Another version of a pig in a bucket, produced by Rachael McGowan. In this design, instead of squeezing the ears or nose (like Rachel Hallisey’s pig) this one grunts and jumps about when you stand near it. The pig is made from papier mache and will sit on top of a platform near the top of a bucket. The platform moves up and down and takes the pig with it. Here is the original pig (which is used, not reproduced):

The original idea for making the pig move around was to use solenoids, but solenoids with a decent plunger reach (the amount of movement) are expensive and require a lot of current. So instead, we opted for a high speed servo. The mechanics are shown in the next few images. We first cut the bottom out of the bucket and fitted a wooden base, and glued this in place. Two holes were also cut at the sides of the bucket which supports the metal pivot. The pivot rests on 3D printed plastic supports (not shown here, but in the next image) that fit through the sides of the bucket, and act as bushes:

The servo fits onto the base:

The servo is then connected to a lever assembly which attaches to the moving platform, and rocks on the pivot:

The next image shown the platform in position:

The pig is not attached to the bucket but is free to jump about on top of the platform. We put grass on the platform and let the pig roam free! The video below shows the working model:

The ‘Hole in One’ bucket is Luke’s creation, and is the result of the workshops in which our group explored what they could do with buckets, boots and baskets around a rural theme. Luke plays golf regularly and so wanted this to be reflected in his creation. The original is below:

To reproduce the design, we cut out the top from a sheet of plywood (rather than cardboard as Luke’s original design):

The top is just large enough to fit over the bucket with a small rim:

We then used a hole saw to cut out the hole in the top, and also to cut out the hole for the tube from which the ball (or egg!) appears. The tube will be connected to a short down pipe which is hot glued to the top.

The next image shows the down pipe (yet to be trimmed) glued to the wooden platform that fits at the top of the bucket and which the flexible tube will connect to:

This sits on top of the bucket and wedges between the handle posts:

Before adding the tube to the down pipe, we added an IR LED and sensor which will trigger the sound. The IR LED points directly at an IR phototransistor (they are matched and so have the same wavelength). When a ball is dropped down the pipe, the beam is broken, and this is converted into an instruction which triggers a sound:

The sounds are grouped into two sets of three, and each set can be selected by inserting one of the two flagpoles into the top of the bucket. Each flagpole has an RFID embedded in it, and the top of the bucket has an RFID reader. Originally we anticipated a lot more sounds which we wanted to group into different sets, hence the use of the RFID and reader. However, we eventually honed down the number to just six. It’s a novelty, which would be used to extend the scope of sounds in the future. The image below shows how small the RFID pill is – it is placed next to a 6mm diameter wooden dowel:

The video below shows the Hole in One bucket: