Steel Rattle Prototyping Tutorial

Learn how to work with metalworking tools during this workshop and make your own rattle.

This instructable is for everyone who wants to learn how to make a rattle out of metal or for everyone who wants to learn the basics about welding, drilling, milling, and saw.

needed materials:

- a piece of steel plate (2x25mm) at least 25 cm long

- a square steel tube (25x25mm) at least 2 cm long

- a round steel tube diameter 10 mm at least 15 cm long

- a round steel tube dameter 10 mm at least

- a small piece of aluminium 1mm thickness, at least 8.5 cm long, 2.5 cm wide

- a steel roundel M10

needed tools:

- mill machine (if you don't have one you can also use a grinding weel but the result will be different)

- welder (doesn't mather if semi-automatic or manual)

- metal saw (electric and manual or just manual) **make sure the saw has a metal blade

- pen and ruler

- drill machine

- metal dril diameter 11mm

- file

- scissors or utility knife

first you need to saw of 2 pieces of the metal plate each one is 12 cm long.

next you drill a hole (diameter 11 mm) in both plates at 1.25 cm from the top and from the left. To make sure you drill the hole wright you can use a center punch to make a small pit in the metal.

After this u can take the file to clean the edges or if you have a metal beld you can also use this.12

you need 4 pieces of tube:

- one piece of 10mm diameter tube, 15cm long

- two pieces of 14mm diameter tube, 0.8 cm long (as the spacers)

- one piece of 25/25mm square tube, 2 cm long

after you saw the tubes, you can sand them on a machine of with the fill

Take the square tube you just saw and use a manual metal saw to make a slot in the middle of the piece as in the picture. the slot bust be about 1cm deep.

saw or dut a piece of aluminium with next dimensions:

- 2cm height, 8.3 cm long

the tickness of the aluminium must be around 1mm, it must fit tight in the slot you've just made.

If it's too thick, you can use a piece of sandpaper to make it thinner.

We had to prepare a lot of gears for a workshop so we took all the gears, fixed them on a bold and milled a slot out. after the first slot is milled, you rotate the roundels with 60 degrees and repeat the proces, after 6 times you have a gear for your rattle.

* if you don't have a milling machine you can use a grinding wheel.

WATCH OUT IF YOU WANT TO USE A GRINDING WHEEL, make sure your roundel is fitter tight!

the result will be different as with a milling machine but the rattle will work the same

congratulations! you've now made al your parts and you're ready to put everything together

first, take the gear and weld it on the longest tube, about 2 cm under the top

next you take one piece of the base plate and weld it on the square tube like in the picture

2 small weld points should be enough

next you take the spacers and the gear and the second base plate,

put a spacer just above and just under the gear

put the gear with base plate in the hole in the base plate

put the second base plate over the other side of the gear

weld it all together

slice the plastic piece in the slot

your rattle is now finished!

here is a short video that shows you the result, the video is made in a workplace with lots of noise, yet you can hear the rattle over everything!