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Author Topic: Wooden Ferris Wheel under Construction  (Read 399 times)

Dampfopa

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Re: Wooden Ferris Wheel under Construction
« Reply #15 on: May 17, 2021, 12:57:01 pm »
Nice progress, Great report. Fun to read.
Cheers
Jürgen
Dealing with steam is one way of having fun in life.

ShadetreeMotorcycle

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Re: Wooden Ferris Wheel under Construction
« Reply #16 on: May 17, 2021, 02:34:50 pm »
Nice progress, Great report. Fun to read.

Thanks for the kind words Jurgen.
   I have built and enjoyed wood kits before, now playing with steam and model engines, it's big fun to join the 2 hobbies, and power the kits. I like to share tips in hopes that(those that are interested) may have fun as well, and better yet, Modify them and share the improvements (they have made) or find other "kits" that can also be powered with model engines.
   The accessories is nearly a hobby all on its own.

ShadetreeMotorcycle

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Re: Wooden Ferris Wheel under Construction
« Reply #17 on: May 18, 2021, 12:18:03 am »
Found just a bit of time to start the Gondola's. I did not care to get real fancy here...many of these type kits are left all blonde wood. I wanted to add just a splash of color on Gondola's only....looked at photos of just a couple vintage Real wheels and did spot a rather elegant old wheel that All Gondola's where painted a Burgandy red color and nearly went that route. In the end I went the more typical carnival colors. I left the interior natural wood to give a little more contrast. I only used marker but I suppose you could go nuts if you had a mind to. It goes very fast to add color to one side when the parts are all still in the web of wood sheet. I may dust a little fast dry clear semi-gloss lacquer on the entire model at the end to give a little more humidity resistance. I better test that on some marker colored wood scrap as it may bleed.
   You could also get the wife or a child involved and let them do the color.


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Jim

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Re: Wooden Ferris Wheel under Construction
« Reply #18 on: May 18, 2021, 12:35:05 am »
Ben do you think it will stay play music run off an engine? Pretty cool kit.
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Jim

My YouTube Channel https://www.youtube.com/user/Blue123Heeler/videos


St Paul Steam

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Re: Wooden Ferris Wheel under Construction
« Reply #19 on: May 18, 2021, 07:11:42 am »
Coming along nicely Ben , yes a pulley driven music box playing along with the rotation of the Ferris wheel would be outstanding.
Bruce, St. Paul Indiana, USA
"Originality thrives in seclusion free of outside influences beating upon us to cripple the creative mind."
  Nikola Tesla

ShadetreeMotorcycle

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Re: Wooden Ferris Wheel under Construction
« Reply #20 on: May 18, 2021, 10:59:36 am »
You guys ask the BEST questions!

I did a little music box movement research this morning, here are my findings:

It seems music box movements have become quite "standard" such that it looks like "Most" will bolt right in to the base of the kit Ferris wheel bolt pattern.

The industry standard is: runs "up to" 3 minutes on a full wind...mine went 2 minutes and 21 seconds....so the "cheater" method is to slip the drive band off the movement and just run a longer drive band from engine to Ferris wheel axle pulley, then wind the un-belted movement and fire up the engine.
  This has Several flaws, by the time you get your belt tracking/tension in its happy place...you may have Less than a minute of music left!
  Also, it just would not "look" right to have a longish belt running way up to the big wheel axle on perhaps a 45 degree angle.
  So that brings us to Bruce's thoughts that is would be cool to have the engine drive the music box as well!
  The big wheel has a smooth metal pin for axle, so I feel it will draw not much for power at the slow scale speed.
  So that brings us to the music movement it self.
  The unit that comes with the kit is on the lower end for music movements, it has a metal base and drum, which IS good, but the gearbox is mostly plastic gears. The ONE redeeming quality of the kit movement is it's fitted with the metal pulley all ready. I think it may be possible to remove All the plastic gearbox parts And the rather stout watch spring winding spring and this will leave us with a mostly metal unit that turns quite freely with a pulley drive!

Few side notes:

There is a tiny "bakers fan" right in the gearbox!...I believe it's function is to smooth out the speed that the spring loaded gearbox gives up its power, much the same way we belt up our steamers to a baker fan to keep them from racing :)
  The baker fan axle is mounted vertical rather than horizontal, if you buy one and are looking for the fan.

So now we have the "extra" parts gone (hopefully with zero damage) the next thing to consider is speed.
  I put a tiny mark on the movement belt pulley at TDC and wound her up, it takes 15 seconds to make 1 complete turn so the Drum with the pins on it must run 4 RPM
  I predict if we get slower than 3 RPM we will be in lullaby  territory and faster than 6 RPM may sound like Salsa.
  I have achieved close to these speeds with a double reduction....you heavy hitters may have a transmission in stock to do the job?

ShadetreeMotorcycle

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Re: Wooden Ferris Wheel under Construction
« Reply #21 on: May 18, 2021, 12:20:34 pm »
so I made a crude drawing:

All parts in drawing are kit "stock" with the exception of the music maker will have its gearbox removed. AND there will be a new little line shaft mounted to the top of base.
  I have try to identify the new parts by drawing //// marks thru them.
  It would consist of a largish pulley that hangs off the side to get some gear reduction, this is the one that goes to the engine to get a nice horizontal belt drive.
  The middle small pulley goes straight up to the stock Ferris wheel axle just as the kit intends.
  The 3rd pulley goes straight down to drive the music.
 
The 2 things between the large pulley and 2 small pulleys are the small bearing towers of line shaft.
  These are my First thoughts, there may be Many ways to skin this cat.

Sorry about the crude drawing!


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ShadetreeMotorcycle

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Re: Wooden Ferris Wheel under Construction
« Reply #22 on: May 18, 2021, 12:45:29 pm »
Interesting note:

As I was looking at music box movements, I happened upon this simple hand crank unit...I guess you just crank it the speed that the music sounds good to your ears. They Are cheap to buy, and if you did not like the idea of "cutting in" to the kit movement, this could be an option as it has no gear box all ready.
   The down side is you would have to turn it 90 degrees and drill new holes in the wood base as the kit movement pulley is mounted to the Drum with spikes on it that pluck the tines.
   Also you would have to cut the hand crank off and mount your drive pulley to the straight drive shaft that is left.
   
You can go nuts with the movement, I have seen the hand crank ones for 1 dollar but average price for a wind up movement is in the $5-$18 range all the way up to Swiss and Japan movements going well North of $200!

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St Paul Steam

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Re: Wooden Ferris Wheel under Construction
« Reply #23 on: May 18, 2021, 01:29:04 pm »
I was just getting ready to post this , looks like you found it already, they come in literally hundreds of songs.
Bruce, St. Paul Indiana, USA
"Originality thrives in seclusion free of outside influences beating upon us to cripple the creative mind."
  Nikola Tesla

Dampfopa

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Re: Wooden Ferris Wheel under Construction
« Reply #24 on: May 18, 2021, 01:41:02 pm »
Interesting ideas. The project is becoming more and more interesting. In my head has long been the thought of driving a music box with steam power. However, the idea is still half-baked. Maybe I will implement the idea someday. Until then I read on here. I'm sure I'll get some great ideas.
Cheers
Jürgen
Dealing with steam is one way of having fun in life.

ShadetreeMotorcycle

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Re: Wooden Ferris Wheel under Construction
« Reply #25 on: May 18, 2021, 02:03:47 pm »
I was just getting ready to post this , looks like you found it already, they come in literally hundreds of songs.



Hey! Bruce has been here before! Very nice using the Genny as a jack shaft your getting that Double Reduction.
  I can even recognize the tune! So your speed is very good.
  I think my sketch may still need the double reduction as the big wheel hanging off the side of the Ferris wheel jack shaft (added) likely is still not enough reduction to get down near that 4 RPM range.
  Also Clever: Bruce mounted the movement right to his pressed tin engine base, the thin metal makes a great soundboard! (Amplifier)

ShadetreeMotorcycle

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Re: Wooden Ferris Wheel under Construction
« Reply #26 on: May 18, 2021, 10:52:14 pm »
Lubrication:

The kits of this type provide a wax stick to rub on wood wear surface. I am not strictly against wax, but I prefure pencil lead. The advantage of pencil lead IMHO is it is relatively hard and a #2 pencil is a great handle aplicator.
  The burn edges have a more rough texture than the blonde wood face, rubbing the pencil lead on the burn edges has a tendency to burnish the wood fibers smooth and impregnate the fibers with graphite at the same time. The problem with say a powder graphite is it makes a mess and stains the blonde wood.
  The graphite pencil does tend to blend in with the burn edges, but I have used wax when it calls for it on a large blonde wood area that will show.
  You can use most any wax but I like white candles, I try to avoid bee's wax as it is softer and feels a bit gummy, specially in hot weather. I have never built 2 of the same model and compare a all pencil graphite build to all wax build, but in my head the pencil graphite wins! ;D
  If you are "that guy" that needs to take lubrication up a notch, you can buy artist pencil set, a set will range from very soft lead to very hard, I feel the pencils in the softer range have more graphite. There is clay in pencil lead and that makes it stronger.
   I would welcome any idea's of a dry lube better than graphite and wax.
  Lube is more critical on the wood kits with wood gears. It is not strictly needed on the Ferris wheel BUT for fun I spun the red Gondola in the photo in my fingers on its axle right after I gave it the pencil and it was nearly silent, then spun a dry one and it felt and sounded gritty.
  A #2 pencil is nice for putting graphite in tight areas, I like that flat Carpenters pencil for large coverage.


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ShadetreeMotorcycle

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Re: Wooden Ferris Wheel under Construction
« Reply #27 on: May 19, 2021, 04:05:55 pm »
All Gondola's Lubed and ready to be pressed into service.
   This kit does not really take this long to build, I am on vacation this week so no whip cracking is on the menu.


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ShadetreeMotorcycle

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Re: Wooden Ferris Wheel under Construction
« Reply #28 on: May 19, 2021, 08:04:11 pm »
The kit is Complete.

Notes:

It runs rather nicely (smooth Big Wheel motion) on the music box belt drive. I am happy I took the time to Lube the Gondola's, as they are constantly turning on there axles and they weigh very Little, a small amount of drag might cause them to not stay hanging true Vertical.
  It plays "around the world in 80 days"  is a tune I am not familiar with. I liked Bruce's music movement better because I knew the tune.
  All in All I do recommend the kit to those persons gifted with just a pinch of patience (you know who you are) ;)
  I am on a mission to borrow a small bench lathe tomorrow, so who knows when I will get time to convert this to engine power.
  Based on the small box the kit comes in the wheel turned out looking larger than I thought. It measures 13 and 3/8 inches from ground to top of Wheel.


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St Paul Steam

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Re: Wooden Ferris Wheel under Construction
« Reply #29 on: May 19, 2021, 09:18:32 pm »
Looks absolutely wonderful Ben , very nice work Sir.
The intro song I used on my video is the common circus intro song called "entry of the Gladiators" if you would have seen how I incorporated the song in the video you would have laughed your butt off , I taped my phone to the top of my video camera (at that time) while it played that song , I practiced many times to get the timing and lighting just right.
I would LOVE to see it in motion 😉👍
Bruce, St. Paul Indiana, USA
"Originality thrives in seclusion free of outside influences beating upon us to cripple the creative mind."
  Nikola Tesla