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Showing posts from April, 2011

Bike Wheel Zoetrope

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In the quest to make a larger display version of our mini zoetropes, we used a 16'' bike wheel for the base and a scaled up tape method for making the slots.  We were lucky enough to get a large roll of 14'' x .6mm PETG plastic (vacuum forming stock) for the drum and used black duct tape to block the spaces between the slots. Companies like McMaster-Carr, or Tap Plastics or even you local art store may carry similar material. The key is to find a material that can hold the tape without sagging and is not prone to creasing or tearing.  In order to get the slots even we cut off a sheet of plastic slightly longer than the circumference of the wheel and then used 1/4'' masking tape to evenly mark off the positions of the slots.  We then covered the gaps between the masking tape with black duct tape on both sides and finally removed the masking tape to create the slots.             We attached the slotted drum to the bike wheel by removing some of the spokes in a