First things first, I've started on the final model, working from the base up. This means the baseboard of course came first, followed by the base structure. Last week was also spent waiting for things to arrive, such as my new springs, wheels and most importantly my aluminium square bar (which everything rotates off).
To have something to build from I needed a digital model so I begun working on that, using all the information I gathered from my mock up models, such as gaps to avoid collision and the below CAM. The baseboard is also more complex than a usual one, considering I needed to fit the motor, switch and battery pack into it. The switch (like most off the shelf ones) has an inbuilt tension/locking device which allows it to be slotted into a hole that matches its size and the device then holds it in from the back. The MDF I used for the baseboard was far too thick for the device, so I milled out a slot in one side and place two lasercut acrylic layers for it to sit into:
The most important part of the baseboard is the location of the gearbox motor, in that it has to be perfectly in the centre or else everything will be off. To achieve this I used two runner MDF pieces (the double thick MDF edges on the right and left of the below photo) and a printout to make sure it was located correctly:
Going from my initial designs I also digitalised the centre part of the carousel, which is fixed to the base. In order to make it more carousel like (I originally was going to have Dr Seuss photos in the frames) I opted for mirrors, the mirrors used are 2mm mirrored styrene with 1mm styrene cladding in irregular shapes to give that 'cartoony' look:
To hide the CAM and to allow the carousel something to slide over an outer base ring was made from two MDF pieces done via a router, with 2x4 (all cut to the same height) sandwiched between to achieve the overall height of 50mm. An acrylic top sits on this base with holes cut out for acrylic rod which goes on to support the above stationary structure. To hide the exposed sides, it will be cladded:
After spending a week waiting for my sqaure bar to arrive I decided to make me own, sadly that evening upon returning home I found it waiting for me, after being delivered during the day. Needless to say I was happy to see it arrive, but I wasted an afternoon on taking down a larger bar:
In more recent news I'm looking into possible colours to match the Dr Seuss theme:
The solid colours for the base don't work, so I'll probably add a streak design into it, something to break up the colours, such as this (which is from the Dr Seuss island at IOA):
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