Building Requirements for the Bear

Building this Karakuri was challenging given my limited tools. The book gives pages with the shapes needed for the design (see figures below); however, the pages were not perforated as I thought they might be. Thus the first step was to cut out and label all the pieces. The orange box and body of the bear that act as a ground for sliders needed holes cut out of the paper, a challenging feat with just scissors.

Once all the elements were cut out and labeled, I first built the crank mechanism, which is the center and most important part of the mechanism.

Once the crank was put together, I made the box and body of the bear and put the crank inside, sliding the top of the crank through a hole where the neck is and the 2 arms through slits at the shoulders. Both the neck and shoulders act as slider joints in this mechanism. Finally I added the bearings and the wheel to the crank mechanism, taking care to not accidentally glue them to the base. I then added the final touches to make the bear adorable including putting together the head and attaching it along with the arms, legs, a tail, and a bowtie.

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