Rubber-band powered paddle boat with Lego seat

thingiverse

This was one of my son's first 3D printing projects some years ago, when he was just 7 years old. His school has a 3D printer, which students use to print their own designs. His teacher recommended TinkerCad as a starting point, and I helped guide him a bit, but this is largely his own work, except for the Lego brick in the middle, which I assisted him with importing into Tinkercad. At that time, we didn't have our own 3D printer at home. The result shown here is what his teacher printed using ABS, just like Lego bricks are made from. This object was created using Tinkercad. You can edit it online at https://www.tinkercad.com/things/9h2jWJfEwvQ Operation --------- Find a thin rubber band and tie one end so you can loop it gently around both booms, then thread the paddle wheel through the rubber bands. Turn the paddle blades to wind it up. Optionally place a Lego person on the seat, put the boat in calm water, and let go of the paddle wheel. Improvements ------------ If we were to do this project again, we'd make the boat wider so that a standard rubber band could be used without tying or cutting it off. This would also give the rubber band more space to wind up on either side of the paddle wheel. We might also raise the transom of the boat or cover the back end to prevent water from splashing into the boat. Overall, it works reasonably well as is.