This small little project I’ve been working on is a windmill that attempts to create the optical illusion of motion. The idea was inspired by the kinetic sculptural art created by David C. Roy:
The piece that I designed uses more primitive, but more financially- and more design-friendly K’NEX pieces, and tries to create an optical illusion using two propellers of different sizes. Every other propeller blade uses a different colour, and both propellers spin in opposite directions in an attempt to merge the movements of the blades of the smaller propeller with the larger one.
A view of the illusory windmill from afar
The movement of the propeller is controlled using a gear system which allows each propeller to spin in opposite directions.
The gear mechanism that turns the windmill's propellers
The spinning motion is done using a K’NEX motor which attaches to a crank shaft on the side.
The motor that was used to turn the gear mechanism
Notable Setbacks:
- Distance between the two propellers seem to be too far apart for the illusion to be effective.
- Limited supply of K’NEX parts gave affected the parts required to create enough colour contrast for propeller illusion.
- Weight of the propellers too heavy for motor to spin fast enough to create the proper illusory effect.
despite setbacks, i thought that the use of knex is a great idea. i myself have never used knex even as a kid. using them now, with more knowledge of atleast how to solder electronic parts to power sources, i think it’s a great window of opportunity. i want to now try using knex and attaching it to some sort of maybe motion sensor…
i am new to all this, but as you saw in class, our pieces made for a very interesting guerilla collaboration.
Agreed! I was very intrigued and excited to see that the projects turned out the way they did. Who would’ve thought they’d be able to combine into a full band complete with singer and dancer?
Everybody’s projects were amazing!