How I Made A Cat Wheel 3

 

 Patience my furry little friend.

CAT WHEEL-ISH

The next couple of steps resulted in some trial and error experiments on my behalf, which I wont bore you with at this stage, but as a result there are a few extra drilled holes and some misaligned wood pieces here and there. Nothing major in terms of function or aesthetic, it's all part of the learning curve.

THE FRAME, part 2

In order to give the upright beam of the frame greater stability I added support beams to either side. When I bought my cheap hand saw it came with a cut guide which had the 45 degree angle that I needed to make the beams fit. I dont know how much support the frame actually needs but I decided that having it connect with the upright higher and the bottom base wider would make the most sense in terms of dispersing weight and movement. But I might be wrong. I measured the wood, starting from where it would be at the widest it could go on base (just on the inside of the screws that connect the base to the legs) and then the 45 degree angle cuts determined how far up the frame they would go.

Once again the good ole timber screws were used to connect the supports at the top and bottom. Im not aware of the best technique for connecting screws at the angle, so my approach was more "ram it in until it goes in right" rather than a specific technique. The main thing I tried to keep an eye on was that the screws that connect to the upright would not run into the ones from the other side of the upright, hence the ones in the picture being a little off center.

THE TRACK, part 2

The next step for the track was to attach the 3mm plywood onto the 305mm long beams. This is to create the track surface that the cats will (hopefully) be running on. I originally wanted to use as few individual pieces of plywood for the track surface as possible, meaning I would cut the 810x1200 plywood lengthwise resulting in 3 pieces of 305x1200 to complete the track. However, the plywood I bought had the grain of the wood running down the length and I decided in the end that it would be best to use the flexibility of the grain to assist with the curve of the track rather than bend the wood against the grain and risk breakage (highly unlikely with 3mm ply but lets keep it simple, stupid). So, the 2 sheets of 810x1200 3mm plywood created the 4 pieces of 810x305 3mm plywood needed for the track surface. 

The task now was to clamp and drill the 3mm plywood track sheets onto the 18 beams. I clamped all the pieces into place so I could get the positioning close enough before finalising their placement with drilling. The drilling was easy enough, but I made sure to gently press on the back of the beams so that there was counter pressure on the opposite side I was drilling into as I wasnt too sure of the stability of the individual beams to take the pressure of the drilling. Due to working about 8-10mm in from the circumference of the circle there was enough overlap of the sheets to allow the joins to occur at a beam so the screw would go through two sheets and into the beam where the separate sheets meet. The plan it to put a yoga mat over the track surface so the cats have something more comfortable to run on, which I am hoping to smooth out the join. 

I drilled through the plywood into each beam at the base and near the end of the beam to hold down the track. I made sure that I gave sufficient room at each end so these smaller screws don't run into the larger timber screws holding the beams to the circle and the screws that will eventually be inserted into the exposed end of the beams for the cover (more on that later). Then, after 18 beams, four plywood sheets and some choice curse words when the screws wanted to abide by gravity rather than doing what I wanted them to do, I ended up with something that doesn't look unlike a cat wheel.

 Excitement building.

How I Made A Cat Wheel 2

Getting Closer

TAKING FORM

Today I began construction of the cat wheel frame that will hold up the wheel and be attached via the rotating mechanism/castor, and I also cut and attached the beams for the track. 

THE FRAME, part 1

I used 3 of the 90mm x 45mm for the frame base. These were cut into 2 pieces 600mm in length and one 900mm in length. These lengths were based on guestimates of other peoples' designs where the width of the frame was about 2/3 the diameter of the wheel and the depth of the frame had legs stuck out further in the front and in the back than the depth of the wheel. I assume these dimensions would be for stability and minimise any rocking, but then again they may just be an aesthetic choice of others. However, the fact that it pops up fairly consistently across designs makes me think its the former. 

I decided to attach the 900mm plank across the top of the two 600mm legs (rather than flat along the ground) so that there would be least amount of wood on the floor as we have wood and tiled flooring (which may not be necessary as Im thinking of attaching small non-slip mats on the feet), and because I think it looks nicer. 

As you can see in the picture I attached the planks using three timber screw on each end. Prior to inserting the screws I drilled pilot holes in both planks using a drill bit about 3/4 the size of the screw. This is to prevent wood from splitting, or so Im told. I also used liquid nails between the join to give me greater strength and stability.

I then attaches the 1200mm plank for the up-right part of the frame. I positioned this perpendicular to the bottom plank because the bracket on the caster fits near perfectly around the thickness of the plank. I used the same method attaching the up-right that I use for the feet; pilot holes in both pieces then three timber screws and some liquid nails.

From here I plan to attach a support frame to either side of the upright, attach the caster, then it should be ready to go (any aesthetic modifications aside).


THE TRACK, part 1
 
After I cut the large circle I got to measuring the 1.2m long 42mm x 19mm planks into 305mm lengths. 305mm being the width of the track that I am wanting. Most other people around the web have gone for 12inch tracks (304.5mm) so, while it does look like it might be a little narrow for my cat I was finally persuaded when 305 divided neatly into 1220 which means 4 even pieces of track from the 3mm plywood. Best to keep it simple, stupid. 

One of my 42x19 had a few knots outs of it and a couple of cracks so I left it out of the running for being part of the track and cut 5 of the planks into three 305mm beams. This was how I came up with the magic number of 18 beams. Mmmmm, Scientific. 

Again I drilled a pilot hole into each end of the 18 beams, and drilled 18 pilot holes into the 12mm plywood circle 203mm apart and about 8mm in from the edge of the circle. This was so the beams would be evenly spaced around the circle and would run flush against the cut edge of the circle once attached. 

I then pierced the circle pilot hole with the timber screw so that the tip had come out the opposite side before dabbing a small amount of liquid nails on the end of the beam and positioning it on the exposed tip of the screw. Then it was drill, then pierce, dab, drill, pierce, dab, drill, repeat. I was also wiping away any excess glue that oozed out the sides after each beam.

Its starting to not just look like random wood.

Next Ill be either doing the supports for the frame or trying to attach the running track without breaking the wood, or my spirits. 

Do cats feel gratitude?