Last night was the first night in awhile that I’ve been able to put some effort into my harmonograph.  If you’re just arriving or haven’t seen my previous posts regarding this thing, here is a short recap:

On Day 192 I took apart an old magnavox record console that I found in an alleyway.  I proposed for people to throw me some ideas of what I should do with the parts.  A reader named Marc offered up the idea of creating a three pendulum rotary harmonograph with the record player as the drawing surface.  If you are not sure what a harmonograph is you can learn more here.  I decided to take Marc’s idea and go for it.

The thing that interested me most about it was the fact that if the record player acted as the drawing surface then I could rotate the drawing surface as the image was being drawn.  I’m still excited to see how this effects the drawings.

On Day 195 I took apart the record player and installed a little DC motor so that I could control the speed and direction of the spinning.

On Day 196 I drew up some plans and clustered out some design ideas.  I wanted this table to be able to fold up so that I could transfer it from place to place without the use of a truck.

On Day 203 construction began and days 204 and 207 were similar to today, progress as I work my way to the finish line.

I’m still not there but it’s getting closer.  Unfortunately, work as well as the weekend in Palm springs has delayed me from putting more time into this.  There have been quite a few variables to overcome as well.  I’m still quite worried for the day I finish and actually put it to use.  I’m just crossing my fingers hoping that it actually works.

Last night, I added support to the legs and attached them to the table-top.  I also figured out the way to attach the record player to the metal pole except the bolts I bought were a 1/4 inch too short.

The next time I work on this it will be all about the poles and gimbles to make them swing.