Teacups Cake Stand

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As a bit of a rush job last week I was asked if it was possible to make a cake stand, capable of rotating 6 individual cakes, like the teacups ride you'll find in a theme park. Because I'm a sucker for punishment and I was enthused by the idea I decided to take it one step further and have the teacups rotate around the central cake while they in turn were rotating.



I fired up the trusty gear generator program and designed myself a planetary gear mechanism that would achieve the desired motion. The layers use the turntable mechanism I like now, there is potentially a lot of weight going through these things so it's nice to know that the load is not transferred to the motor.

If I had to do it again I would change a few things to make it run smoother and definitely put in a large motor. In fact I would really love to make another one of these and perfect those minor issues so if anyone else wants a turntable cake stand then please speak up.




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