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You
can build these five fun toys for FREE! Just please respect
the copyright notice, make them for your own personal use,
and let your friends know where you obtained the instructions.
Click on any image or link for more information. |
A Paper
Helicopter- the StarCopter. 
Just
print out and follow the directions
on this link. When you tire of flying the helicopter,
balance the StarCopter cone on the tip of a pencil and attach
it above a desk lamp or a radiator. Watch it twirl in the
rising air currents. |
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A Balloon
HoverCraft. Build
a balloon-powered hovercraft out of a funnel and a sheet
of plastic. It skims silently over smooth and rough surfaces...Just
print out and follow the directions on this
link. |
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A fun
replacement for a trackball Dress
up those boring trackballs by replacing the sphere with
a glide ball! The bug
in the ball floats to the top no matter where you spin the
sphere. Covered under US Patent 5620371 |
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A TOP
Made from a Koosh Ball
Turn
a Koosh Ball into a spinning
top! When the top spins, the rubber fingers fling out
wildly, flattening the north and south poles of the top.
The Earth is also flattened at the poles for similar reasons. |
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A
VERY effective potato plug gun
This
gun can shoot a potato plug over 100 feet. |
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One
of the best collection of toys inspired by simple physical
principles can be found at scitoys.
Too bad high school science wasn't like this.
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| A three-sided die |
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Also
check out the Mechanical
Toys site by Malcom Goris. It has plans for over a dozen
classic toys and mechanisms, like the Mouse Trap car pictured
on the right.. |
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