Assembling a Dragonfly

Greetings Fellow Humans!

I reach out to you from the Couch of Influenza (TM) with a tale of kinetic art construction...

As you may have seen in some of my other posts, my kinetic sculptures can be very complex to assemble, and in my opinion the insides of them can be just as much fun as the outsides. One such project is my original Helicopter Dragonfly piece. When these photos were taken I had taken the Dragonfly apart at my parents' place so that I could take a mold of all it's parts for use in creating a bronze version of the piece later down the road (something I still need to do). These photos were taken by my mom of the re-assembly process after the molding was done.

This gear and crankshaft assembly is the heart of what makes the piece work. Moving the tail in and out turns the crankshaft, which is directly connected to the lower gear, and to the smaller shaft sticking out of the top. The lower gear drives the upper gear through the pinion gear to drive the larger upper shaft (with the smaller one inside of it) in the opposite direction but at the same speed. This creates the timed counter rotation that the Dragonfly's wings move in, as one pair of wings is connected to each shaft. Also notice the small cam between the bushings on the top shaft. That cam causes the breathing motion of the dragonfly's side panels, and the panels' spring return causes the wings to come to rest in the proper position.

The tail is the most difficult part to assemble. It has a system of levers that keep the segments spaced evenly as the tail extends and contracts. I had to connect each lever to the end of the one before it, and then pin the two levers and the segment together before moving on to the next one on the chain.

Once the full chain of segments is assembled, I slide in the two guide bars, pin them in place, and bolt them to the crank rod bracket.

Now all the dragonfly needs is it's right body plate and it's wings, and it is ready to go.

And here it is in action:

Special thanks to my parents for sending me these photos, and thanks to all who took the time to read my post!