13 April 2012
Happy Birthday Kevin
The next project will be an orrery of the four innermost planets; Mercury, Venus, Earth, and Mars. This one will definitely be steampunk inspired and operational. I want it to have an aged patina so I have deliberately used vintage pieces in its creation. As in old "school orrerys", the Sun will be represented by a stationary light source situated in the center and orbited by the planets. In this case the light will be a miners vintage brass carbide torch. I will fit it with a battery powered bright white LED.
To make a rotating pedestal I am using an old "hurdy gurdy" hand drill that was given to me by a steampunk friend. Although it is missing pieces and in disrepair it is exactly what I was looking for. Thanks Chris!
The wonderful thing about the drill is the gearing that will allow the planets to rotate. The awful thing about the drill is the gearing that won't allow the planets to rotate. Allow me to explain. The head of the drill turns horizontally as the crank turns vertically by means of a crown gear and pinion gears mounted on a solid shaft/axle.
Because the lantern must remain stationary there must be a shaft within a shaft so the solid axle needs to be replaced with a tube. For this tube/axle I used a piece of threaded lamp tubing (damned if I can find the proper nomenclature) that I notched with a dremel tool and reinforced cutoff wheel.
For the center shaft that is stationary and holds the lantern, I used a piece of 1/4" all thread. The axle is seated in the drill body so I rounded the hex nut so it would fit snugly in the seat to reduce as much play as possible due to the disparity in size of the tube and all thread shaft.
I could now reassemble the gears and slide them over the center shaft.
To keep the drill/pedestal upright and to provide a plate for the lantern I am using some vintage lamp and candelabra parts.
Because the arms that support the planets will be relatively long and could hit the one cranking I will have to further modify the drill. My plans are remove the crank and weld a 1/4" drive socket to that point. A long extension with a faucet knob attached will snap into the socket when needed, allowing one to safely operate the orrery.
