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Toy Tractors Made of Nuts & Bolts

If you need a quirky gift for the tractor enthusiasts you know, a toy tractor made from nuts and bolts brings a smile. Use nut and bolt tractors as awards for agriculture-related youth activities or make as the culminating activity of a farm life unit. Weld one to the hood of your car for a quirky hood ornament. Use a single, extra-large nut and bolt tractor as a doorstop or put two together as bookends.

Things You'll Need

2-inch long, 1/2-inch barrel coupling nut
Two 1-inch hex nuts
Two 1/2-inch hex nuts
1/2-inch square nut
1/4-inch diameter, 1/2-inch long Phillips flat-head machine screw
2 corrugated cardboard squares, 12-inch
Steel epoxy putty
Craft stick or plastic knife
Cotton swabs
Hand-held, high-speed rotary tool
Wire wheel

Instructions

- 1
  Place the 2-inch long, 1/2-inch barrel coupling nut on a flat work surface with one end facing you. Position 1-inch hex nuts on each side of the closest end of the coupling and 1/2-inch hex nuts on each side of the farthest end of the coupling. These four nuts are the wheels of the tractor.
- 2
  Lay the 1/2-inch square nut at the closest end of the coupling to you, between the 1-inch hex nuts. The square nut is the backrest for your tractor. Lay the 1/4-inch diameter, 1/2-inch long, Phillips flat-head machine screw at the farthest end from you, between the 1/2-inch hex nuts. This screw is the steering wheel.
- 3
  Mix a fifty-cent-piece sized dollop of steel epoxy putty hardener with an equal amount of steel epoxy resin on one of the 12-inch squares of corrugated cardboard, using a craft stick or plastic knife, until it has an even consistency.
- 4
  Use a cotton swab to dab a small amount of steel epoxy putty on the top surface of one of the 1-inch hex nuts and one of the 1/2-inch hex nuts. If you can see through the hole in the hex nut from above, you are looking at the top surface.
- 5
  Position the 2-inch long coupling nut across the epoxy on the two wheels, with a 1/2-inch overhang at the end with the 1-inch hex nut wheel, and a 1/4-inch overhang at the other end. Allow the epoxy to harden.
- 6
  Dab epoxy on the two remaining hex nuts. Turn the coupling over so that the first two hex nuts are on top and press the coupling onto the nuts in the same positions as before. Allow the epoxy to harden again.
- 7
  Apply steel epoxy putty to one narrow edge of the square nut. Stand it on its epoxied edge at the end of the coupling, between the 1-inch wheels, to serve as a backrest.
- 8
  Dab epoxy on the shaft-end of the 1/2-inch long machine screw and position it on end about an inch from the backrest, along the shaft of the coupling, to serve as a steering column.
- 9
  Allow your toy nut-and-bolt tractors to harden 16 hours. Give each tractor a brushed finish with a wire wheel on a hand-held, high-speed rotary tool.

Farm Toys