Gallery Archives - SciencetoyMaker

People Creating Gliders that Mimic Lifeforms

Thomas Buchwald

Thomas Buchwald is a "Technik" teacher of students in grades 6 to 10 in Germany He is a great friend, though I have yet to meet him in person. Thomas and his students make wonderfully creative engineering projects. Lately he has turned his attention to creating bionic walkalong gliders: pterodactyls (pterosaurs), manta rays and other sea creatures. I particularly like the sea creatures.

Here you can find the PDF file, including four patterns. It is written in German. "Bergfalte" means "mountain fold"; "talfalte" means "valley fold"; "oben" means "top"; "hochbiegen" means "bend up" and "leicht hochbiegen" means "slightly bend up."

Mr. Chen Wenhwa from Taiwan

I have been admiring the work of a gentleman in Taiwan for a long time on YouTube .Mr. Chen Wenhwa is a primary school teacher who also volunteers at a science museum and works with the Yuanzhe Foundation to promote science education. Chen makes the elegant flying creatures: birds with long, graceful wings, dragonflies, bats, butterflies, etc. Now we are becoming friends--struggling to communicate with Google Translate. I was very happy that he sent me some foam gliders. They are beautiful and fly very well, so efficient that I can fly with only hands.

Talk Box Gallery

Feel free to send pictures, and I can embed YouTube videos.

Anita

Anita in Taiwan made talk boxes with her church craft class. She reports, ” We made the robot talk box this morning in my class, and the kids loved it. I had decided to use three straws because it made the sound deeper, softer, and less annoying. After class when we were re-making a couple of unsuccessful ones, my helper and I discovered that two straws seemed to work better for us, were easier for the smaller kids to handle, and sounded almost the same.”

Thanks Anita.

Tony Carl

Tony Carl wrote, “I found that wrapping a garbage bag wire tie around the base of the reed makes it easier to adjust the reed opening. Just lightly squeeze the wire at the top and bottom close the opening a little or at the sides to open a little. A piece of tape wrapped around the wire to keep the ends of the wire from puncturing the balloon :)” Tony based this innovation on the construction of crumhorn and bassoon reeds.

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Pop Pop Boat Gallery

New, A Solar Powered Pop Pop Boat: Georges Quénot!

My first reaction--because there's so much hoax material on Youtube--was that maybe there's a little candle under the boiler, blocked from view. But looking at other videos on his channel it's pretty clear that this French experimenter is the real deal: a dedicated experimenter.
I have to admit I have a tinge of, "I wish I'd thought of that!"

I was made aware of this and so many other interesting things by Mark, who runs the YouTube channel Resonanttheme. Mark makes the most extrordinary little thermo-kinetic machines--mostly "jumpers" and "rockers". So creative and made from inexpensive consumer products that have absolutly nothing to do with engines, and yet they work!

Robert from Austraria

Almost all putt putt boats have 2 outlet pipes, but Rob of Brisbane Australia found a rare, single pipe design. I wondered if filling the boiler could be a problem, but Rob wrote,

"I fill the boiler by inserting a length of small diameter nylex tubing down inside the outlet tube, and then run water into the metal tube. The inner nylex then acts as an air release bleeder tube and the boiler fills up. The first expulsions of water and steam seem to push out whatever is excess, and the remainder commences to pulse in the usual Put-put manner. "

Rob replaced the missing cabin and repaired the leaky boiler. We would both like to know more about singe-pipe pop pops! Click on the images for larger view.

Gabriel and his daughter from California

Gabriel from California sent me this wonderful picture of his daughter and her science fair project about pop pop boats. Below, in the tub, you can see the simple foam boat. .

Louisa, Evie and Rachel from England

Louisa wrote from England and told me about making putt putt boats with her friends Evie and Rachel. The first engine did not putt, but they were determined to make a working boat. Putt putt boats are challenging and can be frustrating. But for those who are willing work through the problems—and build another if the first doesn’t work—success is sweet. Loisa wrote, "Just 15 minutes ago our boat successfully did 4 laps of my bath before we accidentally blew the candle out with our cheering!"

Young people who do not give up are the ones who make the world a better place. Hats off to these friends who had the grit to rebuild until it worked!

Gina Thompson’s 8th grade classes from California

Sometimes I get so wound up with technical details that I forget to have fun, but Gina Thompson’s 8th grade classes in California obviously had fun. Nearly 70 students designed the boats as well as making the engines. People sometimes have trouble sealing where the straws go through the bottom of the boat and into the water. But here her students show great ingenuity, obviating the need for a perfect seal by engineering catamaran pontoon boats. And with such creativity and class!

Melissa Draper from Utah

Melissa Draper in Utah belongs to a home-school co-op, “just a group of homeschool families who get together so their youth can have some good interaction with others and have a chance to learn something from someone besides mom.” She believes that hands-on learning is important, and acts on it with the group of kids whom she works with.

I usually discourage people from using tea candles—not enough heat—but their boat is obviously running just fine. Melissa even made the hull from some tall aluminum cans her husband emptied, epoxied together; although she allows that cartons are safer for kids. Turns out she is a fiber artist, too.

One of the most fun parts of my website hobby is hearing from people and families who make science projects!

Deanne Bishop and her Students from Nebraska

Deanne Bishop in Nebraska is another great teacher who challenges her high school students to create hands-on projects that harness science. Here her students made a double engine boat that works well. I don't know if it goes faster, but I suspect that it pulls more than a single engine boat would.

Mike Lampert's 9th grade students

Oregon teacher Mike Lampert's 9th grade students make putt putt boats as part of a way to introduce energy concepts in a hands-on way. This student noticed the soot from the candle (caused by incomplete burning when the flame is close) on the bottom of the steam engine and developed an aluminum sleeve. I like this: how some go to the extra work of providing hands-on learning experiences for their students; and students who look beyond what the assignmen requirest. I think this young person has a bright future.

There's more work, more setup, potentially more mess for teachers who expose thier students hands-on projects like this. I hope that students and administrators appreciate the teachers who rise to this challeng rather than just teach to standardized tests.

Geert-Jan and His Son from Netherlands

Geert-Jan in the Netherlands was looking for a cool project to do at his son's birthday party. Soon he was hooked, making amazing variations. "This is worse then smoking I can not stop (don't worry I don't smoke)." I think he was joking; anyhow, we agreed that it's a nice state of mind. Sometimes my thinking goes a bit rigid. I don't like "tea candles" (first picture) because they don't deliver enough heat, but Geert-Jan added another wick. Geert-Jan liked the sound of boats with up to 4 engines. You can see more boats, his rudder system, etc.(and the cool kids events he holds) here or click a picture. I think the boat with the Canadian flag is a shout out to Daryl Foster, whom we all admire.

Frederico Quintiero from Argentina

Speaking of being hooked, Frederico Quintiero of Argentina sent this picture of his experiments. I know just how it is, almost a fever that consumes! Frederico's picture reminds me of when I was in my innovation mode, engines appeared all over the house. The 5 minute epoxy adhesive used for the engines sets faster when it is warm. So I put the engines on top of the warm rice cooker, to my wife's dismay. Ah, good times!

Daniel Meltzer and His Son

Daniel Meltzer of New York City wrote, " My family and I were watching "Ponyo" two nights ago, and marvelling over their candle-powered boat. None of us had ever seen a contraption like this, but we could tell that it was based on something real, not Ponyo's magic. So I googled 'Ponyo's boat'and I found your website." Daniel built it with his 6 year old son and below is the bathtub test.

Diego Torres

Diego Torres in Mexico built this boat with his 8 years old daughter, below. He has uploaded some cool kite videos on his channel, too.

John Carr from UK

Hi, Just emailing to say thanks for the instructions, I made the engine and it worked first time (after I fixed a leak during the pressure test). Great job. Decided to go for a catamaran style as I had some foam board laying around, a bit of hot glue and an elastic band and the boat is up and running. Worked fine with a tea light as well, birthday candle probably had more power but the tealight is less hassle to keep in position.Thanks again,

John Carr
Newcastle UK

Zhiyang TEH

Here's a double engine boat by Zhiyang TEH

Huu Thang from Vietnam

Huu Thang is a 16 year old student inVietnam who started making putt putt boats for school competion. This boat is loud and powerful.

Jill G

Jill G., a home schooler, and son Leo got theirs working on the first try. They wanted to know more about how it works--simultaniously ejecting water while being replenished. I've added so many rambling odds and ends to these pages that navigation is difficult, but I do have a page that attempts to explain a bit about how the cycle works here.

Amal Abdo, Faris and Basel from Saudi Arabia

Dear Mr. Sharrison,
First of all, thank you for this WONDERFUL website and the very clear presentations and instructions that you provide.
I am from Saudi Arabia and I have two boys: Faris 6 and Basel 3. My son Faris is the little scientist in our family. He loves science and really enjoys making projects himself.
We worked on the pop pop steam boat project for a school presentation that Faris had last school semester. We made two engines and two boats (we had to make one for the 3 year old Basel too!). We started by the foam boat and then made the 3D one. Our boats worked perfectly from the first try and that was VERY exciting to all of us. Most importantly, the kids enjoyed working on this project so much and we enjoyed making it with them too :).
Attached are some pictures and a video of the project.Thanks again!!

Best Regards,
Amal Abdo (Faris and Basel's Mother).

Jimmy Conner

Jimmy Conner has been experimenting with putt putt boats and converted one of his hulls to a functioning sail boat. He's also flying walkalong gliders--a bit hit at school--and modifying the talk box. Jimmy has has some interesting videos on his YouTube channel of train models that are powered by live steam and you can really ride them.

Hieu Tran Trung from Vietnam

Hieu Tran Trung from Vietnam innovated a simple milk box for the hull and a plastic lid for the candle holder.

Troy Black

Here is a well-built boat from Troy Black, who is an avid RC plane builder and sometimes tinkers with RC boats. " This was a nice diversion from the more complex models I usually build and operate and my wife even thought it was "so cute". She never says that about the model airplanes I build."

And following is a cautionary tale from Troy about a drawback of boating on a large pond. "On the last run of the day, the boiler tubes lost their prime in the middle of the pond. It was too far out to retrieve it quickly so I was unable to blow out the candle flame. It continued to heat up, eventually burning the epoxy and setting the cabin on fire. I think the Krylon paint added to the flammability and it became an inferno for about 5 minutes while slowly drifting to

Alex Haw

Here is a boat made by Alex Haws, themed after Forrest Gump's shrimp boat, with a candle holder variation.

James Hefner from Texas

James Hefner of Texas has been around "live steam" for awhile but liked the idea of making a steam engine with stuff around the home and no soldering. "My son made one for his science project at school. The candle shifted and slightly scorched the roof; but the end result came out fine. He got a 100 for his project, and his was one of three picked to go to a science fair in Dallas. So, it was a big hit."

Alex from Texas

Here is another Alex, from Texas, who reported that the boat was so loud his mother could heard it from inside. He's been flying the gliders, and his next project is the hot air balloon.

Matt Naiva and his son William

Here's a picture and video sent by Matt Naiva and his son William. Their boat really moves fast!

Adam and his dad from England

Here is a picture that Adam and his dad, from England, made. Notice the tire that's been cut in half and filled with water. Great idea! And is that an air rocket launcher I see in the back?

Alba and Rocío from Spain

Here is a note and picture of a boat made by some young people in Spain.

Hello. Nice to meet you.
We are two girls, Alba and Rocío, we live in Barcelona (Spain). We are 14 year old and we are studying the put-putt boats for a job in Secondary school.
We liked very much to see your Web. The first thing is to thank you your explication since to do the boat. We have made the boat and enough good works to us. We send a video and photos for you can see it and since it has left to us.

Erin Kermanikian and her son William

Erin Kermanikian and her son William worked on their boat in little bits after school and work, with William doing as much as he could safely. Now they are thinking about making the boat part out of wood.

Dan Everette and Dan Jr

Here is a letter and some pictures from Dan Everette and Dan Jr.

Dear Slater:

We did get the engine properly assembled on the first try and have had several good runs with the "putt putt". After a few good experiments in the bath tub we took it out to a local park and tried it in a pond. I have attached 2 photo's for you to enjoy.

Mark Horovitz

Here is a beautiful coil-type pop pop by Mark Horovitz. You can find Mark's instructions here.

Miguel in Madrid

Here is a tin version of the boat by Miguel in Madrid. He also made a rudder.

M.Lemaitre Michel from Belgium

Here is a YouTube video by M.Lemaitre Michel who is a teacher in Belgium, of a pop pop in a pond. Unfortunately, he reports that boat was lost. However, he said that he has others to replace it!

Illinois kindergarten teacher Gail and her husband

Here is a boat made by Illinois kindergarten teacher Gail and her accountant husband for a 4th of July party.

Derek and son Mikey Cook

Here is a picture as well as a video from dad Derek and son Mikey Cook. The video is mostly slides, but there is some kinetic video at the testing phase.

Tony in Victoria, Australia

Here's another tin hull from Tony in Victoria, Australia. His region is deep in drought--ponds are dried up, even pools can't be filled--so he faced some challenges testing it. Tony told me his 93 year old father in England made some sort of pop pop from lead electrical sheathing. I'm hoping to get some details from him.

Ashton and his dad Grant from England

Below is a boat made in 3 evenings by 11 year old Ashton and his dad Grant, in England. Note the modified hull design, the re-formed paper clip in the back to hold the boiler to the right tilt and the "tea candle" burner.

Clifford and his son

And below is a picture of Clifford and his son's boat with an interesting foam body. Clifford says he plans to experiment with flexible tubes rather than straws.

Alan Raubenheimer of Rose Boats

Here is a picture of a fine boat crafted and sent to me by Mr. Alan Raubenheimer of Rose Boats, PO Box 217, Napier 7270, South Africa.

John Green of Capetown, South Africa

And here is some fine craftsmanship from John Green of Capetown, South Africa. He relates that he nearly bought a Rose boat (above) and now wishes that he had.

Great Launcher Variations and Innovations

Pablo Betancur

Pablo Betancur is an extraordinary teacher in Colombia who takes the time and effort to create hands-on learning experiences for his students. They took the simple launcher principle and designed double and even (at the end) quadruple launchers (everyone has to let go at the same time)!

Multiple Launcher by Mark, Victoria and Lelia Schilke

It reminds me of Hydra from Greek mythology--if you cut one off, do two appear in it's place! Brilliant! Note that Small Parts Inc sells a check valve that has worked well for me (to keep water from back washing into a pump with a check valve that didn't work).

Here is Mark's September 2010 e-mail verbatim:

Dear Mr. Harrison:

My daughters Victoria and Lelia (now ages 8 and 5, respectively) very much enjoyed making the water rocket last year. They have used it again and again -- in our backyard, at the park, at a Mensa gathering, at our church picnic, et cetera. Thank you for detailing its construction on your web site!!!

This month, we added a new feature: multiple launch capability. By cutting the main vertical tube and adding two four-way junctions, our launcher now has five branches and somewhat resembles a candelabrum. Rather than depending on perfectly simultaneous trigger fingers, which is virtually impossible to achieve, we added to each branch an in-line check valve that we invented. Each of the two-liter bottles can thusly hold its pressure until its trigger cord is pulled. Without the check valves, the first launch(es) would cause the pressure to be purged from the remaining bottles.
To make the check valves, we spun a 1/2" PVC end cap in a drill press and narrowed its diameter by holding first a rasp and then a piece of coarse sandpaper against the cap's side -- until it was small enough to fit inside a 3/4" PVC coupling. (This step would have been easier on a lathe, but ours is out of commission.) Then we drilled a 5/16" hole in the domed end of the cap so that a Presta valve stem from an old bicycle tube would fit through. A bead of caulk around the base of the valve stem helps seal it to the cap. The skinny Presta valve was left open, and a 3/4"-to-1/2" adapter on the other end allows the big coupling to fit the smaller pipe.

The attached photos show how the check valve pieces fit together and how the finished launcher looks. Note the 1" x 2" stiffener board lashed to the central column. With five bottles loaded and ready for launch, the monstrosity is VERY top heavy. We were too wet from the test launches to take any pictures of it in action, but I'm sure you can imagine the pressurized deluge blasting us from above. By the way, it takes A LOT of pumping for a five-way launch to be ready for lift-off -- but Pascal's Law assures that all bottles get their fair share. For single launches, we added a feature that is not readily apparent from the photo: we can unscrew the center from the four-way branch assembly and use it by itself on the base.

Thank you again for all the great ideas for science projects on your web site!!!

Sincerely, Mark

Tracy Bahr

Here is a clever variation of a launcher which is self-supporting on a sturdy frame, sent by Tracy Bahr of Wisconsin, made for his cub scout pack. It's a little hard to see, but the red arrow points to the valve that the air pumphooks to.

Andrew and Colin Baillie

Andrew Baillie and his son Colin discovered that a common 1 1/4 inch slip joint could substitute for the 1 1/2 inch pipe, saving people from having to buy a whole pipe when they only need 2 inches of it. They also made a frame, and added pressure gages right into their launchers!

Galen Payne and his son

Galen Payne and his son in Vancouver, WA came up with some interesting innovations. They strengthened the spring with a couple of rubber bands. And, they added an inexpensive PVC slip ball valve to the bottom of the rocket. Here's how he came up with it:

"You might find this funny - The reason we came up with the idea, is because my 8 yo son was curious one day (in the garage of our suburban home) and pumped up the rocket with the compressor. There we were with a loaded rocket in my garage, in a neighborhood of 6000 sq' lots with nowhere safe to launch it. Thank goodness it did not fire, could you imagine that thing going off in the garage? Anyway, we where able to deflate it with the tire valve, but I decided a ball valve would be easier and faster. Galen"

That gave me the idea to shoot paper air rockets like this from the launcher. We had to lengthen the handle to provide the leverage to snap open the valve quickly and add a removable length of pipe at the bottom. But you won't believe how high the rockets launch with all that stored up air pressure. Now I'm trying to design some paper rockets that don't get crunched up when they hit the ground. Then I'll get up some instructions.

Sealing Variations

People have developed some variations. In particular, if you cannot melt a bump to seal the rocket (maybe you can only find metal pipe that is the correct diameter) they show how to make it with tape. Also a clever way to use a bicycle inner tube for the valve that I had not thought of.

Abhinav

Abhinav in Texas used the hollow case of a pen instead of a bicycle valve and hot glue to hold it in/seal. The footvalve in the pump is what keeps the air from going back out, not the tire valve. If the air pump chuck slips off you might be able so sand around the outside to get a better grip.

Christopher Bassett

Christopher Bassett shows that PVC pipe is very adaptable to innovations you want to try (125 psi is higher than I would want to be close to).

"In the pictures attached, I have my design on a double base. The bottom square puts the weight into the ground and the second square gets the launch tube off the ground. The two center poles touching the ground are mainly for stabilization. The center hole between those two is for water drainage. Near the bottom, to assist the center of gravity, is the compressed air inlet which then elbows up to a T of the launch tube. This is for prevention of water in the air line. The bottom valve is to blow water out the bottom and the top valve is to charge the bottle then shut off so that when the launch is commenced, the compressed air isn't just being released. As well it assists with the reloading. The highest T is for a future pressure gauge so I know for sure when the bottle is fully charged so that I can shut off the air from the tank. The design is set to have the pipe between the two valves at tank pressure. This happens to be 125 psi for me. Lastly, If I were to do it over again I would take Mr. Salvador Robert's advice and thicken the pipes for I have quite a stabilization issue sometimes, especially when I fill the bottle over half full. Thanks again for inspiring me to make a water rocket launcher as well as providing a great base design."

Gary and Dorothy Morse

Gary Morse has found a way to mix water rocket balloon launching with fireworks!

"I wanted to thank you for your inspiration concerning water rocket launchers. This is my 12th one and I finished it an hour ago. I have sent one like it to Germany in kit form and several out of Arizona where I live to other states. I usually launch water balloons, and a lemon sized balloon will travel easily 1/4 mile but I try to send them up at about a 3 degree angle which means they go about 250 - 300 feet away. I found polyurethane glue available at Home Depot in large caulking tubes is perfectly suited for gluing the two bottles together and have shot the same bottle several hundred times. Buying used pvc pipe and fittings on Craigslist has enabled me to build one for around ten dollars. If fireworks are legal in your state they can be taped to the water balloon and lit immediately before launch. The firecracker attached pops in the air making a very interesting rain cloud aprox. 2' dia. Gary and Dorothy Morse "

Daniel Berry

Correspondent Daniel Berry says that a kind of Mexican soda bottle works better than the kind sold in the U.S. I know some serious rocketeers intentionally heat and re-form bottles to be longer, and here it's already done for you.

Hot Air Balloon Gallery

Jessica Smith and Her Boys

I am homeschooling my 6 and 8 year old boys this year and since we're reading The Twenty One Balloons, I got the idea to see if it would be possible to make a real, flyable hot air balloon. I was SO happy to find your site and your excellent step-by-step videos. The following are the pictures we took of our process (our son made the balloon with an older friend). They were very able to do most of the steps fairly independently, which was fun to see. We were able to get the right kind of custodial grade bag from our church, where they had rolls of them. GREAT PROJECT! --Jessica Smith