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

1
For more information and instructional videos
please see our website:
https://cabaret.co.uk/atk/

CONTENTS

Parts List 3
Hints & Tips 4
Lever 5
Crank Slider 6
3-Bar Linkage 7
Cams 8
Bell Cranks 9
Ratchet 10
Gears 11
Pulleys 12
Platform with Pulleys & Cams 13

Version 2.3 - October 2022

2
AUTOMATA TINKERING KIT

Parts List

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

1x Handle Crank and dowel

1x Platform 4x Circular Support Peg

1x Pegboard and 2x feet 3x Linkage Peg

4x Long Square Peg 2x Bell Crank

2x Short Square Peg

1x Wide Support Peg

2x 2-hole Support Peg

4x Spacer
4x Cam
4x Cam Follower End

2x Gear Wheel
2x Crank Wheel
1x Ratchet Wheel
1x 5-hole 1x 3-hole
2x 11-hole
1x 17-hole
2x Pawl / Detent
5x Pivot Dowel
2x Short Dowel
NB: You should also have 20 O-rings, 2 rubber
bands and 2 pieces of plastic tube. The cam
1x Long Dowel
follower pieces are a tight fit on the 5mm dowel.
They look like spacers but the spacers are a loose
fit. The linkage peg looks like a circular support but
it fits the plastic tube, not the pegboard. You
might want to mark some parts with a pen so you
can easily tell the difference. Be prepared to sand
the edges of the pegs to make them fit.

2x side pieces & 1x

inner pieces for
two pulleys 3
Automata Tinkering Kit
Handle
Hints & Tips

O-rings

T-peg

Use T-pegs or ‘square’ pegs to mount pieces to the

Pivot dowel pegboard. We often attach the handle on the back of
the pegboard as indicated above.

O-ring on reverse of pegboard Plastic Tube

Spacer

Crank Wheel
Linkage Peg

Circular Support Peg

Introduction
The examples on the following pages are presented in the order of ease of understanding the
mechanism. The ratchet is probably the most complicated and the hardest to get working.

Once you have a feel for how things go together please experiment with adding your own parts and
modifying kit parts. Let us know if anything breaks too easily - you may have just received a bad bit
of plywood. Most parts can be replaced or copied with thick cardboard if you don’t have an easy way
to cut wood.

The pulleys need to be constructed. You can watch an instructional video here: https://
cabaret.co.uk/atk/

4
 Lever

Side
view

Construction: There are lots of different ways to
demonstrate a simple lever with the kit but this
one is a good starting point that introduces some
of the ways the kit works. The long t-peg is used as
a pivot for the cam (the round disk) and connects
to the handle on the back of the board. The shorter
t-peg is the pivot for the lever. The o-rings hold
them both in place.
Suggestions: You can try positioning the lever
pivot in different holes along the length of the bar
as well as changing the centre of rotation of the
cam.
Technically: A lever is often used as a way to
gain a ‘mechanical advantage’ although in this
demonstration the lever isn’t actually doing any
‘work’. If you move the lever’s pivot point (or
fulcrum) closer to the cam, the advantage will
be a bigger movement of the lever. Or, if you
move the pivot point away from the cam, the
advantage will be that it’s easier to move the
cam.
So the choice is more work and big movement,
or, less work and small movement. You could
try hanging a weight on the lever to make this
clearer.

Parts Count Notes

Main Pegboard 1
Feet 2
Cam 3 (multiple pivot) 1 With multiple pivot positions
Linkage Bar 17 hole 1 The lever
Short T-peg 1 Pivot for lever
Long T-peg 1 Pivot for the cam and the handle
Handle dowel 1
Handle Crank 1
O-rings 2 on the back

5
 Crank Slider

Side
view

Construction: The linkage peg is joined to the long

dowel by using the white plastic tube. The inset
diagram shows a side view with the handle on the
back. You’ll find it’s easier to attach the linkage peg
to the crank wheel before you mount the crank
wheel on the pegboard.
Suggestions: You can try different lengths of crank
‘throw’ by using each of the 3 different wheels in
turn. Then, vary to position of the circular support
peg up and down to give different amounts of
movement at the top of the ‘slider’ (the long
dowel).
Technically: The initial movement is made from
levers in the form of cranks, first the handle
and then the wheel at the front. The ‘throw’ of
the crank is the distance between the centre of
rotation and the peg where the linkage
attaches. This is a circle radius so doubling it as
the crank moves through 3600 is the distance
of the throw. The slider here is similar to the
rod of a piston in a car engine.

Parts Count Notes

Circular Support Peg 1 Position at different heights for more or less movement
Crank Wheel 1 1
Crank Wheel 2 1
Cam 3 (multiple pivot) 1 Use as 3rd alternative crank wheel
Handle dowel 1
Handle Crank 1
Long dowel 1 The slider rod
Spacer 2
Linkage Peg 1
Long Square Peg 1 Handle to crank wheel
Short Square Peg 1 Connect crank wheel to rod connector (Linkage Peg)
Pivot dowel 1 Alternative to connect crank wheel to rod connector (Linkage Peg)
Plastic Tube 1 Use to join Linkage Peg to long dowel
O-rings 4 1 on reverse, 3 on front.

6
 3-Bar Linkage

Bar 1
Bar 2
Bar 3

Side
view

Construction: The handle is on the back. Bar 1 is

connected to the crank wheel and runs inside the
slot of the wide support peg. The pivots at each
end of bar 2 are made from the small dowels and
o-rings. The bottom of bar 3 pivots on the T-peg.
See notes in the parts list for placement of the
Technically: The right-hand end of bar 2 tracks
spacers.
the shape of an ellipse as the crank wheel
Suggestions: You can try arranging the bars in moves it up / down and side to side. Because
different positions and altering which holes are bar 3 is constraining bar 2 at its left-hand end,
used for the pivot points. The driving crank can this end approximates a straight line because
also be changed for more or less movement. If you the motion is mostly side to side.
make bar 1 the long bar you’ll have more room to
So the circular motion of the handle and crank
control its sideways movement with the wide
is converted to a side to side motion.
support peg.

Parts Count Notes

Main Pegboard 1
Feet 2
Crank Wheel 2 1 Or alternatives
Handle dowel 1
Handle Crank 1
Pivot dowel 2 Bar 1 to bar 2 and bar 2 to bar 3
Linkage Bar 11 hole 2 Bars 1 and 3
Linkage Bar 17 hole 1 Bar 2
Spacer 3 Behind the crank wheel. Between bar 1 and the crank wheel. Behind bar 3.
Wide Support Peg 1 Guide for bar 1
Short T-peg 1 Pivot at bottom of bar 3
Long Square Peg 1 Handle to crank wheel
Short Square Peg 1 Crank wheel to first bar
O-rings 10 4 on reverse, 6 on front.

7
 Cams

Construction: The cam follower disk looks like a

spacer but has a smaller hole that should be a
tight fit on the dowel. We use two, 2-hole support
pegs to keep the cam follower dowel vertical which
ensures a smooth up and down movement. The
top of the cam follower connects to the bar with
the plastic tube and a linkage peg.

Suggestions: There are four cams with different

shapes so you can see how the movement and
timing can vary. Notice that the snail cam can only
rotate fully in one direction and you need to use an
off-centre (eccentric) hole on the circular cam if
you want it to do anything!

Technically: Cams can take many forms and get drawing automaton a different set of cams
very complicated. In the most sophisticated produces a different drawing. You could attach
automata, sets of cams can be like computer a pen to the top bar and imagine how hard it
programs. For example, in the Jaquet-Droz would be to draw a horse.

Parts Count Notes

Cam 1 1
Cam 2 1
Cam 3 (multiple pivot) 1
Cam 4 (snail) 1
Handle dowel 1 Dowel
Handle Crank 1
Pivot dowel 2 Cam follower rod to bar 1. Bar 1 to bar 2
Linkage Bar 11 hole 1 Bar 2
Linkage Bar 17 hole 1 Bar 1
Spacer 2 Between board and cam. Between board and bar 2.
2-hole support peg 2 To keep dowel vertical
Short T-peg 1 Holds bar 2 to board
Long T-peg 1 Handle to cam
Linkage Peg 1 At top of follower rod to connect to bar 1
Short dowel 1 Cam follower to bar 1
Cam Follower End 1 Looks like spacer - tight fit on end of ‘half-size’ 5mm dowel rod
Plastic Tube 1 Connect linkage peg to follower rod
O-rings 10 6 on reverse, 4 on front.

8
 Bell Cranks

Construction: Use the two ‘square’ pegs so

that the bell crank pivots in hole D4 and the
crank wheel rotates in D9 with the handle on
the back. Use o-rings on the pegs, front and
back, to keep the wheel and bell crank in place.
Attach one of the 11-hole bars to the crank
wheel using a pivot peg. You’ll need a spacer to
keep the bar from hitting the o-ring and peg
where they protrude from the centre of the Suggestions: Try the alternate bell crank to
crank wheel. Attach the other end of the 11- see the variation it gives. You could also
hole bar to the crank wheel with 2 o-rings. Use connect something else to the second bar -
two spacers behind the bell crank to keep a bell for example!
things aligned.
Technically: the bell crank translates the up
Finally, attach the second 11-hole bar to the and down movement from the crank wheel
other end of the bell crank as before; a small into a side-to-side movement. The crank is
pivot dowel and 2 o-rings. The 2-hole support a kind of lever so the movements are in
peg in G3 & H3 acts as a rest to make it easier arcs. The shelf in our example helps
to see how the bell crank translates the straighten the arc to more of a straight line
movement from the first bar. motion.

Parts Count Notes

Main Pegboard 1
Feet 2
Linkage Bar 11 hole 2
Crank Wheel 1 1
Long Square Peg 2 pivot for bell crank, and crank wheel to handle
Handle dowel 1 Dowel
Handle Crank 1
Pivot dowel 3 Crank wheel to crank bar. Crank bar to bell crank and bell crank to bar 2
Spacer 3
2-hole support peg 1 to support bar 2
Bell crank 1 1
Bell crank 2 1
O-rings 11 7 on front, 4 on back.

9
 Ratchet

Construction: We
recommend putting
together the bell
crank parts before
attaching them to the
board.

The wide support peg

helps keep the pawl in
contact with the
ratchet but you need
to make sure the pawl You might find it works without the second
can move in and out detent and this mainly because the ratchet is
freely. very light weight and not under any load. If the
ratchet was doing some work the detent would
The pawl should move the ratchet wheel one tooth be necessary.
counter-clockwise with each turn of the handle.
The detent (or second pawl) is there to stop the Technically: The ratchet mechanism provides
ratchet wheel from slipping back so the elastic intermittent, circular motion. This means that
band needs to provide enough tension so that it although the handle and crank wheel are
drops in and against the next tooth without rotating continuously, the ratchet moves in
causing too much friction. steps.

Parts Count Notes

Linkage Bar 11 hole 1
Crank Wheel 1 1
Long Square Peg 3 crank wheel to handle, pivot for bell crank, pivot for ratchet
Handle dowel 1
Handle Crank 1
Pivot dowel 3 Crank wheel to crank bar. Crank bar to bell crank and bell crank to bar 2
Spacer 3 One between crank wheel and bar and two on bell crank pivot
Short T-peg 3
Wide Support Peg 1 as guide for pawl
Bell crank 1 1
Ratchet Wheel 1
Ratchet pawl 1
Ratchet detent 1
Rubber band 1 To tension the bottom detent
O-rings 14 9 on front, 5 on back.

10
 Gears

Construction: In this example we’ve put one of the

crank wheels on top of the larger gear wheel. It’s
driven by the smaller gear which is attached to the
handle on the back. The ratio of the gears is 16
teeth to 8 teeth, or 2:1, which means the small
wheel has to rotate twice to turn the big wheel
once. The gears also rotate in opposite directions.

Technically: The smaller wheel in a pair is

sometimes called the pinion. Its teeth are like a
series of levers which should help to understand
why you get more force from the larger wheel. If
you make the larger wheel the driver you get less
force from the smaller wheel but of course, it To see it working, the gears are in the second
rotates faster. part of the video here, scroll down to Pulleys
and Gears: https://cabaret.co.uk/atk/
Because very large ratios become impractical
gears can be used in a compound ‘train’ with two
gears on the same axis to get higher ratios.

Parts Count Notes

Main Pegboard 1
Feet 2
Gear Wheel 1 1 8-teeth gear wheel
Gear Wheel 2 1 16-teeth gear wheel
Crank Wheel 1 1 Placed on top of gear wheel 2
Circular Support Peg 1 Position at different heights for more or less movement
Long dowel 1 The slider rod
Linkage Peg 1
Plastic Tube 1 Use to join Linkage Peg to long dowel
Handle dowel 1
Handle Crank 1
Long Square Peg 2
Pivot dowel 1 Connect crank wheel to rod connector (Linkage Peg)
O-rings 3 2 on back, 1 on front.

11
 Pulleys

The three parts of each of the pulley wheels need to be glued together first. It’s fairly straightforward
although you need to make sure you align the holes in each piece. The easiest way to do this is to use
one of the square pegs but make sure you don’t get it stuck in the hole!

To see the gluing operation demonstrated, watch the video which is currently at the bottom of the
page at the following link: https://cabaret.co.uk/atk

While the glue is drying, the picture below shows them connected together with a rubber band and you
can see a video of them working on the same web page, scroll to Pulleys and Gears.

Reverse

12
 Platform with Pulleys and Cams

When you’ve got an idea of how to put mechanisms together one possible next step is to make them
do something on the platform. Above is our first scrappy attempt at a ‘Peter Markey Dog’. The
cardboard is taped to T-pegs to hold it in place by inserting them into the platform. We used the
pulleys to make the mouth and tail move at different speeds, via two different-shaped cams.

To see a video of it working, scroll down to Pulleys and Gears: https://cabaret.co.uk/atk

Parts Count Notes

Main Pegboard 1
Feet 2
Platform 1
Handle Crank 1
Handle dowel 1
Cam 1 1
Cam 4 (snail) 1
Short dowel 2
Cam Follower End 4 Place on the ends of the short dowels
2-hole support peg 2
Long Square Peg 2 Joining the cams to the pulleys and handle
Spacer 2 Put between cams and pegboard to positions cams under the followers
Long T-peg 2 Attaching your ‘figure’ to the platform
O-rings 10 Depending on your design
Rubber Band 1
Other parts Depending on your design

13
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

Photo: Example project

14
15
DISCOVER MORE

Find out more about our workshops and kits:

https://cabaret.co.uk/making/

Join the CMT Makers mailing list and be the first

to know about our latest events and workshops:
https://cabaret.co.uk/cmt-makers-email-list/

Follow us on social media

CabaretMechanicalTheatre

CabaretMT cabmech

#CMTmaking

cabaret.co.uk

Designed and Made by

Cabaret Mechanical Theatre
Example project designs by Loulou Cousin

DESIGN: ARALDESIGN.UK © Cabaret Mechanical Theatre 2022

16