How to make a mechanical worm toy out of wood

I made this toy out of scrap pieces of spruce, pine and plywood.

First of all I cut the frame pieces to size using my table saw and a cross cut sled.

I decided to join the frame pieces using finger joints. I made a simple jig for my cross cut sled to make accurate repeatable cuts. I do not have a dado blade so I made single blade box joints.

I then glued the frame together. 

I turned a scrap pine cylinder to size on the lathe. I then turned eight small wheels on it using a straight chisel and a spindle gouge. I then cut the wheels on the table saw and sanded them flush on my disc sander.

I then used my center finder and located the centers of the wheels. I then drilled an off center hole to each wheel. 

I moved to the lathe again and used a bowl and a spindle gouge to turn the worm. 

I cut the worm in half and then mounted each piece on the chuck to finish the turnings. I removed the last part using the spindle gouge and a skew chisel.

I then sanded the frame with my orbital sander. I filled any gaps of the finger joints using saw dust and glue.

I then drilled the holes on the frame. To prevent the wood from splitting I clamped a piece of wood from the back side.

I marked the hole positions of the worm pieces with an owl. I secured the pieces in a plywood piece with a large inner hole. I then used the drill press to drill the hole.

I wanted the toy to have removable parts. So I opened up the holes that receive the rod with a saw. I then added removable stoppers to prevent the rod from moving around!

I made a template for the pieces that climb on the wheels and cut them on the bandsaw out of plywood. I sanded them with my rotary tool and a sanding drum bit. 

I then started glueing and assembling all the parts. 

I also added two dowels to act as the worm’s antennas. I jointed the worm with the mechanism using bamboo sticks.

I fine tuned the wheels and my little worm was ready to roll.

It still needs a few adjustments but overall it is pretty fun to play with! 

My wooden mechanical helicopter toy

 

 

My little mechanic helicopter. I made it out of some scrap pieces of plywood and dowels.

First I cut two round shapes for the gears. I do that with my hole saw bit.

Then I cut the pieces for the box on which the helicopter will sit. I join them with dowels and glue. I cut the dowels flush with a trim saw.

I draw the basic shape of the helicopter and it’s helix on a piece of plywood. For the helicopter’s body I glued two pieces together to have some more mass. I cut them out both on my scroll saw.

To make the gears I divide them  in eight and  drill them on my drill press. I join them with a dowel and drill all the holes at once to both of them. When I make the first hole I add another dowel to secure that nothing will move while drilling.

I cut the handle on the scroll saw. I secure the dowels on it by adding a small nail and glue. I do the same thing with the helix.

I mount the helicopter on the box with dowels.

I secure the gears on the dowels with a screw and no glue, in case I need to remove them in the future.

I fine tune the dowels diameter with a knife. This way they fit loosely enough.

I assemble the rest of the parts and my toy is ready.

Wooden mechanical guitarist grooving!

 

Mechanism close up

 Made of scrap wood plywood pieces my wooden guitarist is here to groove. His mechanism is based in two off centered wheels that rotate with the turn of the crank. All the pieces are cut out with a scroll saw. The wheels are cut out with a hole saw bit.

My wooden ballerina toy

 

I made this ballerina out of some scrap pieces of pine, spruce and plywood.  I cut out the basic shape of the ballerina with a scroll saw and carved some details with a chisel. The round parts are cut out with a hole saw bit.

Wooden flying bird

 

I made this bird from scrap pieces of spruce and mdf.

Wooden weight lifter

 

 

Back view

 

A mechanical toy made from scrap wood. Inspired by kinetic art and automata I sometimes enjoy making wooden mechanical toys.