Create a Mesmerizing Kinetic Sand Table With Just One Motor

Patterns are everywhere in our lives, and our brains are amazing at finding them in everything we see. In this project, we’ll build a beautiful kinetic sand table—a simplified version of traditional kinetic sand tables, which often rely on advanced electronics and complex mechanics. This time, we’ll use spirographs, reducing the electronics to a single motor and the mechanics to a couple of gears, for an impressive and eye-catching result.

Let’s get started!

Materials Needed

1. 3mm-thick MDF wood sheet, 70cm x 100cm
2. Sand (any type)
3. Thin sticks
4. Fine-mesh strainer
5. Plastic container
6. Tweezers
7. Super glue
8. Small metal ball
9. Strong magnets
10. Motor
11. Battery
12. USB cable
13. Tape

Cut the design file "Kinetic Sand Table.pdf" (attached in this step) using a laser cutter on the MDF wood sheet. This will provide all the necessary pieces for the assembly process.

I salvaged magnets from an old toy that had magnets inside small plastic tubes. Use tweezers to remove the magnets. Make sure they’re strong enough to hold through the 3mm MDF sheet.

Insert the magnets into the wooden gear, placing them in the small circular holes. Secure each magnet with super glue.

Strip the wires from both the motor and USB cable, and connect them with tape. Be sure to match the correct USB wire colors: ground is typically black, and 5V is usually red. Verify using a multimeter, as my USB cable had unusual colors (green for ground and red for 5V).

Glue the three small wooden gears together with super glue, then attach them to the motor shaft.

Take the semi-circle wooden pieces and glue them to the wooden base (the base is the piece with multiple small holes around the edges and one larger hole in the center).

Glue the wooden circle to the gear with magnets, following the images as a guide.

Using the wooden circle with double holes around the edge, draw a central circle and glue thirteen 20mm diameter MDF circles to build the rotation axis.

Glue the two large hollow circles to the solid wooden circle. This will hold the sand. On the back, attach the larger circle with a hollow gear inside.

At this point, you should have four main wooden components. (Note: some images might differ slightly from the final design due to updates during the process.)

Insert small stick segments into each hole around the double-hole circle. It’s a bit tedious, but this main gear drives the entire mechanism, so it’s essential.

In the same piece, insert three small wooden circles to help keep the inner gear with magnets in place.

Position the motor on the wooden base so its gear aligns with the stick gear. Secure with glue and attach the battery as well. Stack the following parts: the base, stick gear, magnet gear, and the sandbed.

Cut sixty 35mm sticks and insert them around the sand table for structural support.

Place the metal ball on the table and connect the USB cable to the battery to check that everything is correctly aligned. The ball should follow the magnets' movement on the sandbed. If it moves in circles, something might need adjusting.

Sift the sand through a fine-mesh strainer to get the finest particles.

Pour the fine sand onto the table's sandbed.

Attach one of the small magnets to the metal ball. Place the ball on the sand where it "catches" onto a magnet from the gear mechanism.

Plug the USB cable into the battery, sit back, and watch the patterns form in the sand.

Move the metal ball to attach to different magnets to create new patterns.

Experiment with adding two or three metal balls to form intricate designs—each one can create unique paths across the sand. It’s magical to watch!

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I hope you enjoy building and experimenting with this kinetic sand table as much as I did. Happy crafting!