Solar Panel Tin Blossom

In this Instructable, I will be showing you how to create a blooming flower controlled by a solar panel. Unfortunately, I am not a person who can take care of plants very well, but also someone who loves the sight of plants. After coming to this conclusion, I found some inspiration and decided to create a flower that could act as a real one without me having to take care of it.

After doing some research, I found that this might actually be an original project. I came up with this idea after some inspiration from a short video I watched, and wondered if I could put my own twist to it.

A link I found helpful is provided below:

Memory Metal Flower (This shows the idea I was going for)

Note*: Most measurements will not be 100% accurate due to rounding.

For supplies, I used a mini solar panel, a small electric motor with a self-adhesive mount and a plastic gear, tin can lids, metal wire, diagonal pliers, regular pliers, a triangular file, a marker, a screwdriver, a mallet, gloves, scissors, sewing thread, a paperclip, and some binder clips.

Note*: About 90% of these supplies were reused. For this project, I used things I found around the house that were gonna be recycled and parts from past projects, so the cost estimation might not be accurate due to online sources.

Cost:

Mini solar panel - around $10.00~

Small dc motor with self-adhesive mount and plastic gear- around $5.00~

Tin food can lids - around $5.00 online (5 3-inch diameter lids and 1 7-inch diameter lid) ~

Metal wire - A 30 ft. pack usually costs around $6.00. Based on the amount I used, around $0.50~

Diagonal and regular pliers - $7.00~

Triangular file - $5.00~

Marker - $1.00~

Screwdriver - $3.00~

Mallet - $4.00~

Gloves - $6.00~

Scissors - $3.00~

Sewing thread - $0.99 for a small spool online. Based on the amount I used, maybe less than $0.01~

Vase or tall container - $4.00~

Binder clips - $0.44 for 4 binder clips or free if you look for them :)

Paperclip - $0.01 for 1 paperclip or free if you look for it :)

Pebbles - Free if you look for them :)

As a visual learner, I already had a picture of how I wanted to design this catapult, so after a quick sketch and figuring out what mechanisms I wanted to use, I went straight to work.

Recommended: Make sure that any lines drawn for reference are on the side that doesn’t look nice.

Note*: All parts labeled “Point #” are either directly stated to be points or endpoints of lines mentioned.

Use the 3-inch diameter lids for the petals. Place a lid face down and start by drawing a straight line down the middle of the lid with the marker. Turn the lid 90° and draw another line of reference straight down. Wear gloves for safety and cut through the lines with scissors. Repeat these steps for the other 4 3-inch diameter lids. When completed, there should be 20 petals total. Only 18 petals are needed for this project, but it’s always handy to have extra just in case.

Proceed to place a petal down with the arc towards the top and the point at the bottom (Point A). From point A, draw a vertical line upwards about 1 cm long (Point B). Draw another line, but this time horizontally on point B from the very left of the petal to the very right. Proceed to cut off the horizontal line just drawn. Repeat these steps for the other 17 petals.

Once the overall structure of the petal is complete, draw a 5x12.7mm horizontal rectangle 5 mm above the bottom/shortest side of the petal. Using a screwdriver and mallet, “hammer out” the shape just drawn and sand any rough parts out with the triangular file. Repeat for the other 17 petals.

For two of the petals, use the edge of the tip of the screwdriver to create a roughly 3mm diameter hole 5mm inwards from the rim.

For a “real” petal effect, use regular pliers to bend the rims of the longest sides slightly back and the left and right sides to a slight concave shape.

Note*: Wear gloves when working with sharp objects:)

Part 1: Outer Section

For the frame of the flower, place the 7-inch diameter tin can lid down with the best-looking side facing downwards. From 0.25 inches inwards from the outer rim of the lid, draw a horizontal, 1-inch line. Proceed to draw a 1 cm vertical line going downwards at each endpoint. From the endpoints of these vertical lines, draw a horizontal line going 1 cm inwards on both ends. Now, at the endpoints of these horizontal lines, draw a vertical 0.5 mm line on both ends and connect those two points with a horizontal line, which should be about 5mm. Repeat these steps, going around the entire circle at 0.25 inches inwards from the outer rim of the lid, and leave around 1 cm of space in between each figure. There should be 11 of the figures.

Part 2: Inner Section

At 3 cm inwards from the outer rim of the lid, repeat the steps above, but instead with a 1 cm space in between each from the TOP of the figures. There should be 7 of the figures in this section. Proceed to draw a 1 cm diameter circle in the very center of the lid.

Part 3: Cutting

When all the figures are drawn out, cut them out using a flathead screwdriver and a mallet. Place the tip of the screwdriver on the drawn lines and use the mallet to hammer the screwdriver into the metal to cut through all of the figures to create openings. Use the triangular file as needed to smooth out any rough ends.

Using the diagonal pliers, cut out 3 10-inch-long pieces of metal wire. At one end of each wire, bend about 1 inch of the wire to a closed 45° angle. Loosely braid the now top ends of the wire about 1 or 2 inches from the top and spread out the ends. This will provide structural strength so the weight of the flower is distributed and won’t cause the structure to collapse.

For the plant assembly, take a petal and attach its opening to one of the openings of the frame of the flower with the longest side of the petal towards the rim and facing the front concavely. Repeat for the other 17 petals and openings. For the two petals that have a roughly 3mm diameter hole that is 5mm inwards from the rim, place one on the outer section (Petal 1) and place the other one (Petal 2) on the inner section right below Petal 1.

Recommended *: Trim the sides of the petals as needed for a better fit, leaving enough room for the petals to bend freely.

Proceed to attach the solar panel by taking the alligator clip jumper wires that are attached to the solar panel, and pulling those wires through the opening with the solar panel facing the front. Next, attach the motor to the back of the frame near the bottom of the center opening with the self-adhesive mount. The motor should be horizontal.

Once complete, take the stems and place them in the 1 cm diameter hole of the center of the flower with the 1-inch bent parts sticking out of the front. Use pliers or hammer in with the mallet to tightly fit the stems onto the center opening.

Lastly, fill a vase or container with pebbles about ¾ of the way full. Proceed to place the ends of the stems into the pebbles and adjust as needed.

For the mechanism, the plan is to utilize a pulley with the help of a motor. Start by tying the end of a 1-foot-long piece of thread to the shaft. Take 2 binder clips and clip them 2 inches apart on the frame, right behind Petal 1. Take one of the clips and clip one over the handles of the other. Do the same to the other clip.

Next, straighten a paperclip and cut off 2.5 inches. This piece will be used to hold the plastic gear. Proceed to insert the 2.5-inch piece into the plastic gear with the gear in the center and place it on the top binder clips between the handles horizontally.

Loop the rest of the thread around the plastic gear over the top, leaving enough thread to go through the 3mm holes in Petal 1 and Petal 2 from top to bottom. Once the thread goes through Petal 2, pull a bead through the end of the thread and tie off securely. Connect the alligator clips to the terminals of the motor. Lastly, take the entire project outside with the solar panel facing the sunlight and watch it bloom :)

Tip 1: Support: I initially underestimated how much the solar panel would weigh the overall flower down and block the petals. At the same time, I had already tight-fitted everything before realizing this flaw. So to improvise, I cut a 1-inch piece of plastic tube and wrapped it around the wires of the solar panel in the front to stabilize it and prevent it from interfering with the petals.

Tip 2: Sharps disposal: There were many sharp metal scraps from the cutting and sanding part. I just used a small container that I wasn't planning on using again and threw the scraps in there, closed it, and threw it in the trash to dispose of them safely.

Conclusion: Overall, it took me 5 days to complete this project. This project was the most fun for me because it was just spontaneous. It was my first time working with metal, and there were many trials and errors throughout the project that I definitely learned from. Through this project, I finally put my mini solar panel to good use and learned about mechanisms that really helped me bring this project to life and create an effective blossoming flower.

Click here to see final results! ---> Solar Panel Tin Blossom