I needed a gift for a niece. So, I made one of the “spiral design tools.” This was a quick and easy build and, seems like it will be fun.
The PDFs are a little shy on instructions but, it was fairly straightforward.
I made mine from PG Medium Maple Plywood (base and middle layer) and Medium Clear Acrylic (geared discs and cover). This left me with a duplicate set of maple ply gear pieces for my own entertainment. The clear acrylic pieces are preferable since you can’t see what is happening through the wood.
I annealed the acrylic pieces to increase their durability.
The wooden portion of the middle layer is attached to the bottom with CA glue, except for the double-serrated spacer, which I left loose to minimize issues with being able to get the pieces in and out of the case. The base of the pivot piece is similarly CA glued to the base (where the engraved glue well is).
The acrylic pieces fit into the wood case snugly but, not so snugly they are difficult to remove. The wood pieces (which are surplus in this case), however, can be challenging to remove from the case.
The cover stays closed well enough for keeping where it won’t get shuffled around too heartily. Inverting or turning sideways, the cover is likely to fall open.
Obviously, pencil isn’t optimal for this but, it is what I had handy. Several cheap ballpoints and rollerballs in the studio all turned out to be dried up. Note that the holes in the smaller disc are too small for any of the ballpoints.
