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slug Created with Sketch. Crafts Mechanical Card

Mechanical Card

Create a mechanical card! A cam is a mechanism that changes spinning motion into straight motion. You can make your own simple cam to give as a special card.

What You’ll Need
  • 2 small paper cups
  • Hole punch
  • Pencil
  • Scissors
  • Paper straw
  • Glue or tape
  • Quarter
  • Thin cardboard
  • Chenille stick
  • Markers
  • Cardstock
What You’ll Do
  1. With the hole punch, make two holes in one small paper cup, as shown. Use a pencil to poke a hole into the bottom. Wiggle it to widen the hole. Remove the pencil. This is the base.

    WhatYoullDo-

  2. Trim off the sides of another paper cup. Cut off one-third of a paper straw. Glue the short straw piece to the bottom of the trimmed cup. This is the follower.

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  3. Trace a quarter onto thin cardboard. Cut it out. Punch a hole near the edge of the circle. This is the cam.

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  4. Fold a chenille stick in half. Push it (doubled) through the leftover piece of straw. Then bend the straw, as shown. This is the axle.

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  5. Place the follower inside the base with the straw sticking out of the bottom hole.

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  6. Push the axle through one of the cup’s holes, and then through the cam, as shown.

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  7. Push the axle through the other side hole. Bend the chenille-stick end so the axle stays in place. Center the cam.

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  8. Use markers to draw animals or whatever you want on cardstock. Cut them out. Glue or tape them to the top of the follower and the base.

    WhatYoullDo-

  9. Put the cup upside down. Hold the base in one hand and turn the axle crank with the other. The follower will move up and down, and so will the shape you made!

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