Introduction: How to Make a Turn Table

About: I am a 7th grade teacher at High Tech Middle Media Arts in San Diego! All of the Instructables are published by my students.

Submitted by Josh Allen

Materials

  1. Thin Wood
  2. Laser cutter
  3. Nails
  4. Hammer
  5. 2 Thick 4 by 4 wood pieces
  6. Computer With RHINO (computer program)
  7. Table jigsaw
  8. A long piece of wood
  9. An outlet
  10. 4 Casters
  11. Impact drill
  12. Screws

I am in a school called HTMMA which is a project-based school. In the class project, we are going to be in a parade where we support a nonprofit called The Rescue Dog. In the parade, we need to split the work up into groups, in my group we made a turntable. The turntable will be used to make it look like the dogs are playing on the beach. WARNING KIND OF COMPLICATED.

Step 1: Step 1: Making the Gears

Now I'll teach you how to make the turntable. First, go into gear generator which is a website that makes gears because we used a hand crank to move the turntable. So you’re gonna need to make a make some gears. Unless you use a fan motor that is attached to a generator.

After you make some gears you need to then put the gears onto rhino but. If they don’t work then just make your own on Rhino by using the commands, array polar, trim, and, mirror which helps you make the circle, teeth and the spacing better. First, you make a circle and put that circle to a scale of your size the one gear and use. Then command polar array and click the center of your circle and type the number of teeth that you want. After this, you need to print it. and though many trial and errors and after several rinses and repeating you will have a gear to print.

After you make some gears on Rhino go to the laser cutter and use your thin piece of wood and slide it into the laser cutter and hit print.


Then use this gear and(I would recommend tracing it) glue the wooden gear on the thicker piece of wood then cut it out using the table jigsaw. Then make a hole in the center of the gear using a drill bit that is slightly larger than your PVC pipe.

Step 2: Step 2: Making the Circle

After your done, you should try to make your circle, you should measure 1.5 ft on as your radius on the long piece of wood and nail the wood into one of the 4 by 4 ft pieces of wood. Drill a hole at the 1.5ft spot (enough for your sharpie to fit ) and turn the long piece of wood to make a circle. Then use a table jigsaw and cut it out.

Step 3: Step 3: Putting the Gears and Circle Together

Then mark your center and get a spacer and drill the spacer into the center of the circle. Then make a stand for the turntable then try your hardest to put casters on to make it spin faster. After your done saw off some PVC pipes. Drill holes into your stand and try to put in your PVC pipes then after your done drill your PCV pipe into place. Put all the gears together so they can turn at once.

Then choose a PVC pipe and make it into a handle so you can turn it. In conclusion, I think that building a turntable is very complex and hard and I would recommend that you should just use a motor and hook it up to a generator.