Cyborg Incense Burner

I love incense, it reminds me of my childhood. My aunt, in particular. We live in the same building and when she burned it, the smell was so intense. She was an artist and enjoyed the smell of incense while painting. I would climb the stairs to the 3rd floor and join her while she was trying to paint something new.

This year I moved to a new house and I needed a new place to burn incense and the idea just came to mind, wouldn't be cool to make a broken cyborg arm and use incense as smoke in the “malfunctioning” part of the arm; at school in my maker-lab class we had the opportunity to make something that we wanted and that’s why I started the project:

Material List:

Metal sheets, Aluminum (2ft x 1ft); https://www.onlinemetals.com/merchant.cfm?pid=124...

Wire mesh (1ft x 2ft);

Thin Leather;

Metal Primer Paint;

Hot glue;

Trash and reuse items, pick everything that you think will look good on your cyborg's arm.

Additional materials to make it look cool;

Led light, 9V battery, and resistance (not necessary but putting LED light here and there makes everything better);

Clay or modeling material.

Tools: Snips; Leather hole punch; Hot glue gun;

In the images you’ll find the template that I used for the metal pieces, the size is made so it fits in a common print paper (8.5 x 11 inches). There is a scale too, so changes in dimensions or the proportion are easier. I used my arm as a reference, just with better muscles on it.

Print the template form page and cut it out of the paper. Set it on the aluminum and mark the edges (some of the template forms appear more than once - look at the scale in the table named “fingers”).

The best way I found to cut aluminum is with snips- they are easy, clean and safe. A Dremel works too, but when using it, remember to wear safety glasses.

The full black dots on the templates are holes; use a drill to make the hole. Be sure to clip the piece of metal to the table or a piece of wood for stability.

If you have sharp edges, a Dremel or a metal sanding belt will work to smooth it out. (see picture).

Connect piece 2 and 3 with a button or hot glue, but make sure to leave some space in between for the leather inserts- you will need it.

Do you remember the junk that I asked you to find? Well, look at the pieces- if there is something interesting that could be placed somewhere on the arm be sure to cut the aluminum to allow the items to be attached before the next step.

Usually the paint is the last thing you do, but in this case, there will be leather integrated in the arm and the inside of the arm will be full of junk, so paint in this step. Plus, if something goes wrong and there is a scratch, this is a broken cyborg arm so it’s more realistic!! On a covered surface lay out the cyborg arm pieces to be painted and cover them with a thin coat of paint. Remember to allow sufficient time for the paint to dry.

Make 15 leather cylinders by cutting a rectangular piece of leather 3.5 cm x 1.5 cm, the longer sides will be brought together to form the cylinders.

Using the leather hole punch make 4 holes on the shorter sides( 2 per each side )

Form a cylinder closing the leather and securing with a knot. The pictures will explain this step better.

This is going to take some time even though I thought it was relaxing so put some music on and enjoy the rhythm :)

Roll the wire mesh until it forms a rope- you want to start really small and tight; it’s similar to trying to roll a piece of paper and try to make it as thin as possible, I’m sure that everyone tried that once in life!

Roll 5 ropes to the length of 9cm; 7.5cm; 8cm; 7.5cm; 7cm. They will be the base for the fingers, so it’s bendable and you can give them many orientations.

Roll 6 more ropes, you decide the length since they will be used as decoration (picture).

Following the measurements in the table named “fingers”, make a mark on each wire mesh tube at the end of each phalange. Be sure to pick the right size:

The rope that is 9cm in length is finger #1;

The rope that is 7.5cm in length of 7.5cm is finger #2 and so on.

Hot glue the leather cylinders on the marks and then cover the leather cylinders with the metal sheets leaving gaps for the joints.*

Each finger should have around 2/2.5cm of wire mesh rope remaining, you’ll use it to hot glue the fingers to piece 1.

Look up the template and bend the metal over the cut lines to shape the form of a hand. If you feel confident try to shape the knuckles; then glue the fingers to piece 1.

* Bend each phalange in the direction you want before gluing the cylinder, it will be easier.

Do you still remember that far away STEP 3, it’s been a while, hasn’t it? It’s time to glue a piece of leather between pieces 2 and 3- I used hot glue but you can improvise if you have something else that will allow the leather to attach to the metal.

Hot glue piece 2 and 4.

PS. Mine will look different because I found a perfect piece for that space so I decided to change my original design; there is always room for change especially if it makes it personal.

Using heavy duty string or other pliable cord, connect the holes under the forearm in a criss-cross fashion, like tying your shoelaces, and knot the ends to keep secure.

You now have an arm and a hand- you need a way to connect them!

I used the 2 cylindrical grinder pieces of a sharpener to simulate the ends of the joints. They have a small hole through the middle, I connected them to each end of a stick. Each end protrudes past the edge, forming the wrist and the elbow (you can use any of the junk you have available to personalize the elbow and wrist).

Then hot glue the end of the covered stick to the hand to connect and complete.

Start assembling using larger parts first. It is easier to fit smaller pieces around the larger parts. Find the right place for the wire mesh ropes then install the battery and the light ( if you are using one) and then smaller pieces such as wheels, bolts, and wire. Keep in mind this is an incense burner! You need to be mindful of the space so you can put an incense cone somewhere inside.

It’s time to make the last piece of the arm the one that will “cover” the inner part use clay to provide a different texture to the arm. If you don’t have clay, metal works. If you use metal, cut a long, thin triangle out of the middle of the oval and bend it, so it has a curved shape just like your arm.

Paint it and connect it to the arm. If you used clay, I suggest using wire, it gives a nice effect plus it’s hard to find something that sticks to clay. If using a metal cover, hot glue or wire will also work.

Enjoy your cyborg incense burner and thank you for trying this instructable.

It’s my first one but I’m sure it’s not going to be the last :)