Temporary Tattoos to Monitor Vitals An lighter more wearable alternative to FitBit (Via Beautiful Decay) Laser-Cut Wood Illustrations Layering laser-cut wood taken to a whole new level, by Martin Tomsky (Via Colossal) Tiny V8 Engine Out of Paper Paper can be exceptionally sturdy, especially when strengthened by glue. By Aliaksei Zholner (Via Gizmodo) REM Detection […]
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.