I basically made the same bubble machine except that I attached the fan to the cassette player so that both worked on the same switch (the play button). I also made my own solution container out of plastic to fit the machine and to hold it in place so that I could have a whole portable bubble machine.
This was my first electronics project, so I learned all of what I needed to do to make it work. I learned about/ how to use a relay and I learned very quickly that it was harder than I expected to hack an electronic product and make everything work the way I wanted it to. In the end, the electronic component of my project was simple to get working, but the mechanical components were more difficult to deal with. I had some trouble getting the bubbles to actually blow because initially, the tape player motor speed was still too fast for the wands to catch enough air from the fan. I put a rubber band between the heads of the tape player to create some resistance, but it's still not quite working. I'll have to tinker with it a bit!
Next time, I would probably try to make my bubble machine more from scratch. I'd try to use a separate motor that wasn't part of another device, so that it would be easier to control. I might also try to control the speeds of the motor and the fan in order to find a happier medium for bubble blowing. I did do some testing with the fan speed to see if a 12V battery would be enough to blow bubbles while waving the wand past the fan, but if I were to do it again, I'd do some more testing before putting it all together and having to adjust it at the end.
For my next project, I want to make something from scratch, electronically. I think it might be easier to get the results I want and I'll learn more about electronic components!
