Design "competition"...

**lancer525** · #1 10-15-2009, 08:55 PM

Okay, not really a competition, but perhaps a way of getting some better brains and talents on a curiosity.

Picture if you will, a paper octagon, about 1" in thickness, about 4" across. Got it? Good. Now, picture a paper hexagon, about 3" in across, and around .5" thick? See it?

Now, imagine a something. Some widget, a contraption that behaves like a lazy susan, like a record player turntable (some of you may not be old enough to know what that is) like a swivel chair, a merry go round, or whatever you can think of that rotates.

Picture it glued to the hexagon's center, and then glued to the octagon's center. This Widget is 39mm in diameter, and no more than 3 or 4mm thick. Can you visualize this?

Wait, this is the Information Age! You don't have to visualize it.

Here:

Now that everyone sees what I'm talking about, is there some mechanism like this that can be made out of paper? How about let's get the best and brightest of the designers in the card modeling world to come up with something like it! All it has to do is have two fixed sides, a simple means of rotation in between, (where you could pick up either the hexagon or octagon and they're attached to each other by the rotating thingy in the middle) that fits inside the red shape.

Let's see what you guys can come up with!

**lancer525** · #2 10-18-2009, 06:07 AM

I'm a little disappointed.

I'd have thought someone would have had an idea or suggestion. Surely this can't be a reinvention of the wheel...

**cgutzmer** · #3 10-18-2009, 07:30 AM

I am a bit confused personally

You have a pic of the mechanism right there. make all three shapes like so..... you can run an axle through the middle of all pieces and put a card washer on each side to allow rotation? you would have to fix the axel in BEFORE gluing the octagon and the hexagon shut....
Is that what you envision?
Chris

**airdave** · #4 10-18-2009, 08:16 AM

well, heres my idea:

make your cylindrical base for the upper hexagon (A)

your lower hexagon needs a cylindrical opening (B)

the two pieces mate in the same manner as a Tank Turret.
(the upper cylinder inserting into the lower opening cylinder)

then glue a disc (C - which is larger than the diameter of A)
to the base of A, after it is installed into B

this will stop it from being removable from the base
but it can still swivel.

**lancer525** · #5 10-18-2009, 08:51 AM

I was curious how you could be confused, Chris, until I realized that you were thinking that the hexagon and the octagon are actual things. They're not. They're just shapes that could be *anything*. Rather than saying Item A and Item B with a rotating widget in the middle, I drew a picture.

I like the idea of the swivel, Dave... Something easy to replicate, if I needed 12 of them or so... These are the kinds of things I was looking for. Something quick, easy, and not very complicated. Unfortunately, I don't have the design experience to know what works without having to reinvent the wheel. I'd like to see several more ideas, if people have them...

**Paperbeam** · #6 10-18-2009, 03:07 PM

I'll build this later today to check.

Terry

**APA-168** · #7 10-18-2009, 09:36 PM

I have some ideas, let me check them out and report back with the results.

**Paperbeam** · #8 10-22-2009, 08:16 PM

After building my designs, I think Dave has the best idea.

Once you start working with thin strips of 3 and 4mm paper as parts of a rotating device it gets a bit problematic for the average modeler. Mine are workable, but finicky to put together.

If you still need help designing it, please let me know.

Terry

**lancer525** · #9 10-22-2009, 09:20 PM

Yes, Terry... I'd love to see what you can come up with. I've burned through 9 blades, 21 sheets of 1mm chipboard, and cut myself for the second time trying to make up a damn rotating swivel assembly that is easily replicated. I hope they're scalable, because I'll need one about 2.6 inches in diameter, and one about 1 inch in diameter.

Then again, there must be something out there in the modeling world that performs this function. The entire model doesn't HAVE to be out of paper, does it? <evil grin>

Thanks!!

**Paperbeam** · #10 10-24-2009, 04:51 PM

Okay, I think this is the final version.

I extended the 4mm long tube to 15mm (which is glued to the bottom of the hexagon) and that makes it easier to work with. I also pushed up the bottom of the octagon base by 10mm and punched a hole in it so that a disk can be tacked on the bottom of the tube after you insert it so that everything is free swivelling.

Simple, simple, simple.

File attached.

I think it'd be best if I unfolded all the different sized versions separately, as blowing up this version would look a bit blurry.

Any ideas of textures on it you may want? I was thinking marble and wood...

Terry