NB: This product is for personal or educational use only.

Not for Resale: the plans or parts cut cannot be resold.

ECTS
I N G PROJ
AK
N I C AL M
A
MECH
M ATA
AU T O R I N G K I T
I N K E
T
A practical pegboard kit
for testing mechanisms
and movements
while experimenting
with automata

NOTES FOR
LASER CUTTING
 AUTOMATA TINKERING KIT
Parts List

4x Short T-peg
3x Long T-peg

1x Handle Crank

4x Circular Support Peg

1x Platform 3x Linkage Peg

1x Pegboard and 2x feet

2x Bell Crank

4x Long Square Peg

2x Short Square Peg 1x Wide Support Peg

2x 2-hole Support Peg

4x Spacer

4x Cam Follower End

4x Cam
2x Gear Wheel

1x Ratchet Wheel

2x Crank Wheel

1x 5-hole 1x 3-hole
2x Pawl / Detent
2x 11-hole
NB: This page shows all the parts that are laser cut.
1x 17-hole The pegboard and feet are cut from 6mm plywood.
Everything else is cut from 3mm. Sizes do vary and
the ply we currently use is actually 3.15mm & 5.95 (and
we’ve also used 3.2 and 6.2 successfully).

"3mm": In the US 1/8" ply (3.18mm) presumably varies

as much as 3mm does here so probably close enough
since our 3mm seems to be between 3.1 and 3.2.
"6mm": 1/4" is 6.35 which is close enough to our 6.2 but
a bit far from 5.9. Obviously it depends which way the
variation goes but hopefully people won't mind having
to sand the feet or pack out the joint if need be.
2x side pieces & 1x
inner pieces for The pulleys need to be glued from the cut parts (see
two pulleys left).

See the next page for other parts that you’ll need to
The 3mm parts fit within a 33 x 18cm area. The buy or make.
6mm parts fit within a 25 x 22cm area.
3
AUTOMATA TINKERING KIT
Laser Cutting Files
Main Files
There is one file for the 3mm parts and
one file for the 6mm parts. The 6mm
parts are the pegboard and its feet. All
the other parts are in the 3mm file. They
are provided in dxf and SVG formats.

TechSoft Design (formerly 2D Design)

This software is popular in UK schools so
we provide separate files to make it
easier to use. These files are in a separate
folder and named with TS-r13 at the end.
See the import dialog image - note scale
needs to be set to 1000% and mm.

Test Files
There are also two test files, for 3mm and
6mm which allow you to check your
laser’s kerf and ensure the pieces will fit
well before cutting the whole kit.

Size Check
The piece selected in the image below
should show as 20mm radius (40mm
Techsoft DXF Import Dialog diameter) in your laser cutting software.
 AUTOMATA TINKERING KIT
Additional Parts
5x Pivot Dowel Dowel:
5mm (3/16" dowel is 4.76mm which is
2x Short Dowel the nearest imperial equivalent but may
be too small. 5mm dowel is available on
US amazon so we hope it should be
1x Long Dowel readily available). You should cut the
following lengths:
1x Handle Dowel - 14mm long pivots x5
- 30mm x1 for the handle
- 100mm x2
- 200mm x1
The dowel lengths are not super critical
but for the 14mm, if they are short you
might have trouble when stacking
20x O-rings multiple pieces on the same pivot (cams
and pulleys for example) and if they are
too long they might get in the way of
certain mechanisms.
Example on Amazon: [Link]
[Link]/gp/product/B07GK2MKTC/ O-rings:
We provide 20 in the kit but you rarely
need that many at once. They are Nitrile
Rubber O-Rings 8mm OD (Outside
Diameter) and 4mm ID (Inside
Diameter), 2mm wide.

2x Plastic Tube Plastic tube:

We use two 25mm long pieces of 6mm
OD (Outside Diameter) and 4.8mm ID
Example on eBay: [Link] (Inside Diameter). We’ve also used
[Link]/itm/313457619881 Style: Round drinking straws - the hole is usually
Tube, 6mm x 250mm. slightly bigger so a piece of masking
tape is needed on the dowel for a tight
fit.

Rubber / Elastic Bands:

We use 2 bands that are approximately
2x Rubber Bands 7cm diameter. Buying online is difficult
due to the inconsistent way sizes are
described so you may need to
Example on Amazon: [Link] experiment.
[Link]/Anwangda-Colorful-Stationery-
Document-Organizing/dp/B09TW3K533
 Test Files

The image above is of the 6mm test file. The image below is of the 3mm test
file. These files are provided to test the thickness of your plywood before you
commit to cutting the whole kit. For example, if the joints are too loose, then
your ply is too thin.

The 6mm test is less important than the 3mm because it’s easy to adjust the
fitting of the 6mm feet by sanding if too tight, or packing out if too loose.

Once you’ve cut the parts please refer to the separate instructions PDF and
see videos here:

[Link]

If you have problems or suggestions please email gary@[Link] or use

the contact form on our website: [Link]

NB: This product is for personal or educational use only. Not for Resale: the
plans or parts cut cannot be resold.
CARRY ON
TINKERING
This kit has been used as a development
tool in our online Automata Tinkering
Global Workshops since 2020.

It is a really great way of learning by

doing, and is a valuable starting point
to test your own automata designs.

You can add wire, paper and other

materials as you continue to play
with the mechanisms.

Share your creations with the

automata community using
#CMTmaking
DISCOVER MORE

Find out more about our workshops and kits:

[Link]

Join the CMT Makers mailing list and be the first

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DESIGN: [Link] © Cabaret Mechanical Theatre 2023