Hawk automaton

A red kite in gliding pose, 10.2 in from tip to tip, standing on the machine that beats its wings. 7 printed panels make the bird; the other 31 parts make the wingbeat.

The automaton seen from directly above: cocoa-brown wing panels swept back to slotted tips, a deep forked tail, and a black gear box just showing under the shoulders.

From above, almost all of it is bird: swept wings, slotted tips, the deep forked tail that names a kite in the air. Only the gear box shows through.

Wingtip to wingtip, 10.2 in.

From above it is a bird. Swept wings, slotted tips, a forked tail — and almost none of the machine showing.

Come down to the desk and the other half arrives: the kite is standing on a gear box.

Head on, the machine is the whole picture: 8 thin links fanning up from two gears into the underside of the wings.

Fade the panels and nothing is hidden. 8 links, 8 staples, two gears, one shaft, and no cover over any of it.

44 teeth on each gear, meshed one to one — so the cranks turn opposite ways and the wings mirror.

Set down, the whole thing takes 2.9 × 2.3 in of desk and stands 7.0 in tall.

Nothing is covered

Head on, the drive reads in one go. Two gears stand over the box with a crank on each, and from the cranks four links a side fan up to the wings, each one ending in a staple pinned to a panel. Turn the handle at the back of the base and the whole fan swings. There is no shell anywhere on it, so the machine has to be the ornament as well.

The automaton head on: two toothed gears standing on a black box, with eight thin links fanning up from them to the underside of the cocoa wings.
a
Base
80 × 63 × 32 mm. The handle shaft runs its length; a pinion on the end of it drives one gear.
b
Crank gear
44 teeth at module 1, 46 mm over the tips. The only thing it drives is its twin.
c
Link
A 3.4 mm plate, four a side. The crank pin swings the bottom end; the wing follows the top.
d
Staple
8 of them. Each pins one link to the panel above it and takes the load at the joint.
e
Panel
Cocoa, 7 in all — the only parts of this picture you see from above.

Seven panels make a bird

The kite is 7 printed pieces: a body, and three a side. The seams run across the wing where a kite's own feather groups divide, so the joins read as plumage rather than as parts — and the tip panel, the one carrying the slotted primaries, is the piece that does it.

Three-quarter view of the automaton: the cocoa bird with its wings raised in a shallow V above the black gear box and pedestal.
  • 1Body — head, breast and the forked tail in one piece
  • 2Inner wing — the shoulders, where the links come up
  • 2Outer wing — the long middle of the span
  • 2Tip — the slotted primaries

Two colours, and they divide the object exactly: cocoa for the bird, black for everything that moves it.

From above it is a bird and from underneath it is a linkage, and it is the same object either way.

Sizes and counts measured on the assembly itself; weight and time on the printer come from the slicer.

Overall
10.2 × 5.1 × 7.0 in
Wingtip to wingtip
10.2 in
On the desk
2.9 × 2.3 in
Weight
5.6 oz
Parts
38
Panels
7
Gear pair
44 teeth, 46 mm
Time on the printer
19.1 h