by TikiLuke

A Mechanical flapping bird toy. I wanted to try my hand at a moving mechanical toy. I decided that the head needed to turn and it does. Move its tail and the wings flap and the beak opens. It's a fairly complicated build and you do need to sand the parts that come into contact with each other if they are not smooth. It's a clean and satisfying build when it's done though. Sand and file away until it moves freely and it will flap and do all of its movements though. I am experimenting with various print in place joints and there's (4) in the wings and (1) in the neck. They are a bit fragile as the layer lines run horizontally so they can break kind of easily. I will update them if I have time to work on them but they do work just fine. There's a linkage that runs out of the feet that can be used to automate the whole thing if you are inclined to make a lever or motorize it. I've included a perch for the bird to sit on as the mechanical crank stand is still not working properly. It seems that a great deal of the movement is caught up in the slop of the 3D printed parts so the whole bird moves a little less than expected.

I've included a head file with and without feathers... I like without but the feathered version is a little fancier.

Parts list:
1x Central pivot plate a
1x Central pivot plate b
1x Body Left
1x Body Right
1x head Left
1x Head Right
2x Wing Flap Linkage
4x Wing Pivot
1x Wing flap Connector
2x Wing flap linkage rod
1x Wing Left
1x Wing Right
1x Upper Beak
1x Lower Beak
1x Lower Beak Tab
1x Legs
1x Tail
Lots of 3mm and 4mm pins. Print a bunch and trim to size if necessary. Metal ones work better but the printed ones seem to do just fine.
Optional for moving the whole thing through the feet:
1x Push Rod

Optional for display:
1x Perch a
1x Perch b
1x Perch base

Have fun and please post a make if you construct it! I spent a long time designing this thing and am excited to share it and see someone else make it!

• I started to work on the mechanical crank base that is pictured but haven't had time to finish it. I will post it if I do and am happy with how it performs.