SPIN ART
ROBOT

Materials: 

1. The printed template

2. A solar motor

3. Conductive tape with conductive adhesive

4. Two three volt button cells (CR2032)

5. A binder clip

6. Hot glue

7. Markers

8. Craft supplies: scissors, paper glue, some cardboard, tape, and a tooth pick (BETTER: a pin!)

Tip: Strip more of the wires insulation before giving the motors to kids (3-5 mm bare wire is fine). Use a wire stripper or scissors for this job.

Digital Download for Teachers

Visit my Teachers Pay Teachers store to download the following:

• All the templates you need for this project.

• My electronics shopping guide for this project (more here)

• Access to my Stress-Free Workshop page

• And much more!

Playful Electronics DIY Kit

Visit my Etsy shop to order my Playful Electronics DIY kit, which includes this project, the Pixel Art Cube and the RGB Touch Cube. You will receive:

• All the electronics you need (except button cells)

• Conductive tape

• All the templates you need

Cut out template

First cut out the different pieces of the template. Glue the small circles to a piece of cardboard.

Cut out cardboard discs

Cut out the two small cardboard discs.

Poke a hole through the discs

Stack both discs and put them on the table. Poke a hole through the middle. Try not to bend/fold the cardboard discs. Update: Use a pin for this! It is much easier!

Put discs on motor

Put both discs on the motors shaft and make sure they are aligned evenly.

Glue discs to shaft

Take one disc off and put a big drop of hot glue on the motor's shaft. Then put the other disc back on.

Make sure everything is aligned

Make sure the discs are aligned evenly and do not touch the motor itself. If possible have the motors shaft stick out a tiny bit on the other side. We use this to center the paper disc later!

Trace circuit

Now, trace the circuit shown in the template with conductive tape.

If you want to learn more about working with conductive tape, check out my basics page.

Add tape to motor

Add a strip of tape to the motor. Cut the overlapping part every few millimeters.

attach motor to circuit

Bend the small strips of tape outwards and attach the motor to the center of the circuit.

attach wires to circuit

Attach the two wires to the two ends of the circuit using strips of conductive tape. Press down firmly, because often this will be a loose connection.

Attach paper disc

Use a bit of paper glue and attach the paper disc to the motors shaft. Use the center hole in the paper disc to center it.

make Some art!

Now, start spinning the disc and make some art!

Use different colors and techniques. You can press down on the spinning disc further to make sure the circles go all around the disc. Or you only touch the disc to make very cool-looking imperfect circles.

Pouring Colors on your Spin Art robot

If you use liquid colors you can turn your Spin Art Robot into an action painting robot! 

Tape two sheets of paper together to create a cylinder. Put it around the Spin Art Robot to catch airborne paint. Now start pouring. You can try different techniques: 

• make the colors more liquid or more paste-like

• give colors some time to dry in-between or mix them while wet

• pour fast or slow

• pour into the middle or at the edge of the disk

• etc.

Here are a two more tips: 

• When the disk gets wet, it might bend down, getting stuck as soon as you want to restart the disk. You have to flatten it again to start spinning it (the motors are really weak!)

• Either cut a hole into the surrounding paper cylinder to access the switch or lock the switch into position using a paper clip.