LEGO Magician Automaton

This Magician Automaton can perform magic tricks at the turn of a crank! He can make the objects on the table appear and disappear.

The objects on the table can be customized, but they should be of about the same size as the ones that you see here. The mechanism of this automaton is very smooth, it never jams, and it’s completely hidden from sight, even though the table is hollow. This model is inspired by an 18th automaton I had the chance to observe closely in the workshop of the Speelklok Museum in Utrecht.

Reproducing the original mechanism with LEGO parts was a really fun challenge! The model is embellished by a SNOT text placed in the front of the base.

A previous prototype of this model (2019) can be seen in action below.