Christmas gift or toy in a bag. Flipper Toy

Budman posted a project which he called birdhouse in a bag. He was suggesting that you/me could make up small items that your/mine children/grandchildren could come into the shop and make a project.

Dan is also running the Christmas Items that could be made.

This could fit in either or both.

It was made by a member of the Mason-Dixon Woodworkers Club as part of our Toys for Christmas program. He made 100 and over 100 were made last year. They went over well.

The dimensions are:

Bottom board 15” X 7/8 X 1/4 (not overly critical but you want it stiff.

Center 9/16” thick X 1” high X 2” long with a taper for visual effect. Hole in the middle maybe 1/2”, maybe 3/8” not critical.

Top board 13 3/4” X 1/8” X 7/8” a hole for a 1/8” dowel is in the middle and a line is placed 4 5/8” both right and left of the hole. (not critical but make the same distance. Could use a small piece of wood that would spin on the center dowel and would allow you to make a mark at the 4 5/8” spot.

Pot like this

You cut off the top and leave just the bottom part of the pot.

Could be ordered from a place like this

The pot is glued on the top board at the line.

A ball 7/8”. You need to drill a hole for a 1/8” dowel in one side. Paint as necessary. A piece of twisted twine is placed in the hole in the ball and the 1/8” dowel and some glue holds it in place.

Glue the center block on the base, Centered and probably some 1/8” dowel through the top board, the block and the bottom board to hold everything together. This person used brads. You can notice that in the third picture.

Now hold the ball over the pot that has been glued on the top board and hold the string through the center hole and the big hole in the center block. You want the ball to not touch the outside edge of the pot. You want it so that when it flips it goes into the center of the pot. Put a 1/8” dowel in the center hole, with glue to lock the string there. Trim it off in the middle hole of the center block.

Now flip away.

I’ve flipped and caught about 5 in a row. One of the woodworkers children did 32 in a row. It’s not hard, but it’s hard to do in a long run.

Dave giving it a try.

I finally caught David and the camera in sync as he tried it.

The only expense is the pots, balls and string. I assume you have the wood.

It would require some pre-planning to have all of the supplies in a bag. Possibly having the pot pre-trimmed and the ball drilled. Or depending on the skills and age of the child they could do it all.

Or you could do it for them. And give them a gift.

-- Karson Southern Delaware karson_morrison@bigfoot.com