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Bubble Machine
by Jayefuu on March 12, 2012

Table of Contents

Bubble Machine . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1

Intro: Bubble Machine . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2

Step 1: Tools & Materials . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4

File Downloads . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4

Step 2: Trough . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4

Step 3: Bubble Ring . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6

Step 4: Motion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6

Step 5: Blower . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7

Step 6: Power . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7

Step 7: Assembly . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7

Step 8: Operation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9

Related Instructables . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10

Advertisements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11

Comments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11

http://www.instructables.com/id/Bubble-Machine/
Intro: Bubble Machine
Making your own bubble machine is a really easy and fun project. It can be made from almost anything, glued and screwed together with an end result which will keep
kids (and adults!) amused for hours.

With basic electronics of just a fan and a motor, a bubble machine is also a really easy first electronics project. This one I threw together with spare minutes here and
there across the period of a week. The longest part was waiting for the centrifugal fan to arrive from Amazon, the best part was making a lot of mess in the Instructables
office before realising that the shower would be a better place to blow bubbles while testing.

My bubble machine was made to keep my friends' toddler amused. She loves bubbles but is at an age where blowing them herself is rather hit or miss (not to mention
messy). She spent a VERY happy 15 minutes running through and around them in the street outside, afterwhich the adults stepped in to play with heating the bubbles to
see if they'd go higher, or experimenting with different bubble mixes to see if any where noticably better.

Earn 3 months pro membership: Anyone who makes their own bubble machine and posts a photo in the comments will get a code for 3 months of pro membership
from me.

Image Notes Image Notes

1. Head of product testing. 1. Robot helping me test it on the Instructables fire escape.

http://www.instructables.com/id/Bubble-Machine/
 Image Notes
1. "MOAR bubbles!"

http://www.instructables.com/id/Bubble-Machine/
Step 1: Tools & Materials
These are the tools and materials that I used for my bubble machine. Yours will differ greatly depending on what you have available. This is a great project to do with
scraps, and odds and ends all hacked together. It doesn't have to look amazing to be a lot of fun, it just has to work.

To make it easier for others to reproduce this, I've done away with my normal format of exactly what to use and instead broken it down into the five main components the
machine's made from. The 5 steps after this talk about what alternatives you could use and what each has to do to make a great bubble machine. I then give details on
how to assemble it if you did it exactly like mine.

Trough: To hold the bubble solution. It needs to be waterproof and not too shallow, that's it.

Bubble Ring: A ring of holes that will spin slowly through the trough picking up the bubble solution. As it lifts out of the trough the holes pass before a blower to form the
bubbles.

Motion: A slowly moving motor to spin the bubble ring. A continuous servo is perfect for this.

Blower: Something with a bit of puff. Will force the bubble liquid out of the holes in the ring, forming BUBBLES! I used this 12V centrifugal server fan from Amazon.

Power: A power source or two for the blower and spinner.

You'll also need nuts, bolts, hot glue or superglue to hold everything together.

The files I used for laser cutting are included in this step.

File Downloads

bubble_ring.dxf (193 KB)

[NOTE: When saving, if you see .tmp as the file ext, rename it to 'bubble_ring.dxf']

trough.eps.eps (11 KB)

[NOTE: When saving, if you see .tmp as the file ext, rename it to 'trough.eps.eps']
Step 2: Trough
This component could be a cut down milk carton, a tupperware food storage box, some plastic food packaging or an over-engineered, laser cut, orange acrylic, finger
jointed trough. I went this road as I enjoy using CAD and the laser cutter, tools a lot of people don't have.

All that matters is that it'll hold the liquid and you can mount your motor of choice onto it.

Mine was drawn in Alibre Design then the tabs were adding using a beta version of 123d plate which will hopefully soon be available as part of 123d . I then laser cut it in
1/8" acrylic and used super glue to hold it together. To waterproof the joints I ran a line of clear packing tape down the outside. I also included in the design some slots
raised above the trough on which to mount my servo. Hot glue would have worked equally well!

http://www.instructables.com/id/Bubble-Machine/
 Image Notes Image Notes
1. Slots to bolt the servo to. 1. Laser cut parts before removing the paper.
2. Finger jointed acrylic.

Image Notes
1. Trough parts on the laser cutter.

http://www.instructables.com/id/Bubble-Machine/
Step 3: Bubble Ring
Next you'll need something that will rotate through the trough to pick up the bubble liquid. Taking the wands out of a bumper pack of bubbles would be a great idea, then
glueing them in a circle and mounting the motor at the middle. Of course.... I didn't do that, it had to be laser cut to make use of a tool I had but didn't need.

Mine's cut from 1\8" acrylic with 16 holes around a 6" perimeter. Each hole has slots cut into it so that it'll hold more liquid. There are holes cut in the middle to mount it to
a standard servo arm with self tapping screws.

Step 4: Motion
Next, spinning your bubble ring in the trough. You'll need a motor that you can screw or glue your bubble ring to.

I went for a modified servo, it has a nice slow rotation and requires just two AA batteries. This tutorial by robomaniac shows you how to modify a servo to not require the
control signal. You could also use any geared motor from an electronics store or even a standard K'nex or Lego one.

Image Notes
1. Self tapping screws hold the ring to the servo.
2. Modified for continuous rotation with no control signal.

http://www.instructables.com/id/Bubble-Machine/
Step 5: Blower
I chose to use a $5 centrifugal fan from Amazon. It runs on 12V and has an air flow similar to a standard PC fan but over a much smaller area. Running at 9V it wasn't
strong enough, but on 12V it was perfect.

You could also use a hair dryer, heat gun on its cold setting, a small desk fan with a cone on it. I don't recommend reversing a vacuum cleaner, it made a lot of mess in
the Instructables office!

Step 6: Power
The power you'll need for your bubble machine will depend on the motor and blower you choose. I used 2 AA batteries for the servo motor and a 12V drill battery for the
blower.

What motors you choose to run will determine what battery or adaptor you need.

Step 7: Assembly
And here's how mine went together:

Photo 1: The servo is bolted to the trough with two M4 machine screws and nuts. The AA battery holder is hot glued to the trough and wires to the servo are soldered and
insulated.

Photo 2: The bubble ring is screwed on to the servo with 4 self tapping screws. Note how close to the bottom of the trough the ring must go so that it picks up every last
bit of bubble liquid.

Photo 3: A rear view of the ring on the servo.

Photo 4: A centrifugal fan is glued onto the back, pointing at the holes in the ring. Test where it has to point before glueing it, see where you get the best bubbles. I found
that with it pointing there the bubbles shot up as well as out. For testing I used a bench top power supply, outside I switched to a 12V cordless drill battery.

http://www.instructables.com/id/Bubble-Machine/
http://www.instructables.com/id/Bubble-Machine/
Step 8: Operation
So as you can see, I had a lot of fun building and playing with my bubble machine. It started out as a project to amuse a toddler and ended up also amusing a lot of
business men/women in downtown San Francisco as we blew bubbles off the Instructables fire escape.

A 12V cordless drill battery made a great portable power supply for the bubble machine, they're easily available and easily rechargable and much more convenient than
trailing wires from a benchtop supply.

The bubble solution I used was 1/2 dish washing liquid and 1/2 water as I soon ran out of the original bottle of miracle bubbles. This 50:50 mix worked really well, though
some people also recommend a spoon full of glycerine thrown in too.

Once whatever kid that the machine was intended for has grown bored and moved over, the adults get to play! It turns out that pre-heating the air with a hair drier or
blasting it high speed with a reversed shop vac is a lot of fun, though I'll leave you to find out why.

Image Notes Image Notes

1. Robot helping me test it on the Instructables fire escape. 1. Head of product testing.

http://www.instructables.com/id/Bubble-Machine/
Related Instructables

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World's Machine by by airtel.madurai Bubblebot: with Strawbees Fountain by
Smallest Bubble YuKonstruct Gigantic Bubble by YuKonstruct RebeccaS70
Machine by Generator by
Sjtech zvizvi

http://www.instructables.com/id/Bubble-Machine/
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Comments
50 comments Add Comment view all 61 comments

TweekyThingz says: Oct 11, 2015. 1:52 AM REPLY

Works great :)

PratheeshP2 says: Oct 6, 2015. 4:44 AM REPLY

taking inspiration from your design, i have designed a bubble machine which can be 3D printed. This also includes the centrifugal fan. all you require is one
geared toy motor and a standard toy motor.

Antzy Carmasaic says: Apr 13, 2012. 11:48 PM REPLY

I'm making one but I don't have a laser cutter. I'm cutting the circles out of about 1mm thick sheet of plastic. The problem is I'm using a cutter and even the
most careful cutting sometimes leaves miniscule sharp points. This doesnt let the bubble form.
Anyone got any ideas how to cut out perfect circles sans a laser cutter?

wannabemadsci says: Jul 15, 2015. 2:02 PM REPLY

I made a bubble machine and purchased the 'old fashioned' bubble wands (the 'stick' with the round ring at the end - the kind that came one to a small
bottle of bubble solution) and added them to my wheel.

http://www.instructables.com/id/Bubble-Machine/
 Antzy Carmasaic says: Jul 15, 2015. 10:15 PM REPLY
That's a neat and simple but slightly expensive option.

cameraeyes says: Jan 8, 2015. 9:21 AM REPLY

If you were to use acrylic sheet or Plexiglas, a spade drill bit does a surprisingly good job of making holes. Sand the edges a bit, and you're good to go.

Antzy Carmasaic says: Jan 27, 2015. 9:22 AM REPLY

This comment is 2 years late, but it got my gears spinning... I tried the build then but failed because the material was too flimsy and circles imperfect.
Maybe I'll give it another go...

anteino says: Jun 5, 2015. 1:43 PM REPLY

You were using plastic, why didn't you use a lighter to carefully melt the sharp edges?

Antzy Carmasaic says: Jun 5, 2015. 9:15 PM REPLY

I did. They came out oddly shaped and slightly better at making bubbles but still not good enough.
Laser cutting is much more accessible and cheaper now than when I posted this comment. That is probably the best way to go about making
this.

anteino says: Jun 7, 2015. 3:23 AM REPLY

You're probably right. I know that is true for 3d printing. If you'd like to print some parts you should check out 3dhubs.com something similar
for laser cutting might also exist. It would at least be way cheaper than having it made by a professional company.

cameraeyes says: Jan 8, 2015. 9:24 AM REPLY

I love the design. As simple as can be.
One question: do you have a problem, or foresee the problem with all-day use, with bubble solution dripping onto the servo or the shaft, and gumming
everything up? Or causing a short? Offsetting the disc from the servo with a spacer might fix this, but have you seen the need?

Bowtie41 says: Dec 31, 2014. 8:39 PM REPLY

I'm wondering what effect making a nozzle from the fan outlet tapering to a round shape the same diameter as the holes and fitting close to the disc would
make?I'm guessing it would be way more efficient.

CurtR says: Dec 30, 2014. 6:30 PM REPLY

Why not attach a fan/pinwheel blade to the soap wheel between the fan and soap wheel. That way you won't need a servo motor to turn the soap wheel.

chipnut says: Dec 30, 2014. 8:59 AM REPLY

Why not just spin it with the drill on very low speed? Spinning it by hand is just as effective. Mount the wheel on an axle attached to the basin. A Dremel or drill
with a rubber tip can spin the wheel. or buy a servo with a wheel and drill the holes. https://www.servocity.com/html/precision_disk_wheels.html

mslee says: Apr 24, 2014. 3:58 PM REPLY

Love this project!!! Made it two versions awhile ago and wanted to share them. Version 1.0 leaked a bunch so 2.0 was 3D printed. I also didn't have much
luck with my fan blowing actual bubbles... I got a few different ones and they weren't strong enough or the angle wasn't right. But I actually preferred the
foam cluster masses it developed. These were early prototypes for my MFA thesis work: http://biobubbles.tumblr.com/tagged/process ... such a great intro
into making for fun :)

Version 2.0: 3D printed trough and bubble ring, then painted white and assembled with motor and used external fan.

Verison 1.0: Lasercut and assembled the red acrylic bubble ring and trough, with Ardunio controlled 360 servo motor, DC 12V fan and AC Adapter.

http://www.instructables.com/id/Bubble-Machine/
 Lukaszkos says: Feb 14, 2014. 4:18 AM REPLY
and here is a movie-first tests:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aIlqhNpUyng

Jayefuu says: Feb 14, 2014. 4:23 AM REPLY

Brilliant! I wonder if you used a hair drier instead the heat would make the bubbles rise better rather than dropping to the floor.

Lukaszkos says: Feb 14, 2014. 3:12 AM REPLY

Ty for this instructable made my own version.

Jayefuu says: Feb 14, 2014. 4:18 AM REPLY

Awesome! Nice build.

FlipFlop says: Dec 2, 2013. 2:36 PM REPLY

I cannot download the .dxf file provided by you? Can you please check and see what's wrong? Or can you upload it again maybe in a zip file?
Thank you very much

lheeyoung says: Dec 2, 2013. 8:57 AM REPLY

It is a good invention. pc cooler is the most I love it! Great idea!
You are a good person. Thank haejusyeoseo information sharing.

spark27 says: Nov 23, 2013. 9:43 AM REPLY

Very nice!
I want download a bubble ring dxf file but, it wasn't .
How can i download this file?
Would you send me a mail this file?

Partybot says: Nov 5, 2013. 10:59 AM REPLY

Great build. I especially like the use of batteries from the hand tools. Very clever use of existing materials any Maker would already have. Now to try and
mod it to be travel friendly on a Halloween Costume without soaking me in soapy water. It should definitely add some X-Factor.

http://www.instructables.com/id/Bubble-Machine/
 arzola1 says: Jun 23, 2013. 6:01 PM REPLY
Thank you, thank you, thankUthankUthankU

csherry says: May 28, 2013. 11:25 PM REPLY

could u plz list your sources for the materials you used..... i would love to make something like this with my nephew. thanks

agis68 says: Mar 24, 2013. 12:03 PM REPLY

pretty cool...amazing fun. thanks for sharing

rlarios says: Feb 26, 2013. 9:38 PM REPLY

Hi Jayefuu, nice idea. How did you come up with the idea?

By the way, thanks for the following.

Jayefuu says: Feb 27, 2013. 3:34 AM REPLY

If I remember rightly, when I stayed in San Francisco, Christy and Eric's daughter loved bubbles and kept asking us to blow them for her. So I made a
machine to do it for us rather than go out and buy a machine.

rimar2000 says: May 30, 2012. 6:20 AM REPLY

That beautiful girl/child in step 8, is yours?

canida says: May 31, 2012. 11:55 AM REPLY

That one's mine. Thank you! :)

Jayefuu says: May 31, 2012. 11:48 AM REPLY

Afraid not! That's Eric and Christy's kid, Corvidae.

msaleiro says: May 29, 2012. 11:02 AM REPLY

Really cool project! :) I've been slowly helping my girlfriend doing something similar but it's not finished yet. Yours looks really clean and simple! Congrats!

Samuel Bernier says: Apr 8, 2012. 9:22 PM REPLY

This little girl is more present on internet than Lady Gaga!

alitia says: Apr 8, 2012. 7:58 AM REPLY

Has anyone seen the "bubble mobile" at Madison, Wisconsin's Willy St Fair?

http://www.sparkpeople.com/mypage_public_journal_individual.asp?blog_id=3673067

The guy made it just for this one day every year, and does it just to make people happy.
We love the bubble guy!

swodzins says: Apr 2, 2012. 10:27 AM REPLY

What kind of laser cutter do you own?

Jayefuu says: Apr 3, 2012. 8:26 PM REPLY

This particular project was cut on an Epilog 75W laser cutter.

sourabh882008 says: Mar 31, 2012. 10:27 AM REPLY

Very nice :-D
Loved it :-D
&
Thanks :-D

BytePilot says: Mar 25, 2012. 11:48 AM REPLY

I've made one passing similar using something out of my junk box.
A centrifugal fan driven bya motor with a back spindle to which a gearbox was attached.
Laser cut disk much the same as yours, but I extended the crinkle cut edges with engraved slots to hold even more bubble mix.

At 6volts It eats through 3.4 of a pot of bubble mixture in 10 minutes....

Nom nom nom...

http://www.instructables.com/id/Bubble-Machine/
 Jayefuu says: Mar 25, 2012. 12:00 PM REPLY
Nice! How long did that take you, and when did you make it?

BytePilot says: Mar 25, 2012. 12:31 PM REPLY

Oops, sorry, missed a bit. Made it about 2pm today.

BytePilot says: Mar 25, 2012. 12:30 PM REPLY

Thank you. It works rather well...
Took about (thinx) an hour to prep DXF files, half an hour cutting and assembling, and another hour for glue to set.

Alas it's back in the workshop right at this moment, getting another round of epoxy resin. Wee Lad was so exited he dragged it off the table and
cracked the box off the mounting.

I've attached the DXF files here, they may not be a lot of use to anyone else alas, since they were made to fit the junk fan I had available.

BubbleMachine_Entire.dxf1 MB

ilpug says: Mar 22, 2012. 2:34 PM REPLY

I like it! I really need to get some time on a laser cutter... I like how this is a finished design build. Most things like this on the site are a bit cobbled together,
but this is fully realized! That said, it could also be easily reverse engineered with some pretty basic materials.

Jayefuu says: Mar 22, 2012. 2:36 PM REPLY

Thanks. If I made another I'd design in a mount for the fan so that I didn't need any hot glue at all. It'd make an ideal kit then.

ilpug says: Mar 22, 2012. 3:46 PM REPLY

Yeah, that could be done. If I ever make one of these it will probably be a very rigged one.

dreamberry says: Mar 22, 2012. 3:16 PM REPLY

Hero status for you, sir.

hertzgamma says: Mar 22, 2012. 2:21 PM REPLY

Amazing!

Lindie says: Mar 22, 2012. 9:31 AM REPLY

Love it! Please tell Randy to make me one! Thanks. :-)

Jayefuu says: Mar 22, 2012. 10:01 AM REPLY

Ok mom!

http://www.instructables.com/id/Bubble-Machine/
 Lindie says: Mar 22, 2012. 11:03 AM REPLY
Thanks!

bllwdcrvr says: Mar 22, 2012. 9:40 AM REPLY

I have seen something similar at an old engine show..wouldnt that be neat to have a bubble machine powered from a sterling engine???..not a lot of torque
but steady and slow...

view all 59 comments

http://www.instructables.com/id/Bubble-Machine/