Art student in need of help! Cocktail umbrellas

Hello!

I am an art student (BA Fine Art) and I'm in desperate need of some help, and perhaps some of you guys could guide me in the right direction? Would be much appreciated

I'm trying to find a way of getting cocktail umbrellas (the ones you put in drinks, delightfully tacky things!) to open and close mechanically/electronically whatever you'd call it! I know you can get motor sort of things for large umbrellas, but obviously I'd need something tiny for these- any ideas how I'd go about this?


If anyone takes the time to help I'd be so grateful!

Katie

Hi Katie,

Probably what you want is a "solenoid" which is a linear motion device: you apply voltage and a plunger moves, remove the voltage and the plunger returns to its original position. The problem is, you will need it to move a fair distance, maybe 1/2"/1cm to open your lovely umbrellas. Most small solenoids don't have that much travel; you can get larger ones that will move that far, but they're large, costly and way over-powered for what you need. Maybe there are some small solenoids out there with a long enough travel for your needs; try a web search. There may be something on robotic hobbyist sites. Also, you could try and find some nerdy engineering student to help you; engineering students love art majors.

Another thing that just occurred to me: look at Radio Control servos. These might actually be a better solution.

What speed do you want the umbrella to operate at? This might help with the mechanism. How/where is the umbrella used? because some mechanism will be required and it should be "hidden"?
I am thinking along the line of two clear bits of sleeving, one coaxial with the cocktail stick, the other a size larger that can slide up and down the first one to operate the umbrella "mechanism". This way the job will change to making the outer sleeving move over the inner one, but in a more convenient place.
Frank

Hi,

Thanks so much for answering, I really appreciate it!

I would ideally like to have lots of them, operating at different times. They don't need to be particularly fast, that's not too much of a concern.

The umbrellas would be displayed on the floor, and whilst I would like the mechanism hidden as much as possible, I don't mind some being visible.

Barry, I took a look at the radio control servos- how would they work? Sorry, total n00b haha!

Thanks again guys

Katie

If you are going to use a servo, you need some simple electronics to generate a pulse signal. This signal determines how far the servo moves. Do you intend to have any 'intelligence' in your project, i.e., do you want the umbrellas to move in a predetermined fashion, or do you just want them to randomly move up and down? Do you want them to all move in unison (one pulse generator) or do you want them to move individually (many pulse generators)?

I really think you need to go find that nerdy EE student.

When I was in college I did a number of collaborations with artists, one project fulfilled both an art assignment and an engineering assignment!

I guess the concept of such thing starts from using a very small 3V toy motor with a long thin bolt with a nut moving up and down as the motor rotates both direction by reversing the + and - by hand or using a kind of reverse polarity switch "custom made " ...
put this mechanism inside a colored straw "costume made " with a side opening to let the umbrella's knob be attached to the nut inside the straw and make the wireing with aluminum foil and paper separators to be folded along the straw to give you the up and down movements limits required ...
let us see what you did if you got the idea ...:thinker:

barry said:

If you are going to use a servo, you need some simple electronics to generate a pulse signal. This signal determines how far the servo moves. Do you intend to have any 'intelligence' in your project, i.e., do you want the umbrellas to move in a predetermined fashion, or do you just want them to randomly move up and down? Do you want them to all move in unison (one pulse generator) or do you want them to move individually (many pulse generators)?

I really think you need to go find that nerdy EE student.

When I was in college I did a number of collaborations with artists, one project fulfilled both an art assignment and an engineering assignment!

Click to expand...

I would love to get an engineering student to help me out, but my university is a dedicated art university so it makes it a bit more awkward to work with someone on it, if you know what I mean. I guess I could try emailing UCL.

I would like to set a sequence so they'll be moving individually, or at least in groups. A 'Mexican wave' of umbrellas, perhaps!