Michael VanValkenberg's New Mechanical Wonder

Michael writes: "Hello Doc, I'm going to call this one the 'Modern Parts Mechanical Wonder'. Last year when I sent in the '29 model, Dave asked if there were any plans for ones with newer, less hard to get parts. As far as I know there aren't, so I made one up. No cams, racks, AB couplings or Helical gears in this one, the ladder chain is about the only part deleted early (1939).

12 axles are being powered by an A49 hooked directly, I have gear, chain, mitre, belt, cam, a cog, eccentric & an intermittent drive on it. The cog drive on the front left corner is 7/8" screws that mesh with each other, it actually runs pretty smooth. The intermittent is a P12 crown gear monuted on a BT at an angle, it only engages the P13 pinion for part of its revolution, thus turning the BN turret plate part of the time. In the right rear is another BN on a BT with 7/8" screws through it, as it turns it lifts the "loose" BT causing it to rise & fall and make a motion similar to a rack gear. The CA signal arm is waved back & forth by a "locomotive principle" BT driving an AA eccentric crank. You could keep adding to this till the motor stalls, I left out a worm, the flex coupling and a few others that came to mind, but they be another model. The possibilities are endless for these, you can find out why all those holes are drilled in BNs, BTs, & CJs. I even got to use a P24 crank in this model, I must have 40 of them, the one I used someone had sawed off, it is turned by mitre gears.

Something I did learn, the Erector mitre gears are a crummy way to transmit power, they are cast of "pot metal" with only about 10 teeth. Good enough for a kids toy I guess, but this could be why so many have trouble with the Carousel model. Not to blow Meccano's horn, but their bevel gears are solid brass, machined, the smallest having 28 teeth. I'm not an engineer, but which do you think would run smoother? So, take all your extra parts out, start inventing. I must have modified this model 20 times, I probably spent 2 days on it much to my wife's dismay.