I gave the base its first test. It was difficult and I hope my post today will save my readers some time and aggravation should anyone decide to try it. The problem can be described as "which came first the chicken or the egg." The test was difficult because the bumps were only held down by tape. The other part was that without the rest of the structure built, holding the ball and stick in its proper position was not easy, the stick kept shifting position. And a third problem is that since the platform that would hold the animals was not yet glued to the rotating platform, the drag from the ball sliding across the bumps pulled the base off center. So, we had to come up with a solution. My husband and I had to come up with a way to test the design. We knew that it could require some fine tuning. But I am getting ahead of myself here let me back up a step and to from there.
This photo is a showing the top two carousel platforms taped together with the pattern on top. The holes were drilled through both pieces at once. My husband also added a few registration marks so they could be matched up again in case it became a problem later and it was important to use the holes matched together with their original partner.
We tried to use them with the first test by setting the rotating stand in place and putting the ball and stick between the platforms and turning the rotating platform on while holding the stick in place by hand. That did not work. The tape was not strong enough to hold down the bumps, and the drag of the ball and stick pulled them up and out of line. Without the internal pillar that will be the main support of the roof holding up the third platform, we could not get the stick to stay upright and the ball in the center of the bump. I will also add that we had not yet drilled the hole to make the stick fit into a ball and were using an unglued prototype.
We knew that the bumps, cut from a 2x4 plank would need a little fine tuning. It was better to cut them a little large and cut them down as needed. We had to make sure they were in correct position before we made any cuts. My husband came up with the solution. We place the two platforms with the pattern on top of the rotating platform and put a flashlight on top of a hole. The light shining through the hole showed where the stick would sit when it was straight up and down. With that we were able to see where the bumps needed to sit for it to be going over the center of each bump. My husband was able to determine which pieces needed to be cut or repositioned. He put tape down on the wooden platform and marked each piece that was out of line.
After that, he was able to cut a little off some of the pieces as needed to make them fit. After that we did another flashlight test. When all the pieces were deemed to be in line, I marked the positions and glued down the bumps and the center platform. (In case you missed this in a previous post, it turned out that the rotating platform by itself was about a half inch too low for my project. The center piece is the workaround for that.)
I just wanted to say another word about the rotating display stand that I am using to turn the carousel. It has an electrical plug. It is not battery powered. This platform comes with a remote control. That was important for this project because it would be difficult (but not impossible) to reach under the carousel to turn it on and off otherwise. It is weight rated for 45 pounds, so there should not be any issue with the weight of the plywood. It also has some features that I will have no need for, such reversing the rotation and also having the rotation pause at degrees of your choosing, and more that I have not even played with yet.
Anyway, with those tests complete, I marked the new positions and glued down the bumps and the platform for the rotating stand. That is where I left off on the project this week. I wanted to give the glue time to dry before going further.
Check back next Monday or Tuesday for the latest on the project.
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