The "Calamari Kid" is the third in a series of "illusion" themed automata I've designed. With a press of the calamari kid coin ("CK"), the model performs a "shell game" themed illusion.
Inspired by the "swedish handcraft" hand cranked shell game themed automaton, this model is a battery powered motor driven electro mechanical design utilizing gears, cams, levers, arms and wheels to recreate a shell game illusion in a calamari (cooked octopus) form factor. Drawing an average of 9ma of current (maximum 14ma, minimum 7), the mechanism is easily suitable for solar powered operation.
Each "cup" has a small magnet in the top strong enough to hold the ball bearing when the arms are lifted.
A 16 position geneva wheel moves a magnet holder (containing two larger magnets) under the table top to one of the three cups positions. When the two magnets are under a cup, they are strong enough to hold the ball bearing on the table.
It's hard to follow the trick without looking at a ton of pictures or the stls... I just gave up, I can't spend 20 minutes on this! I have my own ideas on how it could work but it's really not worth the effort...
the magic chef is pretty awesome too