An Unsatisfactory Space!

The last blog showed how the mechanism on the left was put together. You can see three worm holes, including the one the little bird is intently watching, although no worm will appear there. There is third worm which rises out of the apple core in the rear.

Setting the top works in place to confirm assembly measurements brought something to my attention I suspected all along. The right end of the top seems empty. I can't add any moving bits above the gearbox as there is no room below.

In hindsight I guess I have just gotten too comfortable building this gearbox design for many of my projects. If I had distributed the gearing across the entire piece I think I  could have shortened the case by almost three inches, eliminating most of the space. It would have been tight but I think it was possible. Well I'm far enough along that I think filling the "space" with something will be easier than a redesign; the question is with what.

I'll have to think about this!