The Grinder That Grinds Nothing!

If you are into mathematics or are a mathematician then you know that half of the stuff that mathematicians do has no application and is just done for fun! Including this object. This is the Trammel of Archimedes or more popularly known as the 'Nothing Grinder'. This is a device rotates in the shape of an ellipse instead of a circle. Another interesting thing about this is that smaller blocks are actually moving in a straight line and this is actually causing the rotatory motion.

We can build this with anything, but I used the following items.

• PVC Wood, since it is easier to cut. I will refer to this as wood.
• Glue
• Hammer
• 2 nails

We want to cut the wood into the following shapes

• Large square (15 x 15) - The base.
• One long cuboid (2 x 21) - This will act as the handle
• 2 smaller cuboids (1.8 x 1.5) - This will act as the things that will move in the straight line. Both must be of the same size
• 4 smaller squares (6.5 x 6.5) - When these will be pasted onto the base, they leave a valley for the small cubiods to move.

To understand the shape and dimension of the blocks you should refer to the images.

Now we will stick the small squares to the corners of the larger square, to create a plus-sign shaped valley.

Now we must attach the handle to the cuboids. For simplicity, I have just punched in a large hole using a thick nail and hammer. Then I I added a 4 cm long nail to the small cuboids and then simply stuck in the cuboids. This method would allow the cuboids to rotate freely!

Note: Holes must be punched in the handle strategically. The holes must be almost equal to the half of the length of the base.

Now we just place the cuboids in the valleys and start rotating the handles. This will cause the small cuboid to move back and forth in their respective lanes.

I would also like to recommend this Mathologer Video which explains the nothing grinder in great detail. This is also the video which encouraged me to make the grinder. This also my first Instructable and my first wood based project. So I hope you like it!

Happy Grinding :D