The Little Man

This is my first humble attempt at an automata, constructed mostly from a piece of nice plywood, along with dowels, sticks, brass tubing, wire, lead, and glue. My primary tools were a band saw, a hand drill, and a disc sander. The finished product is referred to as The Little Man around the house, though the official title is Sisyphus in Training. Since these crank-operated automata inherently cycle through their action, I liked the idea of a task that's never finished, like Sisyphus and his stone. But I didn't want it to be purely grim, so I chose Sisyphus as a young man, in a more pastoral and relaxing posture (perhaps after a picnic), trying to swat a pesky fly. And always missing. Still photos can be seen at http://www.flickr.com/gp/89292...

Channel: Howto & Style
Uploaded: November 30, 1999 at 12:00 am
Author: djohnson16mindspring

Length: 01:23
Rating: 4.79
Views: 18555

Tags: art  automata  craft  fly  kinetic  machine  mechanical  mechanics  pesky  sculpture  sisyphus  

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