What’s more fun than bubbles? Exactly! More bubbles. This week I show how to make a bubble machine powered with a small 12V motor.

To make a bubble machine there are two things needed: a ring filled with some bubble making liquid and air that blows bubbles from that. In most smaller bubble machines this is done by a blower fan at the back of the machine and a rotating ‘flower’ of bubble making rings in the front. So why change a winning team?

I decided to buy the bubble toys for kids and use the bubble maker things from them in my bubble machine. They are fairly cheap and are designed to make good bubbles. Win-Win! They still had do be mounted on some sort of axle that connects them to the motor. A wooden axle would have been fine, but I used this as an excuse to use my lathe and made it out of aluminum.

The whole housing of the bubble machine is made out of 9 mm plywood that I painted after assembly.

Don’t forget to seal all the edges around the parts that get wet to avoid the water entering the wood.