Shopsmith Forums

In the past I have made kites with a flag look to them but today I'm working on one that looks like a tree. This is the sketchup model and the real version is close to but not quite the same...... changes on the go as they say.
If you have been here a while this might look familiar, if you need to see it again or if you have never seen the flag version check here:

http://www.shopsmith.com/ss_forum/viewt ... er#p189094

I've made some changes to how I do things. For one I now do a set of length cuts so they is less waste. Here you cans see the results of that type of cutting plan.
The other change was how I cut the parts to length/shape. I used my small track saw and it work really slick. Much faster then I could have done it on the shopsmith. It is simple and fast to align the edge of the track with the line.
Here is what the cut off section looked like:
Just the two cuts and there is the base tree.
The wood has been sealed and the painting has started:
A couple more days and it will be spinning!

Ed

Ed:

Interesting project. It looks good in the Sketchup version so I am looking forward to the finished product.

John

The paint is dry and it was time to put it all together. Here it is in flat mode:
And here it is with it "wings" spread ready for a spin test:
To see it in action take a look here:

https://youtu.be/V7ejP9O0Q1w

This is the inside test using a fan. Tomorrow weather permitting I'll get it outside spinning in the wind.

Ed

Working on serial numbers 2,3,4, and 5.

Got the wood ripped to width and the base length cut. Next drilling the center hole in all the pieces. The way I'm making it there are 18 strips per tree and then the 4 trees means I needed at least 72 pieces, to be safe I made 82 parts.

Yes I've started on Christmas gifts, maybe a bit late at least I have a chance to get them done on time.

Ed

I like it!

I’d be very interested to see it spinning in the wind. I’m a bit puzzled ... the wind-loading force seems like it would be more-or-less balanced. Unless it was blowing straight up or down, that is.

Don't have a video taken outside in the wind just the one with the fan in the shop. It works fine. I do have a video of the flag kite spinner that I make and you can see it here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oUUjIVpRufA

I'll get the tree out and hang it to get a video in a few days.

Got the holes all drilled today, some progress. Tomorrow I'll string one and mark it for cutting. Have to do one at a time and make sure I get all the pieces laying the right way. The hole is centered but there is normally a small amount of variance across the batch so it a hand/visual selection and placement process and it takes some time to get right.

Ed

BuckeyeDennis wrote:I’d be very interested to see it spinning in the wind. I’m a bit puzzled ... the wind-loading force seems like it would be more-or-less balanced. Unless it was blowing straight up or down, that is.

Consider the wind as a vector force against the 'equal but different angle faces'. Deduce the resultant force vectors. Sum the individual pieces.

No calculations needed. Just roughly consider that.

JPG wrote:

BuckeyeDennis wrote:I’d be very interested to see it spinning in the wind. I’m a bit puzzled ... the wind-loading force seems like it would be more-or-less balanced. Unless it was blowing straight up or down, that is.

Consider the wind as a vector force against the 'equal but different angle faces'. Deduce the resultant force vectors. Sum the individual pieces.

No calculations needed. Just roughly consider that.

I thought I had done that, but I was considering only the long faces. Looking at the end faces, the resultant torque about the vertical axis would indeed be unbalanced. Assuming that the fan is next to the camera in Ed’s indoor video, and blowing air toward the spinner, the direction of spin now seems to make sense.

OK, got the spinner tree out and hung up so I could shoot a short video. So here it is:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ajniFeC-md4

Nice breeze today so it was really spinning!

Ed