mega mechanism

This last diorama (the one that I'm still making!) has been the most complicated but it's been so great to try and work my head around getting everything to work the way I want it. I've had to remake this one a few times and all in all, it's been pretty much all I've worked on for the last 10 days.  It started looking like this...

then this...

etc...

Then I made this...

which worked but also didn't work because it wasn't weighted properly and was way too clunky...

 So I changed it to look like this...

much better...

 don't you think? It's weighted so that whatever spins around (you'll have to wait to find out) always stays upright. Check out all that solder!

So this is how it will be put together in the end (the blue tak is to check that it works) The white and black gear mechanism, I think, is called a "worm drive". It changes the direction of turning so that a handle cranked parallel to the side of the diorama will turn the circular motion to parallel to the front of the diorama. I'm sure there's a clearer and more accurate way to describe this but Hey! I'm a jeweller, not an engineer. And thank goodness for Jaycar. I love Jaycar.

Perty. Ain't she?

And these two guys mean that the worm drive will work at double the speed of the crank handle. Just wait to you see what the worm drive drives!! And, of course, all this is hidden inside a biscuit tin. It's a bit sad really, to put all that work into something that won't even been seen when looking at the finished work

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