Compass Table

Step 7: Arrange compasses

If the table were a square or rectangle I would have arranged the compasses in a grid, but since it was a circle (to match the circular form of the compasses themselves), I had to come up with other arrangement options.  After fiddling around with them for a short while I was able to find something that worked well - concentric circles.

Arrange the compasses as tightly as possible working from the outside in, getting the final few in place takes a bit of a massaging, but once they all go down, it's a nice symmetrical tight fit that can adjust to whatever size circular table that you have.

Comments

[m1keo]

lol nice...i did this and painted the table gold with silver...btw where did u get the magnets? i bought mine of of ebay

[MarkMain]

I'm curious if you tried to point north to the same direction or just got them in there. BTW, I think this would also be interesting if about one-third to one-half of the total area were randomly placed compasses of different styles, colors and sizes. One way would be to keep the symmetry of circles like you have now and then replace some places with the random ones in non-symmetrical patterns; or just have everything random. It would help to have a bunch of various sized compasses for this random style so that the small ones could fill in the gaps of the larger ones.

[noahw]

I like your idea of using different sized compasses to fill the space.  I think it would have a nice look to it.

I specifically bought compasses where the entire compass rose spun around on it's own...not just the needle (small compasses do this, large compasses often do not).  

So, there was no need to arrange all of them pointing towards north, because they do that on their own.

[waltzingdog]

Are the compasses attached down in any way?

[noahw]

I was prepared to glue them down when I started, but the concentric circle design squeezes them in so tightly that I don't think they really need anything.  The glass top also keeps a lid on things pretty well.