Keeping the Old Country Charm... Well sort of!

If you have followed my blogs or examined my site , you should have picked up that my favourite medium to use in making automata is wood. This includes shafts and bearings. It's tricky, but fun, to configure the right clearances the correct wood, and which natural lubricants can make things work nicely. As long as you are making automata for personal use or sale to collectors, where limited hours of operation are normally expected this is okay, and it adds uniqueness to the finished project.

It goes without saying if you are doing museum or gallery work, public donation boxes, science centre displays. or the like you need to think differently. These will all tend to be operated frequently compared to art owned by collectors. I have been to displays where automata are initiated by the action of the public pushing a button.  This is not uncommon. On a busy day the automata operated more than it stood idle. If it is your taks to build a machine for this service, you better be building with stronger more rugged materials, metal bearings and try to minimize load on sliding surfaces. I do have to say though that a nicely finished metal only component automata looks really fantastic to me, its not for me to build,  I am  more a carpenter  a machinist!

I'm relating this you you as I find myself in that transitional space again. The automata I've been working on is not hand operated but is motor driven and with its function within the house it will likely be operated fairly frequently. So metal bearings and shafts it is. Of course I will make as many of the visual components out of wood wherever practical since I love the look but where is metal I will try to disguise it in this piece.  It helps that in this case a lot of the mechanism  will be hidden from view, so it is not too difficult, 

Here is an example of keeping the "Old Country Charm" by hiding metal components in an observers field as it relates to this project . There are several large gears plainly visible in the piece. They have semi-precision metal bearings pressed into their hubs. In the photo below on the left you can see three shafts and bearings staring you right in the face! I made three wooden boots that are a press fit onto the hexagonal nuts and can be removed if necessary for repair. They do not push on enough to interfere with the spinning gear. The  photo on the right shows the same gears an the visual result of hiding these metal bits which, to me at least is much more pleasant to look at.  

This is what I call keeping the "Old Country Charm" by hiding not so pretty metal components needed for dependable operation.  As far as the expression goes, you will likely never hear anyone use it again in reference to automata, even me!

Caps off!

Caps On!