Homemade Wood Toys

Proof of concept.

The story so far. A photo of the latest iteration of the proof of concept. Made it 3x larger, cut the legs and arms out of hardboard, and the body is roughly cut out of cardboard.

You can see the first one I started to make in the foreground, and get an idea of how small it is. Which is why I decided to make it bigger.

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I made a quick sketch for the parts. The description says the toy is about 7.5 inches tall.

I am beginning to think that is a typo, because it turns out way too small.

My second attempt is 3x larger, and I think that is a little to large.

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These are the bicycle parts. I thought the joint between the frame and the column would never be strong enough according to the direction of the grain.

Also, how would I cut out the gap in the steering column to fit the wheel? 

So I decided the best approach would be to laminate three pieces with paper in between. The paper would allow me to cut out the parts in one go, and separate them afterwards. 

A common practice when making duplicate parts. I do believe even wood turners use this technique for delicate parts they may want to turn on a faceplate.

With parts this small, I realized that newsprint was a better option than normal photocopy paper. It forms a weaker bond, making the parts easier to separate.

In time, I shall make a sketch to better illustrate this idea.

One more thing, the center part should be slightly thicker than the disc I am using for the wheel.

I plan to make the wheel from a piece 9mm thick, and the sketch shows the center of the steering column to be 10mm thick. In fact, I think that would be a minimum thickness.

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Here is the tricycle part with the arms ready to cut out.

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A photo of the knee joint.

Hopefully you can see the lamination as I have tried to describe. The top was made with MDF, and the lower half with MDF in the middle and maple on the outside.

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This is the top of the other leg, showing the mistake I made with the articulated knee joint.

Don't ask me why, but I decided to use MDF here. I mean, the parts are so small, I could use any piece of scrap wood.

I tried to drill out the hole for the dowel, and the MDF delaminated.

Articulate half lap joint

This is a better idea for making the legs. The knee joint is essentially an articulated half lap joint.

Another thing to consider is using smaller dowels, like bamboo skewers. I have considered toothpicks, but that make it a bit too small and not quite strong enough.

Making Articulated Joints

Why not use a copper tube to make a rivet? It would be easy enough to flare both ends against a washer, as shown in the photo.

I used a metal working center punch to start the flare, then with a series of light hammer blows, flared it out even more.

I am quite please by how it works. It spins freely on the copper tube rivet, and I tighten it up with a few more gentle hammer blows.

Cut away view of articulated joint

Here is my attempt at showing a cut away section of the copper tube rivet that I made for articulated joints.

Useful for knees and elbows, hips and shoulder joints.

This is the monkey on a tricycle that Mike Screen made.

Read more 

This is one of the projects from the book he published Make Your Own Amazing Mechanical Toys.

Here is a monkey on a bicycle that I found on the Lumberjocks woodworking forum.

Inspired by a toy that he saw on eBay.

Here is another idea worth giving serious consideration.