There was a recent post on the Facebook Glowforge forum discussing a Ferris Wheel type of spice rack which inspired me to design this.
I wanted one that would accommodate the large McCormick bottles, which are a little over 5" tall. No complicated gears please, just gravity to position the shelves. And, most importantly, no finger joints. Tabs for positioning/alignment, but bolts and captive nuts for the joinery. I really like that technique.
As I was getting it assembled and trying it out with actual spices from the pantry, I realized that it would always want to rotate so that the heaviest shelf was at the bottom. That whole gravity thing. I needed it to have discrete “stops” so that it would hold a particular position.
So, I redesigned it to incorporate magnets at each shelf and one in the base. Solved. It now will hold its position even if a heavier shelf is above it.
A fun project and my wife likes it enough that she says it can be her Christmas present. That’s a win!
The magnets are such a great idea, and this could so easily be used for all sorts of things besides spices. Paints, earring supplies, beads etc., etc. Also, it could be a mega sized ferris wheel for lego people.
That’s so kind of you to suggest. I’m not very organized along those lines, so I don’t have anything like that set up at the moment. Perhaps I need to give it some thought.
Now it’s even more cool! So many uses for it; glue, little bottles of paint/ink, nails, glitter etc. and if you remove some of the separators, paintbrushes, pens…
Not yet, but I’m working on it. @cynd11 was kind enough to put the idea into my head. I’m setting up an Etsy storefront to post it and it will probably take me a few days to sort things out.
