Whirlygig Prototype.

I thought I would attempt to make a whirly gig for the front lawn, some movement to enhance the otherwise stationary carvings ( apart from an eagle suspended from a tree branch who lurches around alarmingly in a wind). 

Whirlygigs are thought to have first been created in China in 400bc but probably someone in Scotland made one before that as we all know how brilliant the Scots are with inventions, anyway below are a few pics of my creation and how I went about making it and the improvements I could make if I do another. Ohh and you can see the stump log planter box I was harping on about in my last blog also used as something to anchor it to :)

The blades are made from tin, bits left over from the shed construction last year and I made a hub from a hardwood circle with 30 degree cuts in it to hold the blades, I bent two flaps on each blade over and screwed them to the hub. 

I was going to use a stainless shaft, recycled from an old wine rack but didn't have a tap and die set to make a thread on the ends so went with a bit of threaded rod instead. To hold the shaft true I dismantled an old hinge that was on the old shed door and mounted it between two halves of wood that make up the base.

The cam to make the Axe Guy move is just a bit of hardwood with an offset hole connected to the wire that moves his arm up and down used washers and lock nuts on the fittings so they wont work loose.

The sort of Christmas tree at the back works as a wind vane turning the fan into the breeze, to find the pivot point to balance the gig on I sat the completed gig on a pencil and moved it until it balanced then drilled a hole to take the stainless pin, put a screw into the hole as a bearing for it to revolve on.

So what would I do different next time? Well I would use the stainless shaft so it wont rust, I like the dismantled hinges but need to come up with a way to insert them without cutting the base in two as water will get in the join and even though it is hardwood it will eventually rot, I would shape the ends of the base so it looks a bit sleeker and the wire to raise and lower the axe I shall have to find something more robust, apart from that it seems to work well and I will be really interested to see what force of wind it takes to demolish it lol. 

The gig can be lifted off the support pole if a gale is due and taken inside.

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