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Concept

I’ve been dwelling on this idea of a loaded prize wheel. Because there’s something about hitting a jackpot on large wheel that really evokes joy. Joy is something I want to manipulate.

alt I started on a shoddy mockup for my CNC skill builder.

Materials

I started on parts of this in other skill builder assignments. But for this build, I had to rethink material choices. First, I wanted to use MDF. I haven’t worked with MDF much but know that it’s good for consistency. And for the “loaded” part to work, I figure I’ll need uniform weight and precise flatness!

alt Big, heavy MDF. Need more gym time.

alt MDF isn’t the friendlist material, so I upgraded my protective gear as well.

Bearing upgrade. The initial lazy susan wasn’t cutting it. So I upgraded to a bearing that can wall mount easily on some speed rail.

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alt Testing the bearing on my old plywood design.

Prototype

I made some quick cuts based on the previous design and just made sure everything comes together properly.

alt The wheel! Not as big as I wanted, but the max size for the T-molding I bought.

For the loaded aspect, I started thinking a lot about gears. Gear Generator

alt Smaller of spur gears.

Test Assembly

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Build Out

alt Larger of the spur gear

alt Speed rail is my best friend!

Finishing

MDF edging is a little ugly.

alt Slotting router bit and test T-molding.

alt Detailed view.

Structure

I really want to wall mount this, so I spent a lot of time thinking about how to use speedrail to reinforce everything.*

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Cat Paw

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Falling in Love with Speed Rail

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Getting to the Final Assembly!

alt alt alt Priming MDF

alt Testing a high gloss paint I got for cheap at ACE Hardware.

alt Overnight drying.

alt Splurged on T-Molding that can take neopixels!

alt Making sure I didn’t fuck up the T-Molding with the dowels being too close to the edge.

alt Rebecca helping me with Typography.

alt Shreiya helping me with marking up my acrylic logo.

Finally!

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Vimeo

Things I Learned

Next Steps