Wooden Orrery - finished prototype.

Here is a film of my MK 1 wooden orrery.
It is made almost entirely of wood, and is to my own design.
I tried to make it look a little different to anything that has gone before, and I am unaware at present of any previous orreries having ever been made from wood, which at the time it was completed made this one pretty unique.
I have now completed several more as comission pieces for customers all over the world and have refined the design to include a properly angled Earth to show why we get seasons here on our little blue-green planet, and I've also fitted an information/date ring on the large top gear. The moon on the new version also runs at 5 degrees off the horizontal to mimick the path of the real one.
I've also done the maths for all the gear ratios to drive the three remaining planets not included in this first version (I'm still including poor old Pluto in my planet count) with a view to building a full 9 planet orrery in the near future.
I'm still taking comissions, and can tailor the orrery to suit the individual - as few or as many planets as you fancy, and any other changes you may require. So if you're interested, please get in touch via my web site listed above.
Thanks very much for looking, hope you like it.
Dave Goodchild.

Category:

Science & Technology

Tags:

• orrery
• wooden
• tellurian
• planetarium
• planets
• mechanical
• earth
• gears

[qtzlctl2012]

earth is spinning the wrong way :-p

[minimoa69]

@qtzlctl2012

It's spinning the right way - honest! It's just the way my rubbish cameras frame rate has caught the rotation, it even seems to stop and start and change direction at times, but I promise that it's constant and moving in the right direction!

[minimoa69]

Thanks for all the kind and encouraging comments.

To answer a couple of questions, the machine took about 4 months to design and finish and is made from marine grade birch ply - mainly because it stains and varnishes well, and is really stable for making gears and frames from.

Just posted a film of the Mark II version, so take a look and see what you think.

Next project is a nine planet version... lots of gears!

Thanks for looking, Dave.

[ishouldplayzelda]

someone should make an electricity powered real time orrey so you can see where the planets actually are

[Capsara]

Amazing and beautiful all in wood! Do you have plans that you may make available?

[wilsocn]

That is beautiful. Really nice work.

[qtzlctl2012]

@minimoa69 i had thought that might be what it was! So i rewatched it, but it looked so convincing! Good job

[Steampunkfunk]

@ishouldplayzelda Good Idea...

[orrerystore]

beautiful mechanical orrery sold on (triple w).orrery.cc

made mainly from brass,amazing orrery,valueable to have

[fancynotebook]

I actually like it mechanically powered without electricity. Would you sell this model after you built your nine planet version?

[die101]

so, what happens when its 2012?

[7777dmith7777]

OMG..you are sending us back to the future !!