This was a fun little project that I did one evening out of a need to get away from one of my other high stress projects. Vibro Spider is a reproduction of one of those long legged wind up toys that waddles around flat surfaces and makes dogs go nutty.

Basically the principle is simple. Vibration is generated at the end of a micro motor by use of an off balance weight. The vibration travels through the body of the unit and down through its rigid paper clip legs. Not being able to transfer energy into the much larger surface of the table a jumping around like motion is produced. the jumping around creates variables of friction between the Smooth Surface and the Spiders Plastic/Rubber feet and sends the unit skipping around the table in fairly random directions. Some control in the way of turn radius can be controlled by off setting the pressure balance between the four legs and the angle they touch the surface.

Items needed

• Micro switch
• 5 Rubber coated paperclips
• AAA battery & battery holder
• Pager... or "other" Vibrating motor (needs to run of off 1.5 v and not weigh very much)
• Small Piece of plastic Approx 1" square 1/4" thick
• Hot Glue Gun
• small piece of thin electrical wire

1) Start off by taking the small piece of plastic and sanding the edges smooth. (just take the edges off don't try to make it circular.)

2) Then in each of the four corners drill a small hole that is just a hair fraction larger than your paperclips. (Make sure your battery holder can fit between the holes with the battery in place and the legs loosely inserted.)

3) Hot glue the Battery holder as close to perfectly centered as you can. The battery holder should hang over in the front and in the back by just a little and fit perfectly leaving all leg holes on the base free.

4) Hot Glue the Vibrating motor to the undercarriage of the base. Make sure that no hot glue gets on the motors shaft or rotating weight. Placement should be parallel to the battery holder making sure the motors off center weight has free motion.

5) Solder one battery holder lead to the switch, then solder one motor lead to the switch and finally solder a motor and battery holder lead together. (try to keep the wires neat and not to lengthy. test the circuit by turning on and off the switch with a battery installed.)

6) When the Soldering is done and the circuit test works, Hot Glue the Switch to the back underside of the battery holder. (Bend and fold any additional wire length to form fit the base, then hot glue the wires down to keep them in place.)

7) Cut and bend 4 rubber/plastic coated paperclips into similar shapes as seen in the top most photograph. it should be fairly easy if you just "fold out" the paper clip allowing it to keep part of its natural bend.

8) Place the 4 bent paper clips into the 4 Holes we drilled in step 1, hot glue them in place and bend them to act as your legs. Use some creative license here as long as all 4 legs reach the ground evenly the Vibro Bot will work.

9) Cut and glue the aesthetic "pincers" onto the front of the battery case.

That's all, have fun altering and playing with this one, its a very simple project but it will astound you with how much fun it is to build and play with. Be warned, dogs may try to literally eat this project, smarter cats just run away from it. Although I have seen a cat go ballistic on this toy so you never really know.

Alternative Ideas

• LED lighted with scratched plexi base
• Laser show vibro
• 6 legged vibro
• Solar popper Vibro
• Vibro with wings