Meet A.C.E.!

I just added a building project course to the Learning Centre called "Build a 8:1 Ratio Wooden Gearbox".
It is the third in a series of companion courses designed to help beginners develop their skills to enable them to design and fabricate simple automata gearboxes with confidence. In this latest addition to the series students use parts templates and video instruction guides to build a gearbox like the one shown above. It is purposely designed at a generous size for ease of construction. Once students become confident they can graduate to smaller dimension projects.

This compound gearbox is used in many of the automata projects i make in some form or other. It's purpose it to simply slow the crank speed of the handle down to one for which the mechanism  to able to communicate a lower story cycle.

The gearbox i made to film the course I branded as A.C.E. (Automata Concept Evaluator). I will use it at exhibitions I attend to engage visitors in discussions about automata. , When you turn the wrench handle and suggest an idea for a project, the rating shows up on the decision disk on the other side when you the stop turning. Green = Good Idea, Red =Not So Good, Yellow = Has Potential!

​Ah well, the kids will love cranking the handle!