wind vane project

[Matt Horten]

hello my name is matthew and i'm 13 and i have to do a project for school and i have to make a wind vain. Do any of you have a pattern for me to go by, my parents own a laser engraver and a was wanting to make it on the laser could you help me please. Matthew

[Lee Schierer]

You can make almost any profiel into a wind vane. The trick is to cut your outline and then create a balance point where the weight is is equal on both sides of that point but more of the profile is to oneside of that point. You can accomplish this by adding weight to the end with less profile. If you do a Google search for weathervanes you will find lots of styles. Here is an example. Notice how most of the area is to the right of the pivot. You could eliminate the arrow and just use the whale if you wanted. You might need to hide some lead inside the head of the whale to balance the tail. http://www.weathervane.com/Merchant2/graphics/00000001/wv_cat_285.jpg

[Steve Rozmiarek]

One clever idea I saw once, was to put a ball bearing, just one ball, on the top of the shaft that mounts to the building. The pivoting parts then mount on tube that slides over the top of the shaft, and the load is carried by the ball. Sure makes it move easy, and lasts a good long time.

[Matt Horten]

thank you for replying back but i was looking for a wind vane pattern like one for a scroll saw.. thank you again replying back

[Justin Green]

Try this site for ideas:

http://www.acadiavanes.com/vanesmachine1.html

You can get a picture and resize it on your computer and print it out, and then trace it or possibly send it to the laser cutter (I've never used one of those)...