Blowing Eggs
A brief collection of instructions for blowing eggs (getting hollow, empty, egg-shells), that might be useful to some Eggbot users. Please feel free to add to this page if you have useful information to contribute.
Links
Here are several sets of instructions from various sources, on how they blow eggs:
- Method with syringes by Sunni Bergeron
- A collection of methods including the awesome aquarium-pump-and-silicone-tubing method
Here are several egg-shell-related Instructables. For use with Eggbot, be careful not to make either of the holes in the egg too large!
When to blow eggs
Original Eggbot inventor Bruce Shapiro advocates plotting on whole, raw eggs. Eggs, with the shell intact, are surprisingly strong and easy to mount in the Eggbot. If you end up with a plot worth keeping, remove the contents afterwards, and you don't have to worry too much about the size of the hole. (And, If you end up with a poor plot, you can just crack the egg and use the contents normally.)
Tips and Tricks
Be very certain to clean all of the egg guts off of your egg if you are ever going to plot on it after you blow it out. If you don't, and you plot over the dried egg, it may (will) ruin your pen tip and you'll have to throw it out. This is especially frustrating with the really expensive pens.
If you can blow really hard, or if you have something to make pressure with (like a solder sucker bulb or a syringe) you can make pretty darn small holes and still get the egg guts out.
