My Little Pony Wood Automaton

January 16, 2013 7:02 AM

My Little Pony Wood Automaton
posted by ennui.bz (22 comments total)

I opened these, thinking it would be kind of kitsch and silly, and it is, but it's also really beautiful.
posted by xingcat at 7:06 AM on January 16

Not in the least bit a MLP:FIM fan, but those are pretty cool! The 3rd one, in particular.
posted by jquinby at 7:10 AM on January 16

The third one is pretty amazing. It uses an odd-shaped wheel to control the length of a slide whistle, and uses a bellows to pump air through it. It whistles the theme song!
posted by hellphish at 7:13 AM on January 16 [1 favorite]

<bronyalert>
Good flapping action on Dash in the last one. A nice touch in all of them (except the third, which has its own special thing) is the extra animation inside the box, which you usually have to get to halfway through the video to see.
posted by JHarris at 7:15 AM on January 16

Aw, it's missing my favourite: Rarity sewing.
posted by bouvin at 7:17 AM on January 16 [10 favorites]

This is what Youtube was made for.
posted by three blind mice at 7:18 AM on January 16

Yeah, the glasses on that Rarity one are absurdly cute.

This post is straight up ponyfilter, but we haven't really had any pony posts around here in a while.
posted by JHarris at 7:21 AM on January 16 [2 favorites]

(And it makes a nice change from the shooting, suicide and Scientology threads we've had lately.)
posted by JHarris at 7:23 AM on January 16

You don't even have to be a pony fan to love these... they just are lovely. I've just been inspired to kick my geek crafting up a notch. Several notches.
posted by Sayuri. at 7:38 AM on January 16

Is there a Khan Academy or something I can sign up for to learn this skill?
posted by SharkParty at 8:03 AM on January 16

I hope this guy is doing a Timberwolf, because that would be super authentic.
posted by cyberscythe at 8:12 AM on January 16

Ooh, a timberwolf would indeed be the stuff of legends.
posted by bouvin at 8:19 AM on January 16

Not in the least bit a MLP:FIM fan, but those are pretty cool! The 3rd one, in particular.
posted by jquinby at 9:10 AM on January 16 [+] [!]

I dunno, I think they need to be at least 20% cooler.

Oh god what is wrong with me...
posted by WinnipegDragon at 8:21 AM on January 16 [3 favorites]

I'm working on one of these in my spare time. It depicts jonmc weeping.

Actually, if I had the skill to create something like this, I'd probably make Princess Celestia offering you a banana...
posted by sourcequench at 8:23 AM on January 16 [4 favorites]

Is there a Khan Academy or something I can sign up for to learn this skill?

There are two aspects of this. One involves getting some wood and some woodworking tools and screwing around with them until you can make parts that are the size and shape you were wanting. Knowing something about wood strength and grain orientation and other minutia of wood physics would help, but I've got your back.

You also need to know something about simple machines. The best book for this sort of thing is Creative Kinetics - it starts out with some pretty simple devices and works you up to really the fairly complex. 507 Mechanical Movements would also come in handy as might Building Wooden Machines. If you'd rather do something less whimsical but no less awesome, that's available as well.
posted by Kid Charlemagne at 8:31 AM on January 16 [4 favorites]

SHUT UP AND TAKE MY MONEY!
posted by xedrik at 8:35 AM on January 16 [1 favorite]

SHUT UP AND TAKE MY MONEY!

Fluttershy and the birds sold for only $1,390... which seems like a bargain when you think about it.
posted by ennui.bz at 8:47 AM on January 16 [1 favorite]

These are incredible. I clicked through to the user page to see if there was any Pinkie Pie and instead saw a lot of gun stuff, not judging on that, just found it an amusing contrast with all the ponies. It's hard out here for a conservative brony.
posted by Drinky Die at 10:22 AM on January 16 [1 favorite]

Drinky Die: I clicked through to the user page to see if there was any Pinkie Pie and instead saw a lot of gun stuff…

I actually watched a couple of them, and they're fascinating. The dude is obviously good with his hands. The one I watched was a build video of him making an Airsoft replica of a Viet-nam era SKS rifle using only hand-held tools.

That said, I'm really hoping he makes a Pinkie Pie one pony band automaton.
posted by ob1quixote at 10:32 AM on January 16 [2 favorites]

I'm working on one of these in my spare time. It depicts jonmc weeping.

Bonus if you include his bartender wiping up his tears.
posted by ChurchHatesTucker at 11:26 AM on January 17 [3 favorites]

It uses an odd-shaped wheel to control...

It's called a "cam" in case you want to learn more.
posted by DU at 11:58 AM on January 17

Building Wooden Machines

Looked this up in my local library. Book isn't there but 4 pages of other books, on a variety of topics, from the same guy. New favorite author!
posted by DU at 12:07 PM on January 17 [1 favorite]