Westminster Electronic Perpetual Motion Toy

I saw these in the window of a tourist shop and I liked them. They were priced at $39.95. So I searched on Amazon and found several "perpetual motion" devices for around $12. I checked and the ones in the store and they didn't make a lot of noise. When I put mine together it made some noise... squeaking, clicking, etc. If you have a scientific mind like I do, you look at it as a challenge. How can I make this quiet? First I lubricated some of the joints I thought were squeaking. I didn't have any 3-in-1 oil or anything, so I just used vegetable oil. That quieted the squeaking, now for the clickity clacking. The cheap plastic ball in the center has holes where the metal rod goes through, and there is a lot of play. The holes are larger than the rods. What to do... ok, two things came to mind. Glue, and gum. I tried a little Elmer's glue in one, but then I thought it would be better to use gum. I didn't have any chewing gum, but I had some of this Scotch mounting putty. It's used for mounting artwork to a wall but being easily removed. It's like chewing gum. I took a small piece of it and rolled it around to soften it and stuffed it into the hole along with the rod so that there was no more play. Clickity clack gone. Yay, Science wins again. =)

Beware - the Orion Perpetual Motion desk gyro is not made to the highest quality standards. For the price I paid ($10.47), I wasn't expecting it to be really nice. However... I did hope it would come with instructions, and actually work.There were no instructions, so I had to tinker with it to figure out how the various parts went together. (That isn't a huge deal, but I'm just letting potential customers know.) Until I noticed a couple tiny holes that allowed two half circle shaped pieces together, I was afraid it was broken. FYI, Amazon's box was packed with the usual air bags for cushioning, but the small box that the Orion came in was not - the various pieces were just tumbling around in there against one another.Most of the parts are cheap plastic. If you look closely, you can see where the plastic leaked out of the molds. You will want to be very careful with it, because the silver painted plastic arms seem especially fragile. My 6 year old would break this thing in less than 3 seconds, even if he was trying to be careful.Probably the bigger complaint is that it doesn't work. The unit I received must be different than what others have received, because the base has room for four (4) AA batteries rather than the 9 volt battery others have said it uses. But that doesn't matter, because the batteries do not affect the behavior of the device. I've tested it with and without the batteries, and it is the same either way. (And yes, the batteries are brand new, and I double-checked to make sure they were correctly oriented.) The only way this thing moves is if I flick it with my fingers. The magnets bring it to a sharp stop at the bottom, but the inner rings will move for a couple rotations before they stop.I probably should send it back, but it didn't come with a return slip or anything. I didn't expect it to be great, but it definitely was a waste of $10.

Great product fun to watch,the metal ring has some tips that need to be a little longer to keep them from coming out of the plastic ring ,the two leggs that go on the black base need some fixing /reviewing from the manufacturer , because if you press them in all the way on the base the orion will not swing back and forth like its supposed to ,it'll stick to the base because there's not enough gap between the base and the orion ,the base does need an on/off switch added to it to turn it off when not in use ,the switch can be on tbe side of the base and not on the bottom

The media could not be loaded. I have several of these kinetic toy/art mechanisms and the following comment applies to all with axles.After a couple of weeks I started noticing along with the typical clicks from some axles that move back and forth in their cradles Squeeking sounds.What I did to get rid of the squeaks was to use a dry dust like lubricant. If you have built or should I say have helped your son or daughter with building a pine derby car you are familiar with these lubricants. If not you can pick up a tube at most if not all hardware stores . It will not only rid you of the squeaks but will add to the longevity of your piece.I love these pieces and would recommend them to anyoneIn this case you can’t have too many of them going if your space on desk, shelves or mantles permit

Many, many years ago when these kinetic sculpture desk toys were a hot item, I used to go into the store and stand there playing with all the different models. I was fascinated by them. At the time I didn't know they were supposed to have batteries. (Either the store didn't put them in or they had run down.) I would hit the things with my finger to get them moving and hit them again when they would slow down.The lack of an on-off switch is a problem. It is noisy and I don't want to leave the battery in all the time. On the other hand, I don't want to keep taking the battery in and out as it uses a 9-volt battery and those connectors break easily. So I finally settled for leaving the battery out and just doing what I did all those years ago --- I just hit it with my finger whenever I get the urge to play with it. (That's fine by me. A Newton's cradle only works when you manually start the balls.) Honestly, the noise of this would drive me crazy if I had to listen to it all the time.This is the exact same quality as I recall from the store. No, it's not a heavy duty toy. The three rings are metal as is the one top ball. The large central ball and the two black balls are plastic as is the stand.But it's as mesmerizing to watch and to play with as it was all those years ago.