A vibrating pen is a specially modified pen that makes all of your straight lines loopy. All that it takes to make one is to attach a vibrating motor and battery to a normal pen. In case you didn’t already know, a vibrating motor is just a normal motor with an off-centered weight attached to it which makes it shake. As the motor shakes it causes the pen to shake along with it and this creates the curvy lines. This project is both easy for kids to make and super-fun to use!
Materials
(x1) Large Pen*
(x1) 1.5V – 6V DC motor
(x1) Battery holder with Alligator Clips
(x1) AA Battery
(x6) 8″ Zip Ties
Step 1
Insert the AA battery into the battery holder. Make sure that the ground side of the battery (the flat side) is pressed against the spring in the battery holder.
Step 2
Use zip ties to firmly attach the battery holder to the top end of the pen such that it sticks out slightly past the edge.
Step 3
Now is time to zip tie the motor to the end of the battery holder sticking up past the pen.
Make sure that the thin metal rod sticking out the center of the motor is pointed outwards. This is called the motor shaft, and it will rotate when the motor is powered on.
Step 4
Press one end of the eraser down onto the motor shaft so that it is held firmly in place.
By attaching the eraser off-of-center, the pen will wobble as the eraser spins around.
Step 5 (optional)
If you would like, you can use a pair of scissors to trim away the remaining zip tie “tails.”
Step 6
Squeeze down on the black alligator clip from the battery holder to attach it to one of the motor terminals. It is not important which terminal.
If your battery holder does not have alligator clips attach, you can insert the exposed metal at the end of each wire through the motor terminals and bend them over so that they don’t come lose.
Step 7
Keep in mind the motor will turn on and start shaking as soon as the red alligator clip is attached to the other terminal.
Now that you are mentally prepared for this, go ahead and connect it.
Step 8
Have fun making squiggle drawings!
