instructables

The Flying Scrooge: Ornithopter of Household Items

by royalestel

This instructable will show you how to make a nifty Gel Super Glue -- $1 for a 3 pack at the dollar store.
flying model known as an ornithopter from cheap to Found it in a cupboard.
free stuff. Plastic Grocery Bag -- Usually use them for tying up
stinky diapers.
An ornithopter is a lot like a model airplane, but it Coffee Filters -- Free from work (I don't drink coffee).
flaps its wings like a bird or an insect, and is a lovely And, no, I didn't steal them.
sight to watch in flight. Paper Clips
Rubber Bands
This is pretty easy to build; you really only have to Bic Pen
make sure the bearings are all parallel. Everything White School Glue
else can be crooked and this will STILL fly just fine. It Clear Tape -- All free stuff I found lying around
is also VERY sturdy and can take many, many
crashes without breaking. As an added bonus (and Optional:
due to my personal tightwaddery) it is CHEAP. You CA accelerator -- $4 at the local hobby store. Sets
can make this ornithopter out of household items. super glue almost instantly.
Mine cost about $1.30 to make.
Tools:
If you appreciate this instructible, please visit my blog Sharp Blade
for more ideas: Diagonal Cutters
GoodCleanCrazy Scissors
Needlenosed pliers
Supplies: Regular Pliers
Bamboo Place Mat -- $1 at the local dollar store. We
bought one too many for our table.

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3

7 8

4 9

1 5

10
6

1. Paper towel.
2. Regular pliers.
3. (not shown) Plastic grocery bag for wings.
4. Glues and accelerator.
5. Sharp utility knife and scissors.
6. Long rubber band (the longer the better).
7. Bamboo place mat with flat strips for constructing the body with.
8. Diagonal cutters, also known as dikes.
9. Paperclip and a drill I made for this project.
10. Wire strippers, which I used as needlenosed pliers.
11. Coffee filters to reinforce joints with.

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Step 1: Assemble the Body

I looked up "ornithopter plans" on Google and can up place mat and laying out the body shapes. I made
with these plans. However, I wanted to make an some triangles. Using a pencil, carefully mark lines
ornithopter with four wings, like this. So I decided to where they overlap. Cut along the lines with your
base my ornithopter on the free bird plans, but dikes. Carefully clean up the edges with a knife. Glue
modified it to make it four-winged and for use with my together with a bit of superglue and spray with
bamboo construction materials. accelerator.

Start by removing some flat bamboo strips from the Continue for all the joints.

1
1

1. Layout your pieces. Triangles are strong shapes. 1. Draw lines where the pieces overlap.

1
1

1. Carefully cut along the lines with your dikes. 1. Here I've just finished applying superglue to the joint.
2. Do the gluing on a paper surface. If you spill, you can scrape off the
paper. Waxed paper is even better.

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1. The triangle body all glued together.

Step 2: Assemble Crank Supports

The top and bottom of the body need to be parallel, so add a few pieces to make the bottom rectangular.

I made some thin support pieces by cutting the bamboo in half lengthwise.

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1. Once you CAREFULLY start the cut, you can easily finish splitting the 1. I glued a thin support on both sides of the body, instead of one thicker
piece. support.

Step 3: Add Bearings

Make three bearings by wrapping a large paperclip When you have three bearings, make some bearing
around another large paperclip. Straighten the support pieces as pictured. Glue a bearing to the
paperclips out before you begin. Coil the wire onto a bottom of the body. This is the main crank bearing.
small screwdriver or a dirll bit that is slightly (slightly!) Glue two bearings to the top, side by side in the
larger than the diameter of the paperclip wire. This channels created by the support pieces. These are
slight diameter change allows the paperclip to rotate the wing bearings.
freely inside the coil. Clip off excess wire. Based on
user feedback, it seems this step is harder than it I found it helpful to slip a couple straight pieces of
appears. When you are done making your bearings, paperclip inside the bearings as I was positioning
test them for smoothness of turning. them. This helped me ensure they were all parrallel.

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1. Wrapping the first bearing. Straighten your paperclip before coiling or 1. The finished coil. It's a bit crooked; This is also caused by not
you'll get bulging "knuckles" like you see in the third wrap of this coil. straightening the paperclips before winding.

1. This is the crank shaft bearing. Add some supports before gluing to the 1. One of the supports for the crank bearing.
body. 2. The other support for the crank bearing. Glue it to the opposite side.

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1. A half-thickness piece was glued flat-side out on both sides at this point. 1. Top wing bearing support pieces.
2. Bottom crank bearing support pieces.
3. The two wing arm bearings will be glued here.
4. The engine crank bearing will be glued here.

1. Adding one wing bearing . . .

Step 4: Reinforce Your Joints

Mix white glue half and half with water in a disposable cup. Cut out some rectangles of coffee filter tissue and glue
onto the body, making sure that the tissue is throughly moistened with glue. Apply two layers. Let dry.

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1. Applying glue to the filter paper to reinforce the joints. Two layers should
be fine.

Step 5: Finish the Body

Finish the body using the photo as guidance. Add After flying and crashing my ornithopter for several
another triangle shape at the rear. The two rear spars days, it broke right at the weak point between the
are half-thickness to allow the tail hook to fit between. triangles. So I added a third spar high enough to
Form the tail hook from a large paperclip. Scuff the avoid the rubber band motion. I recommend you add
tail hook and superglue to the rear triangle. Reinforce one as well, as pictured.
tail hook with tissue paper.

1 4
1
3

1. Weak point of the body. 1. The pre-scuffed tail hook.

2. The tail hook.
3. I added tissue in two directions for reinforcing the tail hook joint.
4. These spars are half-thickness to allow the tail hook to fit between
them.

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1. Extra spar.
2. I added these little support pieces after the body broke on the twentieth or
so flight.

Step 6: Make Wing Spars

The wing spars need to be longer than any one piece Form two wing cranks from paperclips as pictured.
of bamboo. Join two straight bamboo pieces together The little "jog" in the left wing crank allows good wing
by cutting as shown and gluing. The stepped cut movement. Insert cranks into wing spars and
gives more surface area for the glue to grab, superglue in place. Reinforce with a layer of tissue.
strengthening the joint. Reinforce the joint with tissue. Take two smaller pieces of bamboo and drill several
Drill a small hole through the joint. holes at regular intervals. These will be the adjustable
arms.
You can make a drill by squishing the end of a paper
clip and cutting it at an angle with dikes. Bend into a Insert the left and then right wing spar and slide the
stepped shape and hand crank away. I made a adjustable arms onto the wing and main cranks. Test
motorized drill for this project from a VCR motor I had wing movement. You might have to add a piece of
lying around and a thumbtack. Super glue the tack to Bic ink tube as a spacer to one of the wing cranks for
the motor, squish the tip with pliers, and cut at an easy movement.
angle. Attach to 9-volt battery. I found the VCR lying
beside the road a few years ago and scavenged it for Disassemble wings and adjustable arms.
parts before I threw the case away.

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1. Cut the end of two spars like so and super glue together. 1. Tissue paper over the joints and let dry. Drill a small hole in the center.

1
2
1

1. The "jog" in the left wing crank. All the bends in this wire are right angles. 1. Section of Bic Pen tubing as a spacer.
2. Cranks taped in place temporarily. Super glue at this point and
reinforce with tissue.
3. Left wing crank assembled.

1 1

1. One of the adjustable arms I made. 1. Testing wing movement.

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Step 7: Make a Crank

Straighten a paper clip and bend a hook on one end. Insert into the bottom bearing and bend a stepped shape (the
crank handle) into it.

Make a bead for the crank from a Bic Pen. Pull a Bic pen apart with pliers. Cut off a few rings of the ink tube. Fill
the rings with super glue and let dry. Slide one onto the crank handle and glue in place with super glue. Be sure
not to get any glue on bearing.

1
1

1. Insert the straight crank BEFORE bending. 1. Form the crank hook.

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1

1. Only add this bend AFTER inserting into the crank bearing. 1. Pull the Bic apart with pliers.

2 1

1. Cut small beads from the ink tube. 1. Glue residue from sliding a bead. You have to slide the beads around a
bit to prevent them from sticking.
2. Fill beads with superglue.

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1. This was an alternative crank design that I tried (it didn't work).
2. The finished bead glued into place.

Step 8: Make the Tail

Save the outlines.jpg file attached to this step. Print it bamboo pieces together at an angle for the tail
full size. {In Windows XP, right click on the file name booms. I also thinned my tail booms to cut down on
and click "print". A dialog box will open. Keep clicking weight. Glue a large, straightened piece of paperclip
"Next" until it prints.} Cut out the tail section from the as a tail boom. Cut a small circle out of tissue and
paper and trace onto the grocery bag. I taped my reinforce the joint with it. Carefully cut the tail out of
grocery bag to the back of a clipboard to have a the grocery bag with a sharp knife. The tail should be
smooth surface. about 6.5 inches long. Super glue the tail to the tail
spars.
Using similar techniques as before, cut and glue two

2
1

1. Reinforce the joint with a circle of filter paper. 1. The cut tail piece.
2. I thinned the pieces with my knife.

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1. The completed tail piece.

Step 9: Attach the Wings.

Cut out the wing outline from the paper you printed in Insert the left wing into the left wing bearing. Insert
the last step. Trace onto the grocery bag. Flip, and the right wing and make sure that the wings can
trace the other half of the wing. Trace a second wing move freely. You might have to add a bit of ink tube
the same way. Carefully cut out both wings. Cut a as a spacer. When you have them moving well,
rectangle out at the middle of the straight edge of remove the right wing. Glue the left wing to the the
each wing piece. This allows the mechanics to move "spine" of the body. Add the right wing and just tape
freely. Super glue the wings to the wing spars, the centerline of the wing flaps to the left wing.
starting at the center. Cut the right wing down the
middle.

1. I had to blow the original plans up a bit. I saved you that step by making
the outlines.jpg file in the previous step.
2. One half previously traced.

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1. Cutting complete! 1. Cut out a rectangle like this from both wings.

1
1

1. After gluing the wings to the wing spars, cut the right wing down the 1. Glue the left wing to the body.
middle like so.

Step 10: Final Assembly

Scuff up the tail boom with dikes and superglue to the body. Reinforce with filter paper. Using pliers, bend the tail
boom up about ten degrees.

Hook a rubber band onto both hooks.

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2

1. Tail boom reinforced with paper.

2. Scuff marks.

Step 11: Test Fly and Trim

Wind up your ornithopter and test fly it. Wind it wire to the wing tip on the outside of the turn. I left my
clockwise and counterclockwise to see which wing spars long, and so I just cut off excess from the
direction gives you smoother movement. wing tips on the inside of the turn to fix that.

Here's my second test flight: Experiment with different arm lengths (you know, the
adjustable arm) and different rubber bands. I found
that two or three narrow rubber bands gave me more
//www.youtube.com/v/wCukm8hDldk
consistent torque than one thick band (and also
lasted longer).

Now go play with it! My daughters love watching this

thing.
If your ornithopter zooms upwards and stalls, try
*Update*
adjusting the tail boom down a bit. If it still stalls,
you may need to tape a coin to the front of your
I've added a couple pictures to show where to attach
'thopter.
the rubber band (actually, I use four regular rubber
bands at once) and where you wind it up.
If it turns in a slow circle, you can tape a piece of

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1. The unwound rubber band engine.

2. This is the engine crank handle. You wind it up.
3. I put clear tape on the crank handle and both wing arms to keep
everything together.

1. The wound rubber band engine.

Step 12: Bearing Pictures

As per forum request, here are a few close-up pictures showing the wing and crank bearings in their final form.

The Flying Scrooge: Ornithopter of Household Items: Page 17

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1. Engine crank bearing. 1. Engine crank bearing.

1 1

1. Engine crank bearing. Here you can just see a section of pen tube I use 1. Wing arm bearings.
as a spacer.
2. The rest of the bearing is under this layer of glued filter paper.

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1
1

1. Wing arm bearings. 1. Wing arm bearings. You can just see a section of ink pen tubing that I
use as a spacer protruding on the left.
2. The rest of the wing arm bearings are under a couple layers of glued
tissue paper.

I'm almost finished

does round dowels work?

Dear Royalestel,

Congrats on your "ornithopter from household materials". To build one of these with such limited
materials is a real accomplishment. I wanted to add a comment on your instructable, but it wasn't
working, so I decided to send you a message.

Since a lot of people were looking for other plans and stuff, you might want to provide a link to
http://www.ornithopter.org (http://www.ornithopter.org) where there is a whole section of free plans
for various designs.

(The "competition" link and also the "articles and plans" page both have several plans.)

Also, you should delete the comments from that "chirothopter" guy. Historically, the word
"ornithopter" refers to any flapping-wing flying device, not just ones that have "feathers". He's only
going to confuse people by trying to divide these machines into different categories. Besides, he
didn't even construct the term properly: It should be "chiropter" without the "th".

Nathan Chronister

The Flying Scrooge: Ornithopter of Household Items: Page 19

The Ornithopter Zone

PM'd to me and reposted here for everyone's benefit. The link is especially handy!

i have been meaning to reply to you for some time now so sorry for the late comment. I will agree
with you that ornithopter is a very generalized term that is used to describe a flapping fying
machine. however, if you disect the word you will end up with orni(bird) and thopter(flapping
machine) and when the word chiroptera(bat) is disected you find chiro(hand) and ptera(wing) and
when put together you end up with chirothopter and not chiropter as the word opter has no
meaning without a prefix or suffix. so, if the roots are taken literally enough you end up with the
three main groups of flapping machines: entomopter,chirothopter, and ornithopter and that's if you
do not consider helicopters as flapping. i will also agree with you that this will confuse people and i
am sorry for that. but, for those of us it does not confuse, this is very interesting peice of
information and thats all im trying to make it into. i am not suggesting we change every book and
website using ornithopter to the more specific term.

OK, I guess it may be kind of pointless to reply to this eight years after the fact, and you may never
see this reply, but I just saw this post and wanted to say, for what it's worth, that in fact royalestel is
correct; it would be chiropter, not chirothopter. Your dissection of "ornithopter" is mistaken; the
Greek prefix for bird is ornitho-, not orni- (hence why the study of birds is called ornithology, not
ornology or orniology), and the second root in ornithopter is simply the same -pteros (wing) as in
chiroptera. So it's not orni + thopter (neither of those are actual Greek roots); it's ornitho + pter, and
simply means "bird wing". (You don't have to take my word for it; you can look up "ornithopter" in
any dictionary that gives etymologies and it will verify this.) So yes, as royalestel said, an
analogous word formed from chiroptera would be simply chiropter, not chirothopter; there's really
no reason for that "th" to be there.

(Or rather I should say Nathan Chronister is correct; missed that royalestel was quoting a PM.)

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The Flying Scrooge: Ornithopter of Household Items: Page 20

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I used the ink pen tubes as bearings and oiled them up to ensure the wires turn freely and
smoothly, and it works great! It flies so effortlessly and has good motion in the air. Thanks for the
Instructable!

in the last airbender Aang, he had one

anyone u can send the list of requirements

Great plans. will the bamboo sticks work on a 2-winged ornithopter, it being heavier when
compared to balsa??

what r the inches cinimeter to all this bamboo i dont no how much to cut and with the paper clips
what do u mean put one at the bottom of the body

hey can we use a spring?????????

rather than coiling maybe you can use a balloon stick,maybe?pls reply..

The Flying Scrooge: Ornithopter of Household Items: Page 21

 great idea ive made 3 ornithopters and im sure thet would work

What's a balloon stick? You mean, like a straw?

instead of making the complicated paper clip bearing you can make a paper tube and super glue it
and its practically like plastic

can you send me the plans at [email protected] thx (=

Author's video have been remove, so here is another one I found made by Kipkay :
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e3wWfKEdvpY&feature=player_embedded
(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e3wWfKEdvpY&feature=player_embedded )

Skip to 2:50 for test flight !

You REALLY need measurments

He said that the plans are from the free bird plans

woo hoo!!! I made it! Awesome!

The Flying Scrooge: Ornithopter of Household Items: Page 22

 Can you make a video?

Yes!!! almost finished!!! Thank you so much for this instructable. I just need to renew the spring
that you make in step 3. When I turn the hook, it gets caught a bit. In other words, the movement
isn't smooth.

i only have round bamboo peicec. will the ornithopter still fly if the bamboo is rounded??

I also have only round bamboo pieces.

I'm also wondering if this will work with them.
I already started and I'm on Step 6 and I had no problem so far with my bamboo pieces
being round.

does it really fly??

Absolutely. It would fly longer and better if it had an electric motor instead of a rubber band, but it
does indeed fly just fine.

adding the motor would be easy

the real challenge would be adding a rudder to remote controll it you could use a miniature rc
submarine motor and board or
fust buy the havoc avenger and use the electronics from it as weel as rudder only problem is short
range and a free flow rudder

The radio instillation would be easy! If some one made one of these i could convert it to an rc
model in under 24 hours! The difference in my model from yours is that i would use servos and an

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 ESC instead of cannibalizing an rc helicopter. I would totally make one of these but I am to
inpatient to glue all of those bamboo rods.

i used a rc car to make a plane, but i broke the reciever I think.

first off you could use balsen wood and second the havoc avenger is an ornithopiter as well but the
why it flies is hard to control and is adgetating
ps
i tried it but i cant find it now

Argh! Dis is so hard!!! Can anyone give me advice?

Also, wat is the paperclip wire thingy for?

Awesome work man....i just wanted to know how small you could make one of these for it to
function as an indoor ornithopter....toothpick size? and also can u make the frame with aluminum
wire, its easier to bend and gluing with epoxy is faster and stronger. thanks

i dont get any of this

were do you get this sticks?

I just put too"maybes" in that sentence i'm so dumb!

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I made one of these, and the wings won't flap. is it because the crank isn't straight?

sorry if i sound stupid, but how do you make the body? I don't understand

Really it can be however big you want it, just study some ornithopter designs and figure out how
big of a crank you need, what size wings etc... the important thing is you need to build light, and
strong... because there is lots of torque/power going through the body to flap the wings... and also
it has got to be very light if you want it to really fly for a good time and make sure the wings flap in
unison

i have made one of these before, except its a singlewing type, not dual. It flew only so far, they
neeed alot of torque to flap the wings. I have a vid of mine on youtube called Jacob's Ornithopter,
its made of popsicle sticks lol.

can anyone tell me the length of the sticks my son is trying to big one and no where is the
measurements of anything can you please help

looks sweet!!! Dude :>

great instructable!

I have a tip for other people making the coil, wrap the paper clip around a small screwdriver, this
makes it soo much easier.

The Flying Scrooge: Ornithopter of Household Items: Page 25

 You know, I'll add that to the instructable. Another builder wound the wire around a small drill bit.

As a long time model designer and builder, I recommend doing a lot of redesign before kitting. Your
design is decent, but there have been many of these made over the years and yours isn't new or
innovative. If you design one to duplicate the actual motion of bird wings, you would have a better
design as it holds more scientific interest. It also flies better. Birds use an up and back--forward
and down motion with stiff airfoiled wings. They also have a second bend in the wings about where
the elbow is.I made a decent flying one when I was about 12 and it won the scientific competition
in high-school. They are great fun.Good work, I like what you have done. Ummm, I couldn't get all
the photos to expand and couldn't see much of your work closely. Is this intentional or just an
internet error?

Sometimes you go to war with the ornithopter plans you have, not the ones you'd like. Where are
these other online ornithopter plans?

Um, step 1 has the link to the plans. I wanted to make a four-winged ornithopter. I really didn't
change the design all that much.

Eh, I had zero response so no kits, but I was thinking about making one that's R/C controlled
whose wing flap speed was influenced by surrounding air temperature. Thought that might be
insteresting to watch. Wow. Twelve, eh? Go you! Not sure why the photos won't expand . . . wasn't
intentional. And lastly, thanks for your kind words.

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