The Brief: Design and build a self-operating machine that celebrates mechanisms and machine elements and demonstrate an engaging movement. The objective is to produce a 3-D printed automaton that effectively integrates mechanisms and machine elements such as gears cams, linkages, ratches, and/or other elements to perform an engaging kinetic representation of a cause, consequence, or solution of contemporary climate change.

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As someone who transitioned from car culture and smoggy skylines in LA to getting around London by cycle or public transport, I had to comment on air pollution caused by cars. I designed a three stage diorama representing a pumpjack oil drilling, a V8 engine pumping smoke, and CO2 molecule trapped in Earth's atmosphere.

 

I employed a gear drive to connect all three stages together along with linkages and cams to simulate the realistic movement of the pumpjack and engine. I started with rough concept sketching then moved over to Fusion 360 for modeling the diorama to print size. Thank you to my friend Yankai Zhou for allowing me to use his FlashForge 3D printer for this project. The consistency and finished texture of the prints came out beautiful with the red white blue color scheme. I learned a lot about tolerances for 3D print prototyping and assemblies, and how to redesign for better fits and smoother interactions. All parts are recycled PLA printed.