Wind-Powered Car

This project will show you how to create a wind-powered car with a laser cut cardboard body, 3D printed wheels and a paper sail.

I designed this project as an all-in-one way to teach my 6th grade students Tinkercad and how to use some of the technology in my school’s Maker Space: a Glowforge, 3D-printer and Cricut Maker. Each part of the car is first designed in Tinkercad and then is printed/cut out using a different piece of technology.

• Cardboard
• Wooden Dowels (I used 1/4 x 12 inch)
• Cardstock
• Glue
• Paint and Paint Brushes
• Colored Pencils/Markers
• Tinkercad
• Glowforge (or other laser cutter)
• 3D Printer and Filament
• Cricut (or scissors)

Start off by sketching what you would like the body, wheels and sail of your car to look like. I asked my students to create at least 2 designs for each part of their car. Then they picked their favorite ones.

If you’re new to Tinkercad like my students are, it is also a good idea to take some time to learn the basics before moving on to the next step. Check out Tinkercad’s Learning Center for lots of lessons. Two of my favorites to do with my students are “Let’s Learn Tinkercad” and the “Chess Pawn.” 

I started with the wheels so that I would have time to print all of my students' creations while we worked on the other parts of their cars. To make your wheels:

1. Create a new 3D design in Tinkercad.
2. If your dowel is measured in inches like mine, go into the Settings (in the bottom right corner) and switch the units to inches.
3. Drag a cylinder onto your workplane and resize it to the dimensions you would like your wheels to be. I gave my students a max diameter of 2 inches and a max height of 1/2 inch.
4. Drag a cylinder hole out, resize it to 1/4 by 1/4 inch (or whatever size your dowel is) and adjust the height to match your cylinder.
5. Select both shapes and use the align tool to align the hole to the center of your wheel.
6. Group both shapes. This will cut a hole out of your wheel for the dowel.
7. If you'd like, you can use additional shapes to get more creative with your wheel design. Check out my students' awesome creations in the images above if you need inspiration!
8. Once you have your wheel exactly how you would like it, duplicate it 3 times. Space your wheels out on the workplane.

Export your design as an .STL file and print it on your 3D printer.

The body of the car is made out stacked layers of cardboard. In this next step, you'll be designing yours layer by layer. To do so:

1. Create a new 3D design in Tinkercad.
2. Go into Settings again and switch the units to inches. If you're using cardboard boxes (like Amazon boxes), the cardboard is about 1/8 inch thick.
3. Create the base layer of your car using a single shape or multiple shapes grouped together. I gave my students a max length of 8 inches and a max width of 3 inches minus the height of 2 of their wheels.
4. Adjust the height of your base layer to 1/8 inch.
5. Duplicate your base layer and raise it 1/8 inch so it is directly above your first layer.
6. Drag a box hole out. Resize it so the height is 1/8 inch, the length is 3/8 inch and the width is the same as your second layer.
7. Raise the box hole 1/8 inch and position it in your second layer where you would like one of your axels to go.
8. Duplicate the box hole and nudge it over (using the arrow keys) to where you would like your other axel to go.
9. Select your second layer and both holes. Group them together.
10. Duplicate your second layer and raise it 1/8 inch to make your third layer.
11. Duplicate again to add a fourth layer. (Raise it 1/8 inch if it doesn't do so automatically)
12. Select your base layer, duplicate it and raise it 1/2 inch so it is directly above your fourth layer.
13. Drag a cylinder hole out. Resize it to 1/4 by 1/4 inch and a height of 1/8 inch.
14. Raise the cylinder hole 1/2 inch and position it where you would like the mast for your sail to go.
15. Select your fifth layer and the hole and use the align tool to align the hole to the middle of your fifth layer. Then group both shapes.
16. If you'd like, you can add additional layers to your car body for a more creative design. You can use different sizes and shapes.

You also need to make holders for your axels so they won't wobble. These holders will go in the holes you cut out in your second, third and fourth layers. To make them:

1. Drag a box onto your workplane. Resize it to 3/8 by 3/8 inch and a height of 1/8 inch.
2. Drag a cylinder hole out. Resize it to 1/4 by 1/4 inch (or whatever size your dowel is) and a height of 1/8 inch.
3. Select both shapes and use the align tool to align the hole to the center of the box. Then group both shapes.
4. Duplicate the holder 7 times and space them out on the workplane.

To prepare your design for laser cutting:

1. Click on each layer of your car body and hit the D key on your keyboard. This will drop each layer down onto the workplane.
2. Space all your pieces out on the workplane. If you run out of room, go into Settings and make the dimensions of your workplane larger.
3. Export your design as an .SVG file.

Upload the .SVG into the app for your Glowforge or other laser cutter and cut your pieces out. If you would like, you can paint your pieces once cut!

To make your sail:

1. Create a new 3D design in Tinkercad.
2. Once again go into Settings and change the units to inches.
3. Use a single shape or multiple shapes grouped together to create the shape of your sail. I gave my students max dimensions of 10 by 7.5 inches so that the Cricut would be able to cut their sail out of a piece of letter size cardstock.
4. The height doesn't really matter for this step but I had my students adjust theirs to 1/8 inch so it looked more like paper.

Export your design as an .SVG file. Upload it into the app for your Cricut or other paper cutter.

Before cutting, I let my students add a number and other images to their sail. We switched these layers from "Basic Cut" to "Pen" in order to have the Cricut draw these items on the sail.

Cut out your sail. If you don't have a Cricut or other paper cutter, you can always cut out your sail with a good old-fashioned pair of scissors! If you would like, you can also color your sail with colored pencils or markers.

Cut your dowel into two 3 inch axels and a 6 inch mast.

To assemble your car:

1. Glue one of your axel holders on top of another. Repeat this 3 more times so that you have 4 doubled up axel holders. (I forgot to take picture of this step - see the first Tinkercad image above instead)
2. Glue your second, third and fourth layers on top of the base layer of your car body. (TIP: Use your axel holders as spacers)
3. Glue the axel holders on their sides in the holes. (See second Tinkercad image above)
4. Glue on your fifth layer on top, along with any additional layers.
5. Glue your sail to your mast. (I used hot glue)
6. Glue your mast into the mast hole in your fifth layer. (I used hot glue)
7. Thread your axels through the axel holders and attach your wheels to both sides.

Put your car in front of a fan, turn it on and see how far it goes!

After racing our cars, I had my students reflect on their designs. I asked them to answer the following questions:

• What is one part of your design you think worked well? Why?
• What is one change you would make to your design? Why?

If you have time, you can even have your students make their change and race their cars again to see if it improves their results.

Happy Making!