A Pinwheel

Just a block of left over wood

 One must have a lot of extra time on their hands if their next project is to build a pinwheel for one of the grand-kids.    I do have one grandson who is mesmerized with things that spin around.   He has just about worn out the propeller on the plane I  built him a few years back.   His mother had to hide a windmill bird house that I repaired for her because the windmill part of the house was getting an extra spin or two.  

  Finally his mother asked if I could build him his own little propeller that he could just sit and play with to his heart's content.   That is what we did this week.
   I started out looking for a block of wood that I could use as a base.   I found one in the wood scrap pile.   I could have just made up a propeller and mounted it to this block and I think everyone would have been happy.    Yet I wanted to make this a little challenging so I decided to angle the sides, angle the top, and cut away a little bit of the front.   It looks and sounds easy, but for an old (insert a term that means the releasing of body gas) guy like me - it took a little doing to get everything to come out just right.

A side view of the base after a little sanding

     This block is only 8 inches tall and was 4 inches square yet it is solid.   That might make it a little heavy to be used for a toy.    The good thing is that you should be able to set it outside on a windy day and it will not blow away.

   I did look up a plan for making the pinwheel.  I found one of those plans where the wind blows the propellers around and that turns a shaft that turns a crank that makes a man with a saw look like he is sawing wood.  (Really fast on a windy day.   A true replica of me...)  I took a two inch thick board of maple and ripped out five thin boards that I could use as blades.  I only need four, but for me it is always good to have an extra.

  For the hub that would hold the blades I used walnut.   The shaft to mount the pinwheel to the base was a stainless steel piece that I cut from a leftover sink plunger.  You know that thing you push down to open the sink drain.   Something new for me is that I made some plastic round washers from some scrap plastic I had around.  (Are you getting the picture as to how much I have invested in this project?)  The plastic washer is a new thing that I learn about over coffee one morning.  It should help eliminate friction when the propeller is spinning around.

   I took a left over small white drawer knob and glued it on the end of the shaft.   I rubbed some kid friendly oil on all the wood parts and the picture to the left is the completed project.

   I sat it outside one windy afternoon and that propeller was really spinning around.   So it works.  Hmm...  I was kind of mesmerized with just watching it go round and round and around...