Oriental 'Whirligig'
Posted: 13 Nov 2020, 18:17
...or that's what SWIMBO calls them I made a more simple version of this a couple of years ago after having seen a few in Kyoto. SWIMBO liked it so much that my arm has been twisted progressively higher and higher to make another one...or two as the case may be as this one is going 'oop narth' to Carlisle very shortly for my daughter's Christmas present from the WoD (Workshop of Dad )
I recollect when I made the first one that these are a complete and utter pain in the ar$e to make and they haven't got any easier
This one is English Walnut and the only saving grace of these bloody things is that you don't need to use very much timber; in fact it's a good way of using up odd n'sods that are loafing around.
Construction is by making four laminated semicircular hoops, each laminate being 2mm thick, shooting them each identical and joining with a walnut spline, where the slots are cut using a spline joint router bit. If the hoops aren't identical (or as near as damn it) it tends to throw the whole subsequent build out of kilter
It's absolutely critical that the each semicircular section is passed through a drum sander to bring it to size; if I didn't have one I wouldn't even dream of trying to make a whirligig!
I couldn't think of any sensible way of building this so I made a baseboard, stuck on the working drawing and then used some adjustable 'L' shaped brackets to hold each hoop in place.
The supports between each hoop are doweled in place using some 3mm bar-b-que bamboo skewers as dowels and that little process proved tricky in itself, but I bought some tiny Japanese brass sash cramps which should make the process easier for the next one.
Having got the two hoops doweled together, the inside and outside of the supports are made level with the curvature of the circular hoop; again, not fun.
I started doing the shelves by making the three dovetailed 'L' sections. The positions of the 6mm router cut grooves in the shelves are found by simply sighting over the top of the plan (in much the same way as we used to build [and still do] balsa model aircraft) and then cutting on the router table. It's then just a question of working out a logical sequence to cut and glue in each shelf in turn, leaving plenty sticking outside the hoop for trimming off later.
The stand is pretty straight forward, being a dovetailed open box with a couple of 'scoops' bearing cut to match the curvature of the hoops.
Once everything was cleaned up and sanded there was a fair bit of filling with glue/sawdust because it's well nigh impossible to bring everything up really tight. The ones I've seen in Japan are covered with a thick, gloopy lacquer type finish which probably disguises all the filler that's been used in the constuction! Once all the sanding has been done (internal corners ) it was finished with two coats of Liberon Finishing Oil and then this morning denibbed and given a goodly slathering of wax polish from CHT.
I have SWIMBO's to start next week Deepest joy; onwards and upwards - Rob
I recollect when I made the first one that these are a complete and utter pain in the ar$e to make and they haven't got any easier
This one is English Walnut and the only saving grace of these bloody things is that you don't need to use very much timber; in fact it's a good way of using up odd n'sods that are loafing around.
Construction is by making four laminated semicircular hoops, each laminate being 2mm thick, shooting them each identical and joining with a walnut spline, where the slots are cut using a spline joint router bit. If the hoops aren't identical (or as near as damn it) it tends to throw the whole subsequent build out of kilter
It's absolutely critical that the each semicircular section is passed through a drum sander to bring it to size; if I didn't have one I wouldn't even dream of trying to make a whirligig!
I couldn't think of any sensible way of building this so I made a baseboard, stuck on the working drawing and then used some adjustable 'L' shaped brackets to hold each hoop in place.
The supports between each hoop are doweled in place using some 3mm bar-b-que bamboo skewers as dowels and that little process proved tricky in itself, but I bought some tiny Japanese brass sash cramps which should make the process easier for the next one.
Having got the two hoops doweled together, the inside and outside of the supports are made level with the curvature of the circular hoop; again, not fun.
I started doing the shelves by making the three dovetailed 'L' sections. The positions of the 6mm router cut grooves in the shelves are found by simply sighting over the top of the plan (in much the same way as we used to build [and still do] balsa model aircraft) and then cutting on the router table. It's then just a question of working out a logical sequence to cut and glue in each shelf in turn, leaving plenty sticking outside the hoop for trimming off later.
The stand is pretty straight forward, being a dovetailed open box with a couple of 'scoops' bearing cut to match the curvature of the hoops.
Once everything was cleaned up and sanded there was a fair bit of filling with glue/sawdust because it's well nigh impossible to bring everything up really tight. The ones I've seen in Japan are covered with a thick, gloopy lacquer type finish which probably disguises all the filler that's been used in the constuction! Once all the sanding has been done (internal corners ) it was finished with two coats of Liberon Finishing Oil and then this morning denibbed and given a goodly slathering of wax polish from CHT.
I have SWIMBO's to start next week Deepest joy; onwards and upwards - Rob