Mechanical Orchestra

         My project was building a mechanical “orchestra.” The objective of my project was to laser cut gears and make a Rube Goldberg-like machine that would make music. The inspiration for this project was an exhibit I saw at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art by O Grivo. O Grivo is a project created by two Brazilian musicians who use physics to make mechanical orchestras.

         To make this project I used gears, plastic knitting needles (red), styrofoam, plastic straws, plastic caps, string, nails, tape, a triangle instrument, coat hanger, 9V battery, and a DC motor. I planned the location of my interlocking gears on a piece of styrofoam. I cut the knitting needles and pushed them into a place in the styrofoam. I then slid a cut piece of straw onto the needle so the gear would stay up. Then I hot glued the straws and needles into place to make sure they would stay in position. I glued one of the gears onto the DC motor with an epoxy glue. I arranged the rest of the gears onto the straws and put small plastic caps on top so the gears wouldn’t fall off. I connected the wires on the DC motor to the battery and tested the movements multiple times, adjusting the position of the gears so it would work better. I also hot glued nails onto the heighest gear so they could hit the triangle I had set up. I also made an instrument out of nails and string which made a clinking sound when hit by the little wooden stick attached to the lowest gear.

         My biggest challenge was getting the gear onto the DC motor. After the epoxy dried, it worked well. But then the epoxy melted because I had tested it out so many times. The next day at school I reapplied the epoxy, but it didn’t have enough time to dry so it ended up making a sticky mess. As this was the day of the Maker Faire I stuck gorilla tape and toothpicks around the gear in desperate attempt to make my project work, and it helped slightly. In the end I wasn’t able to showcase itworking at the Maker Faire. This experience taught me about time management and problem solving.

          Through the process of making this project I learned how to laser cut, make a Rube Goldberg machine, and expanded on my problem solving skills. If I had more time I would make my mechanical orchestra bigger, with more gears in a more complex pattern. I would also make more instruments to create more diversity with the sounds. I may have also incorporated 3D printing as well. My advice to others looking to do this project or something like it is to plan ahead so you can experiment with it and test it out numerous times and make sure it works.

            All the materials I used were from school or recycled from home, so the estimated cost of my project is about $20.

This is the link to the video of my project in action: https://youtu.be/OAdyf5GscXs

I modeled my project off an exhibit I saw at the SF MOMA, O Grivo; the link is here: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=sheqnycAWkM