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DIY solar system model. Do-it-yourself model of the solar system: making it together with children

Unusual and very useful educational material- a model of a reduced and original solar system, which is easy to make with your own hands. Such crafts will not only allow the child to learn the names of the planets, but will also teach them to correctly navigate in sizes and distances. Let's try to make two versions of the layout for children: from newsprint and from plasticine with beads.

How to make a realistic model of the solar system with your own hands step by step

To make a reliable model for our solar system, you need to know the approximate sizes of the planets, their distance from the Sun and colors.

Sun – yellow, diameter 1391400 km;
Mercury – gray, diameter 4880 km, distance from the Sun 58 million km;
Venus – pale yellow with white streaks, diameter 12140 km, distance from the Sun 108 million km;
Earth – blue with green splashes, diameter 12756 km, distance from the Sun 150 million km;
Mars is red-orange, diameter 6787 km, distance from the Sun 228 million km;
Jupiter is light orange with white splashes, diameter 142800 km, distance from the Sun 778 million km;
Saturn – light yellow, diameter 120660 km, distance from the Sun 1.4 billion km;
Uranus is pale blue, diameter 51118 km, distance from the Sun 2.9 billion km;
Neptune is bright blue, diameter 49528 km, distance from the Sun 4.5 billion km;
Pluto is light brown, diameter 2300 km, distance from the Sun 5.9 billion km.

The paper model of the solar system looks very solid and can decorate the interior of both a children's room and a classroom. This is a wonderful gift for a teacher.

old newspapers or low quality thin paper;
toilet paper or paper towels;
PVA glue or any other office glue;
the basis of the layout is a round piece of plywood or thick cardboard;
acrylic paint on wood;
gouache for coloring planets;
long screws;
brushes of different thicknesses.

Operating procedure.

Take a piece of newsprint, crumple it thoroughly and crumple it into a ball. Wetting it generously with water, give the newspaper blank the most rounded shape possible. Then we wrap it in 2-3 layers of toilet paper or napkins, wet it again and form a ball. There is no need to strive to obtain the smoothest possible surface; small cracks and dents look more natural, forming the relief of the planet’s surface.

Using a brush, apply a little glue to the resulting ball and leave it to air dry. We make preparations for other planets in a similar way, trying to at least approximately maintain their proportions.

While the balls are drying, we are preparing a model of the starry sky. To do this, lightly sand a piece of plywood and paint it with 1-2 layers of dark blue acrylic paint. After drying, we randomly apply stars, comets and constellations to the surface of the model with thick white paint, as shown in the photo below.

We paint the paper balls in accordance with the above data. For Saturn we make a ring out of cardboard.

After the paint has dried, the planets can be mounted on the base. To do this, in the places where the planets are attached, we screw long self-tapping screws into the plywood disk from the bottom up (with the sharp part facing out). Then we carefully begin to screw the balls onto the screws.

The order of the planets from the Sun is: Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune. On the layout it will look like this:

If desired, planets can be labeled, satellites and asteroids can be added.

We analyze the second version of the space model made of beads and plasticine

Another version of the layout is an easier-to-make compact 3D model made of beads and plasticine.

Required materials and equipment:

plasticine of any color;
beads of different colors in accordance with the colors of the planets;
bamboo skewers;
adhesive tape;
White paper;
cardboard;
tailor's pins.

Operating procedure:

We mold balls from plasticine, observing the approximate proportions of the planets. For the Sun it is enough to make a hemisphere.
“Coloring” the planets with beads. To do this, scatter beads of the desired color onto a piece of paper and roll a plasticine ball over it so that the beads are pressed into it. We decorate all the balls in this way.
We cut the bamboo skewers into pieces of the required length plus 1.0 cm on each side for fastening:

6.3 cm for Mercury;
10.2 cm for Venus;
12.7 cm for Earth;
15.2 cm for Mars;
17.8 cm for Jupiter;
20.3 cm for Saturn;
25.0 cm for Uranus;
29.2 cm for Neptune;
25.5 cm for Pluto.

If desired, color the skewers black or brown.

We attach the Sun to a piece of cardboard, previously painted dark blue.

We string the planet balls onto skewers and attach them to the Sun.

Using paper and adhesive tape, we make small strips and sign the names of the planets; you can print them on a printer. We fix the resulting miniature signs on pins and stick them into the corresponding planets.

The model made of beads and plasticine is ready!

Video on the topic of the article

Using the video lessons below, you will learn how to make other layout options.

We are going on a very long journey into space. I have prepared a lot interesting material, I’ll start my story with making models of planets solar system. This will be something like a mini master class, so if someone is not familiar with this technique, they can watch and try. Don't think it will take a lot of time, as there are certain stages of action and drying breaks in the work. In total, it will take you at most a week, but the result is worth it!

The papier-mâché technique is one of my favorites! It is convenient to use when there is no necessary materials, it is not difficult to manufacture and does not require expensive materials, and it will not deteriorate during storage.

It all starts with the selection of suitable size balls or balloons. If these are balls from children's toys, then they need to be tightly wrapped in cling film or placed and tied in a plastic bag. Air balloons inflate and tie well so that they do not begin to deflate during the manufacturing process! I did not select absolutely exact proportions to match the sizes of the planets, otherwise they would have turned out to be very voluminous balls.

I used newspapers paper napkins And white paper. The lower layers were glued with paste or wallpaper glue. All paper should be torn, not cut. The fact is that the torn layers lay on top of each other more softly and the ball turns out smoother. I covered all the planets at once and did it in two stages: the first day three layers and the next day two more layers. The last layer is best made of white paper. Then let everything dry thoroughly for a day or even two. Readiness is easy to determine - the balls become light.

The next stage is to take out balls and marbles. Here you need to use a stationery knife and carefully cut it into almost two halves without damaging the balls. You can simply remove the balls by piercing them.

Next, I prepared metal half rings by sewing them to the black braid. I need this so that in the future I can not only just play with the planets, but also attach them to the model of the Solar System. But more on that later. I glued the braid inside the cut paper balls with PVA glue so that only the half ring was visible. I glued it together and covered it with another layer of white paper using PVA glue for strength. And again the drying stage.

The next thing is to apply primer or thick paint to the balls to level the entire surface. You can buy ready-made primer, or you can simply use thick water-based or gouache white paint. And dry again.

Now additional details on two planets - Saturn and Uranus, which have rings. I cut out the rings from two sheets of cardboard, glued them together, cut out a circle of suitable size and glued them to the balls using strips of torn white paper. I selected a suitable circle using dishes in the house. If the ball did not slip, then the size was appropriate. After drying, I covered these rings with primer.

Another technical digression, I had to correct my mistake along the way, but I’ll tell you now. Uranus is a planet that lies on its side, so it is better to glue the half-ring with braid onto a cardboard ring, so the planet will hang on its side.

Now let's move on to the most interesting stage - painting. Dima even helped me with this, and with extraordinary zeal! We made the first layers of paint in just the right tone, and more carefully drew the shades and details myself, placing in front of us photographs of the planets from the World on the Palm “Secrets of Space” set. That's what came out of it.

The last thing is to cover the planets with acrylic varnish to preserve the paint. It can be purchased at art or craft stores. It is non-toxic and not dangerous for children. The continuation of the production of the solar system model is still ahead!

It’s no secret that all sorts of crafts that are assigned to our children at home in kindergartens and schools are actually assigned not to children at all, but to their parents :) And it often happens that either the child said about homework late, or we ourselves stretch out the “pleasure” - we delay with the creativity that suddenly fell on our shoulders until the last moment. And now tomorrow we need to take the craft to the garden/school (underline as necessary), but we have nothing ready yet. Well, it’s okay - let’s try to make a model of the solar system in one evening - quite common homework, especially for schoolchildren.

Of course, it’s better to have more time and start making the solar system with your own hands slowly. But if you happen to be Cinderella and in the evening you need to go through all the millet, peas, wheat to create, not just anything, but a model of the solar system, and not from banal plasticine, but in order to be guaranteed to get an “A”, then let’s not grumble, but Let's get down to business quickly. And of course, don’t forget to take a “colleague in misfortune” to help, the same one who will have to take the rap for your joint masterpiece the next day :)

When I faced a similar problem, of course, the first thing I did was go to the Internet to look for a ready-made solution. But none of the options found satisfied me. Everything was either too simple and banal, such as crafts made from plasticine or the Solar System from cut out paper circles-planets, or too time-consuming - the papier-mâché version would have looked pretty decent, but would have taken a lot of time to create. Therefore, it was decided to look for our own way. It occurred to me to use wet newspaper and glue. Surely, this method is not know-how and has its own name, but I am not aware of its existence. The technique has a bit in common with papier-mâché, only much faster. So let's get started.

To make planets we will need:

Newspaper. The content does not matter :), but there is still a requirement for quality - the worse the quality, the better for us.
Toilet paper or any other well-soaking paper. The quality requirements are the same.
Glue. I had stationery PVA - it worked perfectly, I didn’t experiment with anything else.

Good news: until 2006, there were 9 planets in the solar system. In 2006, the last planet in the solar system, Pluto, was reclassified as a dwarf planet. For us, this means that we will have to do one less planet.

It also needs to be said that when making a model of the solar system, we will have to deviate from reality more than once. Let's take scale, for example. If you observe the scaling and ratio of the sizes of the planets, then compared to the Sun even Jupiter will be a baby, and even more so Mercury or even the Earth. The same goes for the distance between the planets' orbits and their inclinations. But we are not claiming astronomical accuracy, but only an A in the subject. Therefore, we will consider some deviations acceptable.

To maintain the approximate ratio of the planets, you can use the following scale:

Here you go, preparatory work completed, we proceed directly to production.

We take the newspaper and crumple it into a ball.

The result was a ball, but it was very uneven, with pieces of newspaper sticking out of it.

Now we wet the newspaper wad with water...

... and then squeeze it out, forming a ball at the same time.

It looks more like a planet, but still not enough.

Now we wrap the ball with two or three layers of toilet paper...

... and again moisten it with water.

Squeeze out the wad of paper again and form a ball.

It looks more like a planet now. The outer layer of paper seems to hold the newspaper lump together, preventing it from unfolding. The uneven surface creates the effect of the planet's relief.

To finally secure the spherical shape, apply a little glue to your hands and distribute it over the surface of our ball.

The planet is ready, you can send it to drying. Making one planet, with some skill, takes no more than 2-3 minutes. You can dry it in any available way depending on the time you have: with a hairdryer, on a radiator, or even in general. in a natural way. You adjust the size of a particular planet with the amount of newspaper.

While the planets are drying up, let's take on outer space. It is very good to use a piece of plywood for these purposes. But if there is no plywood, you can use thick cardboard. Cut out a circle of suitable size from it. Suitable size in in this case should be considered one that your child or you are able to drag to school/kindergarten. By the way, when making planets you should also focus on the size “ outer space"so that the planets don't turn out too small or too big.

Color the cut out circle according to your artistic abilities. I don’t have any, so I just painted the plywood dark blue with water-based acrylic interior paint. I didn’t use acrylic paint on purpose, but simply because I had it.

This paint dries quite quickly, so after about twenty minutes you can apply stars to our celestial disk. The technology is simple: dip a pointed object (for example, a pencil) in white paint and touch it to the disk. You can even draw constellations or star clusters this way.

Hopefully by this point your planets are dry and ready to be painted.

Gouache works well for these purposes. We make rings for Saturn from cardboard.

After coloring, you send the planets to dry again.

After everything has dried, we need to fix the Sun and planets on the disk. If you are making a model of the solar system, so to speak, for home use, you just need to glue the planet. But if you want your work not to be in vain and to be guaranteed to survive transportation, you should use self-tapping screws. Screw the screw from below into the disk...

... and then screw up the planet. The order of the planets from the Sun is as follows: Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune.

It should look something like this.

The solar system model is ready. If you have extra time, you can add additional “goodies” to your model: planetary satellites, comets, asteroids. Your model will only benefit from this.

Good luck with your technical creativity! And don’t forget to involve your children in making these kinds of crafts. After all, this is not only a way to expand their horizons and abilities, but also an excellent option to have a good and unusual time with your child.

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I saved this project on my blog specifically so that later, in a calm environment, I could figure it out and make a similar model of the Solar System for my grandchildren. What makes life a little more difficult is that I don’t have the CNC machine that the author of the project used. But I'll think of something.

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This project explores the use of plywood to make mechanical, decorative and structural parts.

This is an instructable on how to build a tabletop model of the solar system. A planetarium is a mechanical model of the motion and arrangement of planets in our solar system. The device accurately depicts where the earth is relative to other planets, the sun and moon, and how they move relative to each other. It can be used for education, decoration, display, gift, and fun project to build.

I built my solar system model with half a sheet of plywood and less than $50 in other materials.

However, full disclosure, building a planetarium requires some specialized tools. My design does not require a CNC machine to cut gears out of plywood. A laser cutter or 3D printer could also work here, but I don't know enough about them to be sure. I'm sure someone in the comments will correct me if I'm wrong.

The design relies on the custom of cutting gears that must be perfectly centered, symmetrical, and have identical teeth. I would strongly recommend that you do not try this with non-computerized tools. Unless you're like Michael Phelps from a jigsaw perfectly cutting 19 small gears with nearly 900 total teeth is probably more terrible than that is possible. Even small imperfections in the cutting of gears can cause problems because the gears all have to work together. Saturn moves according to the model, for example, it requires 12 gears to all move together perfectly.

Step 1: Tools and Materials

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I'll start by talking about the tools and materials I used:

Tools

CNC or laser cutter
Small set of files
Soldering iron
Pipe/pipe cutter (hacksaw probably works here)
Drill or drilling machine

Materials

3/16" plywood (which is actually like 0.19" thick) - 2 feet by 4 feet section [<$10]
Brass Tubes and Rods (3 leg sections) - Found these at a local art store, I have also seen displays at some hardware stores and you can of course order them online [$25 total]
- 2 x 3/32 brass rod
- ⅛ inch diameter brass tube
- Brass tube 5/32 inch diameter
- 3/16" Brass Tube
- 7/32" Brass Tube
- Brass tube 1/4 inch diameter
- 9/32" Brass Tube
Washers [$2]
Super glue
Balls, wooden balls, plastic models, or whatever you want your planets to be
Wooden Golf TiS (again, optional depending on the planets)
DOW rods (you can replace some of the brass window pipes here)

Stain or paint (optional depending on how you want it to look)

Step 2: Design

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I started by hitting the internet hard and seeing what had already been done. Orreries come in all shapes, sizes, brands, models and designs. Some take up entire rooms; some of them can fit on your desktop. They can be made from anything from Lego to steel, but are most often made from brass. They also range wildly in difficulty. If you want to make something smaller and less complex, consider simply making a model of the sun, moon and earth. There are tons of ideas and designs out there, so be creative when making your own.

I decided to build the mine out of plywood because it was a material that was easy to work with the tools I had on hand. Because the parts are mechanical, I avoided real wood because I was concerned about creating pressure points on the gear teeth when they didn't match the wood grain, and I wanted to avoid even the slight post-production warping that can come with real wood. Any warping would throw the gears out of alignment. Plywood is also relatively inexpensive, so I could experiment with a bunch of designs and toss the ones that didn't work.

Proportionality

In general, the idea of a planetarium is for him an example of the relative position of the planets and the sun. I also wanted to include Earth's Moon because it is easily observable. I had to be realistic about how accurate and complete it could be to give limitations on size and buildability.

I thought the model could be proportional in three ways:

Orbital period - all planets revolve around the Sun in the same direction (relative to the sun) on approximately the same plane. The amount of time it takes them to go around the Sun varies on the planet. For land, it takes 365 days. A planet's orbital period (or planetary year) increases exponentially as it moves away from the sun. Every time the earth revolves around the sun, Mercury travels around 4 times. Saturn is only about 12 degrees at this time. I decided it wasn't worth representing any planets further from the sun than Saturn because they would barely move. That is, they have very low angular velocities, which are difficult to observe in a planetarium. Just showing the first six planets captured most of the variation. For example, for every rotation of the Earth (or ~4 rotations of Mercury), Uranus will only move 4 degrees. Neptune will move a barely noticeable 2 degrees. I decided to just make the first 6 planets. Unfortunately, Neptune and Uranus (possibly and the mysterious ninth planet, which may or may not exist. - https://student.societyforscience.org/article/bey...)

Planet size - I quickly found that I could not make the planets and suns proportional in size to each other. Even if I made the moon the size of a pinhead, the sun would have to be a beach ball. Instead, I decided to have them represented in the order size, but not in proportion. The sun will be the largest object, but not as large as it should be. The moon is the smallest, but not as small as it should be. I also wanted this size difference to show up, so I ended up cutting out the relative size of all the planets in the solar system inside the largest gears, more on that further down.

Planet distance- Similar in size to the planets, the planetarium would have to be gigantic to represent the distance between the planets correctly, so I decided to just have them in the right order and that would be enough.

Completeness

In addition to not being entirely accurate, the model is also not entirely complete.

Moon— I also choose not to depict any satellites, with the exception of the Earth. Saturn and Jupiter together are more than 100 and things quickly pile up. There are also asteroids, dwarf planets and a whole bunch of other things floating around, but none of them are represented in the model.

Axial rotation - I also choose not to depict any axial rotation, that is, the planets do not rotate on their axis. I only considered having a ground spin, but the 1/365 gear ratio was very intimidating. If anyone has ideas for an easy one that includes axial rotation, I'd love to hear about them in the comments.

Step 3: Gears

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To begin designing gears. Gear wheels, the heart of the planetarium. The gears must have specific teeth ratios to ensure the planets are moving at the correct speed relative to each other.

For each gear, you need to know the number of teeth (which is proportional to its diameter) and the size of the shaft at the center of the gear. All gears should have the same thickness, the thickness of plywood.

For the gears, I modified the design found at http://brassorrery.blogspot.com/. The blogger was limited to brass gears that were on sale. Since I cut my own gears from plywood, they can be any size and contain any number of teeth. So I could make the model more accurate. I used Excel to find a combination of gears that (a) were within the size range I could cut from my material and (b) showed accurate planetary speeds within 1% error.

I used 19 gears with the following number of teeth:

16 (x2)
40 (x3)
46 (x2)

*In size, 146-tooth gears, I etched the months of the year around the circle. Note that the months must be counterclockwise. I mixed it up the first time and put them in a clockwise direction, which is not accurate.

In the center of each gear, you will need a hole that will fit your waiting brass tube. See the diagram which shows which gears have common axes. Solid lines connecting gears show that they have a common axis. The hollow lines indicate that the trunnions fit into each other and should be able to rotate independently of each other.

The 74, 57, 46, and 32-tooth gears need to fit on the same plug.
The 15 and 30 tooth gears also need to fit on the same plug.
The two pairs of 16 and 40 gears must have the same shaft diameter.
The last 40-tooth gear needs a shaft that fits into one of the 16- and 40-tooth pairs.
The 18, 35, 46, 146, 60, 61, and 76 gears all need different and larger plugs because they will slide into each other in that order and must rotate independently of each other.
The 11-tooth gears can have any tube size.

Spends some time figuring out which gears will use which tubes.

To determine the gears' overall diameter, the only consideration was that the largest gears (146 teeth) should be approximately the diameter of the Earth's axis of rotation path. The Sun, Mercury, Venus and the Moon all had to fit into this path. I lined up my planet marbles at intervals that looked good and found that they all fit into circles about 9 inches in diameter with the sun in the center and the earth on the outskirts. The gear that the earth rotates against was 146 teeth, so the 9 inch/146 teeth steel proportions I used to calculate the size of all the other gears. (X teeth)*(9/146) = Y, inches in diameter.

To make the gears, I used the following steps:

Match each gear in a generator gear (http://geargenerator.com/)
Click "export as SVG file"
Importing SVG files into a CNC program (or laser cutter and 3D printer)
Scale its proper diameter according to the tooth/diameter ratio (for me, multiply teeth 9/146),
Add a shaft hole of the appropriate size in the exact middle
Start the machine to cut plywood
Use small files to clear the slice Since the earth will rotate around the 146-tooth gear every year, I added a few more months to it as a reference point. I also cut out circles in this gear in relation to the size of the planet because I wanted it to be represented somewhere, even if just decoratively. The whole gear is the relative sizes of Jupiter. The ring inside the month labels are the relative sizes of Saturn. The three large notches are the relative sizes of Neptune and Uranus (they are very similar in size). The three sets of four cutouts are the relative sizes of Earth, Mars, Venus and Mercury. I painted all of my gears to make them look smaller, like cheap plywood. Some plywoods don't take stain well because they are a combination of different materials that absorb stain differently. Review the paint or test your stains before using it on the cut pieces.
Step 4: Top and Bottom Plates

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Almost all gears (except 146 and 11 teeth) are sandwiched between the upper and lower plates. These plates play several roles:
- The bottom slab acts as the base for the planetarium. Later, I placed a cork shelf liner under the shafts to protect the surface it sits on.
- Both plates hold all axes in position. The gears should be in a secluded place. Close enough that the teeth are mesh, but not so close that they bind. Finding that point can be a little tricky, so take your time and try a few things. For me, I found the distance between the axles should be equal to the sum of the gear radii minus 0.125 inches. At this distance, the gearing went very smoothly.
- Both plates hold the vertical supports in position. I cut six doe rods to act as vertical supports, but you could use brass tubing just as effectively. These supports keep the plates too close to each other and prevent the axle from spinning freely. They also prevent the plates from becoming too far apart and allowing the axle to fall out of vertical alignment.
I CNC machined the top and bottom plates. I started with the bottom plate. I found the distance between each of the axles, and I machined 0.1 inch offsets into the top and bottom where the five shafts would fit into to make sure they stayed in place and were perfectly vertical. I also made indentations of 6 wooden windows in a circle.

For the top plate, I used the same CNC file with four changes.
The underside of the top slab will be a mirror image of the top of the bottom slab. So I clicked on the coordinates.
The center of the axis should have holes all the way through large enough to accommodate the pipes that control the planets
I made the top plate smaller in diameter than the bottom plate because I though it looked good and it allowed some of the gears to stick out and be more visible
I also put some decorative circle cutout in the top plate on the inner gears to make it more visible.
Step 5: Brace

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The spacer plate is a strange but necessary part of the planetarium. Its purpose is to prevent the 146-tooth gear from spinning. That the gearbox must remain stationary. The bracket holds the tube that the 146-tooth gear is mounted on.

To make the take, I used the same file as a top slab with a few minor changes:
The center of the hole should be exactly the same diameter as the hole in the center of the 146-tooth gear.
Instead of indentations for axles and vertical supports, a brace requires holes all the way through the material because all the trunnions run through the bracket. They may be in the same place and the same size as the notches on the top plate though.
I changed the decorative designs of the circle.
Step 6: Lever Assembly

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Now you should have all the plywood pieces cut out:
- 19 gears
- Top plate
- Bottom plate
- Double
Taking into account all these details, you can begin installing the main part of the planetarium.

First, you will need to cut the brass rods and pipes to the correct length. To calculate the length of each rod, look at the diagram to see what rod or tube should go to the end, then add all the thicknesses of these materials together. For my materials:
- 0.11 inches for clearances at the top and bottom of the slab
- 0.056" for each washer (a washer goes above and below each gear)
- 0.193 inches for each gear and bracket
For example, the length of my four axes (from the indentation in the bottom plate to the indentation in the top plate) was 2.268 inches. This is 7 layers of gears, 1 brace, 2 offsets, and 9 washers.

All pipes must end at that top plate except for the plugs that hold the planets, they must pass through the top plate. The rods and pipes that go through the center of the top plate must be long enough to not only protrude through the top of the top plate, and also continue on each irradiated 0.5 inch of brass. You can see in the photo how these plug sockets look like the good old days of a telescope if done correctly. Mercury, for example, will have a plug that extends from the 18 tooth gear, through 6 other layers of gears, through the top plate, through the half-inch sections for Saturn, Jupiter, Mars, bracket, Earth, and Venus, and another 0.5 inches of exposed brass .

Use a pipe cutter to cut the rods to size. Use a small round file to create a smooth cut with a smaller diameter tube that will rotate freely in the pipe.

Add the gears and cut the rods according to the diagram.

Important : Remember to place brass washers around the axle under each gear. The washer will reduce friction between gears spinning at different speeds or reduce friction between plates of stationary and rotating mechanisms. Even on gears that rotate at the same speed, the washer will maintain the proper distance. A little grease between the brass tubes will also help the tubes that fit inside each other rotate freely.

Although the holes in the center of the gear were the exact pipe diameter and tight fit, I used a few drops of super glue to make sure the pipes rotated with the gears they were attached to.

Start installation from the bottom.

The sun doesn't need gears because it is a reference point and stationary. The mine is located on top of the 3/32” rod in the center. This rod should fit into the recess of the base plate.

The first four planets (Mercury, Venus, Earth and Mars) are the simplest mechanical way. The planets are controlled by a stacked set of drive gears on a common axis, which sit on a washer, which sits on a base plate. This stacked set of gears drives rotation, but they do not move relative to each other. They have the same angular velocity. These drives articulate with planetary gears, which also sit on a washer that sits on a base plate. Each planet has its own gears and axle that move independently of the other planets. The smallest bridge, Mercury, is placed inside the axis for Venus, which is placed inside the axis for Earth, etc., etc.

On the bottom of the drive gear stack, a 74-tooth gear drives onto an 18-tooth gear that is connected to a Mercury bridge. Second from the bottom, the 57-tooth gear drives the 35-tooth gear, which is connected to the Venus bridge. The third from the bottom, the 46-tooth gear drives another 46-tooth gear that is connected to the earth's axis. The 146-tooth shroud must be added above the 46-tooth gear. It doesn't rotate, but instead holds a tube that will support a 146-tooth gear between Earth and Mars. The fifth from the bottom, a 32-tooth gear drives a 60-tooth gear, which is fixed to the Mars axle.

Note: gear ratios are proportional to the orbital period of that planet. The Earth's orbital period is 365 days, 1 year. The earth drive gear and planet gears have 46 teeth. 46/46 = 1. For each rotation of these gears, one earth year has passed into the model. Mercury, gears 18 and 74 teeth. 18/74 = 0.24. Mercury revolves around the Sun every 88 days or 0.24 years. Notice also that all tooth combinations add up to 92. This is so they are always at the same distance.

For Jupiter gears, rotation should slow down further. This will require two more stacks of gears. Mars gear drives are 40-tooth gears that share a common axis with a 16-tooth gear. That 16-tooth gear drives into a second 40-tooth gear, which is also shared by an axle with a 16-tooth gear. The second 16-tooth gear drives the third 40-tooth gear onto its own axle that sits inside the axle of the first 40-tooth gear. The final 40-tooth gear drives the Jupiter gear.

The final pack of 30-tooth gears and 15-tooth gears on a common axis use the rotation of the Jupiter gear to drive the Saturn gear.

Dry fit the vertical supports and add the top plate.

After all the gears and plates are assembled. Rotation test by rotating 74-tooth gears with a finger. It should work smoothly and the center of the axle should rotate at different speeds (with the exception of one beam bridge, it should not rotate at all). If you are satisfied with the proposal, add vertical supports to the dow or brass tube and glue to those places.

Step 7: Planets

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I decided to use balloons from a local store for the planet because they came in a variety of colors and sizes and had an abstract quality to them. You could use beads, custom-made wooden balls to make a planet out of plasticine, or purchase dummies. The planets must be mounted on brass handles. To join in the brass rods for the balls, I used wooden golf tees. I drilled a hole the same diameter of the rod straight down onto the tee. I then cut the bottom of the tee and use super glue to secure the marble to the top of the tee. If you are using a material that can be drilled, you can skip the Golf TiS and stick the rods directly on the planets. I found that it was more likely to crack the marbles by trying to get deeper into them.

Step 8: Planet of Weapons

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Bend the 3/32" rods into the brackets to hold the planets. Bend the eye hooks to the opposite end, which is approximately the diameter of the tubes they should be attached to.

Make sure that the weapon arm for each planet is long enough that they can pass each other without colliding.

I looked up the corresponding relative positions of the planets on http://www.theplanetstoday.com/ to find out where to place Saturn, Jupiter and Mars. Do not solder to Earth, Venus and Mercury just yet.

I then soldered the copper eye loops onto the matching tubes with a soldering iron. I filed down no additional solder.

Note: Because I used beads, the large glass beads for Jupiter and Saturn were quite heavy and would typically bend 3/32" of the rods. I am those reinforced rods with a shell of thick brass tubes that made it difficult to bend too much.

Step 9: Moon Mechanism

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After installation, Jupiter, Saturn, and Mars are on their axes. Add 146 tooth gears to its girder bridge above Mars. Use a few drops of super glue to make sure it doesn't twist.

Note: the moon revolves around the Earth once every 27.32 days. That's 13.36 times a year. We can approximate this by having an 11-tooth gear rotating around a 146-tooth gear. 146/11= 13.3.

To make the moon revolve around. I drilled two holes in one of the large brass pipes. One fits over an axle that moves on the ground, and the hole at the opposite end of the tube is large enough to allow the axle to rotate freely. As the earth's axis rotates (due to gears between the plates), he moves his hand around the outside of the 146-tooth gear. The 146 tooth gear turns an 11 tooth gear which turns a small moon arm. The earth sits on a rod that slides down into a lunar bridge. A small washer is added to reduce friction between the hand and the gear.

Step 10: Last Planets and Suns

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After the Moon, the mechanism works smoothly. Solder on the Venus and Mercury planetary arms and add planets to the end of these arms. The sun should be placed in the past, simply mounted on the central rod.

Step 11: Final Touches and Thoughts

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I added a corrugated clear plastic ring around Saturn to represent its prominent rings. I also added some cork shelf liner to the bottom of the base plate to protect any surfaces I placed the planetarium on.

I'm very pleased with how the solar system model turned out. If I ever made another one, I would change a few things that you might want to consider.
- I operate the planetarium by moving the 74-tooth gear on my side. Adding a little crank to the handle might make it a little easier.
- I really like the way the balls look, but they are very heavy, especially at the end of the long arms. I had to make my base large enough so that if Jupiter and Saturn are on the same side, the device won't tip over. Painting different sized wooden balls can reduce weight.
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When studying geography with small children, it is very good to use some visual aids in the form of models and layouts. Especially when these objects being studied are something out of reach (for some, mountains, waterfalls, etc.), and generally represent something semblance of an abstract thing (for example, space), because even we, adults, sometimes cannot I can wrap my head around this entire Universe, it’s so incomprehensible, brilliant... just “Space”!)))) What can we say about children, for them, in order to assimilate such material, for a better understanding of what is happening, a model or a model can be very helpful for them, and for their parents It will be easier to explain some processes than in a picture (in a book or on a poster). In stores, such models are very expensive; on the Internet there are quite a lot of ideas for creating models of the Solar System with your own hands. But in each of them there was something that didn’t suit me: the mechanism itself, the dimensions of such a layout, or the clarity.
As a result, at one point, I myself came up with what I wanted, and this pleasure cost 0 rubles. everything we needed was found at home. With all this, I was able to show my creativity and took into account all my wishes. My main wishes were:
- visibility
- layout size (our apartment is not large, so the layout had to be small)
- the planets must revolve around the Sun and the Earth around its axis
- the name of the planets so that the baby can read it.
The only thing is that it’s quite difficult to make the planets proportionate to each other, so everything here is very arbitrary, I think you’ll understand why. Otherwise I would have to make small planets in the form of grains of sand...
This is what we got

I did it together with my dad, he helped me do some technical work.
If you want to create something similar, I will try to describe in detail how it was done and with what help.
For the base of the model body we will need a box, or just a good strong corrugated cardboard. I used a box from SMEs (I don’t store kits in boxes, it’s not very convenient for me and takes up a lot of space, so they go into use, I hope Umnitsa won’t be offended by me for this)))
The base of the layout is from the inside of the SME, into which cards are inserted as dividers. If you take everything apart, one of the parts looks like this:

If you don’t have such a box, then using tape you can glue something like this out of cardboard.
The lid allows you to adjust the angle of inclination to suit me. This will be the bottom of the layout and its back will be the support.
Next, we need to cut to size: a) the front wall (a disk with planets will be attached to it) b) a disk along the diameter of the front wall (the planets and the sun will be located on it and it will rotate) c) side walls (to close the holes on the sides ), they will be in the form of two triangles. We measure and cut. D) front wall - a sign with the name of the layout (this will close the hole for us (the cards were inserted into it) and we can place the inscription on it)
It looks like this

And if you put everything together, then so. It will be clearer to you what is what

In my case, all parts of the layout were made of white matte cardboard. If you suddenly don’t have this, but only have glossy and colored ones (with pictures like on the boxes), then there may be a problem with painting. The paint will not adhere well and the pattern of the box will show through. You will need to first cover such cardboard with white paper. And then paint it. Later on, the paint adhered perfectly to this cardboard.
Next, we outline approximately how the planets will be located and what they will be like.
To do this, I used books and images of planets in them.

I drew circles of future planets on paper and signed them. This will be useful for future planetary casts.

Using the same principle, I drew a circle, marked the locations of the planets and orbits.

Let's paint. I used simple gouache in 2 layers.
The front side of the layout was painted black, everything else was blue, so that it would not be too gloomy.

After drying, I used a toothbrush and yellow paint to make splashes of stars and comets.

After drying, I covered everything separately with tape, so it’s more secure and doesn’t get dirty. I added gold sequins, these are also stars. They're on tape.

We sculpt planets. We make salt dough. We take the planets previously drawn on pieces of paper and roll salt dough balls in proportion to them, and immediately (!) insert an aluminum wire into two of them - into the Sun and into the Earth. We fold it in half so that two tails stick out from them.

We simply put those planets without wire on a sheet of paper, next to the name signed for them (so as not to confuse who is who later), and those with wire, we pierce the sheet of paper with the wire and put it in a glass. I was so dry for 2 days.

So that the bottom also dries well, we turn everything over, I put it in an egg carton so that it does not deform and put it on the radiator for another 1 day

When everything is dry. For the Sun and Earth, we drop super glue into the hole where the wire goes in so that the planets don’t jump off them in the future.
We paint the planets. I used gouache. I took MnL cards as a sample. I mixed paints to make it look similar. Let's dry it.

We mark the center on the round disk and use a compass to draw the orbits. We outline each orbit with a marker (I have a marker for signing computer disks. The surface is already covered with tape, so everything could be smeared with a simple marker, but not with this one).

And then my husband got involved in the work. We attach the Earth to the intended orbit. We insert a wire into the hole on the round disk and fasten it on the back side so that the planet can then spin around its axis. We connect the round disk and the square part (front) of the layout. Make a hole in the center with an awl. We insert the Sun through it. It will serve as the core of the entire rotation (this entire round disk with the planets will rotate around the Sun, and the Earth, the movement of the fingers, will also rotate around its axis). We secure everything well on the back side.

I printed the inscriptions for the planets and the name of the layout in advance. Cut it out. Since the layout itself is very small, the inscriptions are small, but Stas reads them without problems and they do not clutter up the CC itself.

We glue all the other planets into their orbits using super glue. Inscriptions on tape.

After that, I made the asteroid belt in the form of beads. I glued it with super glue (just be careful, don’t overdo it with glue).
Before that, I thought that it was not necessary to make the back of the layout beautiful and it was not painted. But that's not the point. It will also be visible, so I painted it too. It looks like this

Now you can assemble the structure. We attach the invisible parts with double-sided tape; the outer parts are sealed with transparent tape for strength so that they don’t fall apart.
So, first we attach the front part

The inscription Solar system, close the hole.

We assemble the side, triangular parts using the same principle.

I also forgot to say about the pen. To make it more convenient for the baby to turn the disk, I made a protruding handle. You can easily grasp it with your fingers.

And I forgot, I did it later, painted the rings of Saturn. I didn’t do them for Uranus and Neptune, because... In some places they are not drawn at all, but in others they are very thin.
That's all! By moving your hand, we rotate the disk, and, accordingly, all the planets around the Sun (the Sun itself does not rotate, it stands still, like a rod). Tell how this happens and the length of the year. About orbits. We can spin the Earth around its axis with our fingers and talk about the change of day and night. See the location of the planets, read their names, about asteroids, what they are and where they are. Yes, and I made 9 planets, somewhere they are already indicated as 8. Which planets are in size, color, composition. That is, anything))!
Clear, compact. Everyone is happy. The child appreciated it. This helped us a lot in studying the first topic in geography - astronomy.
And now, once again, the result, from all angles.
Behind

Side

Front

And in proportion to Stas. The layout is very small.

And in this video Stas names the planets on the model))

I will be glad if you like it and find it useful. And our circle “Crazy Hands” or “From Waste to Income” will continue its work. Then we'll make something else. Bye everyone!!!