I decided one day that I wanted to blend two of my favorite things: “A Charlie Brown Christmas” and magnets.
So, I spent a lot of time hunting down chain and sprockets for my 3D printer. Also, finding the skater artwork that I could glue to the laser-cut character profiles.
It got a little tricky finding the exact gap needed between the magnets in the chain and the ones in the skater stand. Had to design some 3D printed guides to make that work.
Topped it off with an inexpensive circuit board/speaker to set the proper musical mood when the skaters are doing their thing. All in all, a fun project.
If you’re thinking about a version two, two more smaller sprockets at the top middle and bottom middle making the path be kind of peanut-shaped could be a fun extra bit of movement
It’s top-notch as it is, just imagining next steps.
The ice is white styrene .03 thick. I was worried that anything thicker would dilute the magnet effectiveness. The rod magnets embedded in the links are only 1/8" in diameter by 1/4" long.
That’s what I thought as well. But but varying the magnets in the big chain vs the middle sprockets, he could have a skater or two peel off from the group and rejoin on the other side. Adding another sprocket with a tight radius could be set to pick up one skater (Peppermint Patty?) and have her spin in place before rejoining the line.
This is so much fun! At one point in time I was going to make something for my son with matchbox cars and magnets and a similar track but then life got in the way, and I’m not sure that he would appreciate it now.
I love how it came together, thank you so much for sharing.
