Roaming Eyes

Sometimes ideas come to you in a flash. I had purchased some large glass test tubes from the sale bin at Michaels. I didn’t know yet what I would do with them but that didn’t stop me.

The idea came to me in a meditative ideation session. I practice these with my eyes closed, and as is usually the case, the idea appeared in a flash… eyes in a test tube. Why? I have no idea, but I can always tell when an inspiration is worth pursuing when I feel goosebumps on my back.

(For more about my meditative ideation practice, see https://creativeshoofly.com/e/meditative-ideation/)

I envisioned three small eyes looking back and forth at random. The question was, how to make it work? After a bit of rumniation, I thought of cell phone motors. Did you know that all cell phones have tiny motors in them? They are there to make your phone vibrate. Here is a quick sketch I made.

So I purchased a pack of cell phone motors from a surplus store, along with an Arduino Nano and some motor driver boards. My idea was to connect the motors to the motor drivers, and then randomly turn on the motors for 100 to 200ms.

The most difficult part was finding tubing that would fit on the motor shafts. The shaft diameter is 0.8mm and I had to find shafts that would have a snug fit. It took me a while to find it, but the solution was hollow aluminum model aircraft tubing.

The aluminum shafts are extremely fragile. I did not want to attach them to the motors with super glue because I feared that the glue would run into the motor bearings. But as it turned out, they were a snug fit. I was able to fit them on the motors without glue.

The eyes themselves are small wooden beads. I painted them white with black pupils. I got the whole thing assembled on a small platform.

The program was straightforward. But when I first tried it I found that 100ms was much too long. The eyes were spinning around and around. So I finally settled on 4ms to 6ms. With that timing the eyes make about a 1/4 turn.

 

This is one of those projects that is just a joy from beginning to end. From the flash of inspiration to the final assembly and testing. I really thought that I would not be able to find shafts that would fit the motors. But it all worked out in the end.

Have you ever had a flash of inspiration that led to an unexpected and joyful project?

This piece is now a part of my home Cabinet of Curiosities. Did you know that the concept of the modern museum originates from cabinets of curiosity, or Wunderkammern as they were known then?