Sunday, July 02, 2006
"Holy freakin' crap!" That's what Peter Griffin might exclaim. I'm just ecstatically shouting out "YIPPEE!" but inside my head. I started using a diamond burr bit to try and grind a hole in the edge of my acrylic wheel(it's really a cake stand, but I won't tell if you don't ;)). Disastrous! Just made lumpy dends because the wheel's so much larger than the whorls, thus it's far more unweildy to work with. Especially considering I'm using a simple dremelesque tool.
Then I remembered. Drill bits are cutting bits! Router bits are cutting bits! Then I contemplated this for a couple of minutes and realized that by holding the drill vertically away from myself with the wheel between my knees(seated in a chair that puts my thighs at a right angle from my body), I could use a drill as a router! Of course if I had realized this sooner, I would have started with a smaller bit, and gotten less wobbly a line(hoping it will be rectified as I bore deeper with the drill.
If this works I'll wind up with a far lighter, much more stable, and efficient wheel. The cake stand top is 14" in diameter, and I can get a larger circle of acrylic for I believe 10 bucks, but didn't want to spin that much before trying this thing out and making sure it's stable. Plus I had no idea how to make a groove for the drive band.
I'm aiming for 13.75" in diameter but will settle for around 13.5". Golly but I hope I didn't make the center post too short based on the small wagon wheel(it's about 9" in working diameter).
If I made the center post too short, I'll either have to make a completely new one(and am running short on acrylic sheet so more scrounging will be necessary, thank goodness for the scrap bin at Tap Plastics, cause I might be able to get a really long narrowish sheet for a song). I'm not afraid to haggle at this point. If I explain the situation and act ultra-cute, maybe just maybe they'll take pity on me :).
Jumping the gun though. Just have to eyeball the post with the wheel in place :). I can get another acrylic rod and make a whole new crank, no biggie :)
Just plain giddy, and am considering adding some colored acrylic to the mix cause it would be extra pretty, incorporate found parts, and still cost less than a hundred bucks(way less, maybe $25-$30 total :)).
Back to the grind :P
