Making Bubble Machines



Introduction

For some unknown reason I've never tired of amazement with bubbles. During my stunt kite building investigations I learned of a man named Felix Cartegena and how he made his own bubble machines and put on demonstrations with them. I obtained his address and wrote him. He sent me plans and many of the actual parts(!) to make one. His designs are the basis for my machines.

The Rotating-Wand Bubble Machine

The concept is simple and the parts are easy to get. Make one of these for your kids, or if you are a kid, make one for your parents! This style of machine puts out hundreds if not thousands of bubbles.

You need to obtain the following:

  • A 12V powered automotive fan (from an auto parts store, like Pep Boys ($12)))
  • A slow 1-5 rpm DC motor, loading is light so higher rpm motor on lower voltage is ok
  • Rubbermaid (or similar) storage container
  • Rubbermaid (or similar) plastic ice cube container
  • Bubble wands or pipe cleaners
  • Bubble wand axle
  • 12V lead acid battery and power switch etc.

    The ice cube container is the bubble solution tray. It attaches to the other container box. This second container box can temporarily hold the battery, as long as the machine is not placed at any height (you wouldn't want the battery to hit someone on the head). The typical auto fan has an oscillation mechanism built in. You can optionally use this to power the wand by removing the rear cover of the fan and removing the parts. You attach a shaft to the oscillation shaft and a "U" joint, cable, or piece of rubber tubing from that to the wand axle. I found that it was preferable to have separate rates on the fan and the wand assembly. You can use a wooden wheel (from a crafts store) or a knob for the wand wheel. You drill a bunch of holes in it and stick in either real bubble wands or some you make yourself with pipe cleaners. I find that the pipe cleaner wands do a better job plus you can make them have bigger holes and have bigger bubbles.

    You need to adjust the fan angle of attack to shoot the bubbles above the bubble tray slightly. You may find that the airspeed is a bit too high and many of the bubbles pop at the start. I have put together a simple pulse-modulated speed control circuit to control the wand motor and fan individually to achieve the maximum bubble rate. Don't let this scare you off, its just that I want perfection.....


    Detail Photos

    Making HUGE Bubbles

    To make singular real large/long bubbles you need to take a different approach. For this you need a solution tray, from which you lift and drop a bar. This bar travels up two strings, which complete a bubble "window". After you get the hang of it you can make very large (5' or more) bubbles. You can also raise up the bar to form a window and then blow at it and make multiple smaller bubbles by just using your own air power. Again, the parts for this style of machine are inexpensive and easily obtainable:

  • PVC or wood dowel for the bar
  • wood or PVC frame
  • string or nylon fishline
  • a wallpaper "glue tray"

    I made a huge assembly out of PVC and a solution tray out of 3" drain pipe, cut lengthwise. It worked ok but I realised that I wasn't raising the bar very much most of the time, so most of the mass of the thing was unnecessary. So I made a smaller unit out of wood, with the wallpaper tray for the solution tray. This is alot easier to move around, clean, and kids find it easier to use. Somehow I'd like to put this kind of machine on a kite......


    email me: barry.l.klein@wdc.com revised 9-7-99

    back home