DIY : Diesel 10 Excavator Arm

This instructable might not be reproduced because the materials used are unique from scraps. But you can find any other material to produce a similar mechanism like mine. It is my boy who wanted "Diesel 10" (member of Thomas & Friends) badly, but he may not buy one until final exam. Then he ask me to build one for him. Why not? That must be FUN ^_^

All he needs is the clamshell bucket and excavator arm to put on one of his collection. Well ... start hunting for the parts.

• The arm of a broken die-cast excavator.
• A mini jaw hair clip.
• A broken micro stepper motor from floppy drive.
• Plastic materials to hold the excavator's arm.

I am lucky to have this Box of Treasure Hunt (this is what I call it hehe..), mostly parts from broken printers. I search for plastic parts that I can mod and use on this project.

I find a part which has almost the same thickness as the arm, then I make a hole to hold the arm. Simply use a cutter and drill on it. Then I look for another flat plastic to hold the other side of the arm and drill a hole at the same size for the arm's wing to get through it.

Now we drill a hole at the bottom to put the stepper motor in. This stepper motor is used as pivot turning left and right.

Cut the excessive worm rotor so that it reaches the top of the plastic container.

I decide to keep the spring to have the functional clamshell. Use a pcb hand drill to make a hole on the excavator's arm. I use a paperclip as its pin. I also replace the hair clip pin. Those pins are tied together to get a firm hold. In simple way you can shape the pin into "U" shape, one end goes through hair clip and the other goes through the arm, and then ties both ends to form a rectangular shape.

I put some hot glue on the stepper's rotor and I glue the enclosure. Make sure you don't glue the moving arm or around the holes where the the arm's wings go through.

Dodge has the similar color to Diesel 10, so I pick this one. I use double tape to stick a thin round magnet (if I were not mistaken it was from my broken tablet's cover) on top of the toy. I still have four of this magnet, so my boy can move the clamshell bucket to any train he likes.

A cheap way to make the children happy. Hope you are inspired ;)