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by
Art Mulder
photos: Roger Yip
illustration: Len Churchill |
PUSH & PLAY (part 2) |
Next come the wheels. Create a circle template out of 1/4"-thick
particleboard, then use this to trace out a circle on your lumber.
Cut just outside the layout lines with your jigsaw before using
a flush-cutting bit in your table-mounted router to trim around
the template, finishing off the wheels. A circle-cutting jig
on a bandsaw makes this job even faster.
The wheels need a number of holes
drilled into them. On the inside face of each wheel, use a drillpress
and a 3/4"-dia. Forstner bit to bore eight holes, all spaced
equidistant around the perimeter of the wheel, 1/2" in
from the edge. Four of these holes are purely decorative, so
you can drill them right through the wood. The other four are
1/2"-deep pockets that receive the dowels the noisemaker
blocks ride on. On the outside face of each wheel, drill a 5/8"-dia.
hole in the exact centre to a depth of 1/2", to receive
the axle pins.
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| Shaker
pegs were adapted to make the push mower's handles,
but it you have a lathe, you could turn your own
unique shape |
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| Fine-tuning
all of the mower mechanism parts ensures that they
work together smoothly and that noisy fun comes
effortlessly |
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Next
come the noisemaker blocks. Again, make a template out of 1/4"
particleboard. Use it to trace the shape on the various boards
you’ve selected for the blocks. A 3/4"-dia. pivot
hole, centred and 1/4" in from the end, should be drilled
at the top of each block now.
The
blocks need to swing freely on the dowels, without being too
loose. If the blocks don’t swing well, fine-tune the holes
with sandpaper.
Ease the edges of each of the
noisemaker blocks, the edges of the wheels and the inside edges
of the decorative holes in the wheels with a 1/8"-dia.
roundover bit in your table-mounted router. Finish-sand the
parts in the wheel assembly to get ready for glue-up. If you
want to apply a finish to the noisemaker blocks, do it now,
before assembly.
Dry-fit all the wheel assembly
parts to ensure everything fits snugly. You’ll need to
fine-tune the length of your dowels too. I left an overall gap
of 3/16" to allow the noisemakers to swing freely. By “overall
gap” I mean this: if you push all the noisemaker blocks
tight to one side, there should be a 3/16" gap between
the last block and the wheel. While you’re working, clamp
the two curved uprights together and check how the wheel assembly
fits within them. I allowed for a 1/16" gap on either side
of the wheel assembly.
The other important reason for
dry-fitting the wheel assembly is aesthetics. This is your last
chance to decide on how you want the noisemaker blocks arranged.
I elected to make them in pairs: one pair each from purpleheart,
cherry, walnut and birch. I then mounted them on the dowels
in sequence: walnut, cherry, purpleheart, birch; walnut, cherry,
purpleheart, birch. If you mentally number the dowels in order
around the circumference of the wheel, then dowel No. 1 gets
a walnut noisemaker, dowel No. 2 gets a cherry noisemaker, and
so on.
Indulge in a bit of creativity
to personalize your toy. I made all my noisemakers the same
size, but three thicknesses. You could add additional thin blocks,
or fewer thick blocks. You could make them all from the same
template, as I did, or you could vary the shape. Different materials,
shapes and sizes produce different sounds too.
You might wonder at the variation
in thickness of the noisemakers. There was no special reason;
I chose from the wood I had available. I adjusted the size of
the wheel assembly to fit what I had.
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PART 1 | PART 2
| PART 3 |
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