# Building a Cranky Crane



## Dave10 (May 29, 2012)

*Starting Out*

Many moons ago, when my daughter was younger we chose not to buy a Cranky the Crane character for her wooden Thomas the Tank Engine set. We did get her the cargo crane, which kept her happy for many years. About a month ago I was asked by my daughter if I could build a Cranky the Crane if I saw a picture of it. I thought about it for a minute and said that I could definitely build something very much like it. (I should mention that she's now 14 and wants Cranky as a prop for making home made Thomas videos.)










So first I looked up pictures of this challenging creature in toy form. EBay and other sellers provide a huge amount of photos. One seller even gave me a vital bit of information, stating in the description that it stood 'about 9 1/2 inches tall'.

I'm sure many have wondered how you go from nothing to something without measured drawings. I got some practice at this when I was making drawings of railroad stations based on the stated footprint of the building on a map, plus photographs of every side I could find.

Back to the toy build. First I found a picture as close as possible of the crane in profile. I brought it into AutoCAD and sized it from base to top of his 'head' to 9 1/2 inches. Then I traced it. That is I made a symmetrical drawing of it using points on the photo as reference. What I got is a pretty good approximation of the proportions of the project in profile. I'll improvise it from there.

Being as my research shows no one else has ever done this before, I feel like quite the ground breaker. I'm not mass producing these, nor selling them, so I'm hoping the lawyers don't swoop down and carry me away.


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## OscarWooden (Sep 10, 2014)

Dave10 said:


> *Starting Out*
> 
> Many moons ago, when my daughter was younger we chose not to buy a Cranky the Crane character for her wooden Thomas the Tank Engine set. We did get her the cargo crane, which kept her happy for many years. About a month ago I was asked by my daughter if I could build a Cranky the Crane if I saw a picture of it. I thought about it for a minute and said that I could definitely build something very much like it. (I should mention that she's now 14 and wants Cranky as a prop for making home made Thomas videos.)
> 
> ...


I wonder if you can help. My son (13 today) has found your Cranky crane build on this website whilst researching for his Design & Technology homework. He would like to use your crane as an example of how mechanical toys work and I wondered if you would be able to give him a simple understanding of how he works using the proper terms I am guessing he is supposed to use.. crank handle, gears, axle etc. I have tried helping him but even I got confused trying to give him a simple explanation. Any help would be much appreciated as this has to be handed in to school tomorrow! In particular they are learning about cams but for this project have to choose 3 different toys to show how different mechanism work.


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## Dave10 (May 29, 2012)

*The Base*

I grabbed a piece of my valuable and ever decreasing drawer wood because it's only 3/8 inches thick. I drew the base on the wood using a sliding bevel set to the angle indicated on my drawing. It doesn't look right-too slim, so I adjusted the angle a bit. Looks much better just by adding 1/2 inch to the base.

Using my panel cutting sled to cut the one side. The thought occurs to me that I'll be able to make all 4 sides the same by cutting them using my first side as a template. Cool, I've never had to do that yet! I went to watch a video on template cutting on the table saw. Luckily I already had the jig for this made, though I had to drill 2 holes in it for the clamps.

Using spray adhesive and 2 brads, I joined 3 pieces of oversize wood to my first side and cut them out. Perfect! Or at least good enough. I know I can't assemble the base yet because I have to fist figure out and add 2 crank mechanisms. One will raise and lower a magnet from the boom. The other will turn Cranky's 'head'. The head turning part has me a little concerned, but I think I can figure it out.


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## Dave10 (May 29, 2012)

*The Gears*

The head of the crane must spin 360 degrees as controlled by a crank handle on one side of the base. Since the rotary motion of the crank is 90 degrees off from that of the head, I needed to figure out a way to change the direction of this motion, preferably something home made, not purchased. (Though if something had been readily available, cheap and better, I would have put out the money.)

Using my smallest hole saw, I cut a few wheels from a piece of 3/8 in. hardwood. My first idea was to mark the wheel out for 8 spokes that would protrude out from the face. The spokes I used were from a bamboo skewer. This did not work well at all, and after several tries at variations, I rejected the idea and put my thinking cap on again.

Remembering several videos I saw, one about making gears and one about making the sprocket of a noisemaker (Hi Steve and Matthias!) I cut a few larger wheels and cut dents for 8 teeth. Then I used my band saw to deepen them. The gear now looked like an 8 pointed star. So I took my rat tail file and deepened and widened the gaps.










I created an angle to simulate the position the gears will be used from scrap wood as an open air proof of concept. Placing the gears on a larger skewer for an axle, I discover that they mesh well at right angles and the darn thing works! This is very enheartening. In actual use these will be upside down to the way they are shown.


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## robscastle (May 13, 2012)

Dave10 said:


> *The Gears*
> 
> The head of the crane must spin 360 degrees as controlled by a crank handle on one side of the base. Since the rotary motion of the crank is 90 degrees off from that of the head, I needed to figure out a way to change the direction of this motion, preferably something home made, not purchased. (Though if something had been readily available, cheap and better, I would have put out the money.)
> 
> ...


What we all do without the amazing Mathias


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## Dave10 (May 29, 2012)

*Eureka, Grr and Okay*










Been trying to think of an easy way to drill a pretty large hole down the length of a 3 inch dowel. While walking past my dowel storage space I spotted a length of bamboo I had left over from an attempt at making a recorder. Bamboo is hollow and thus does not need drilling! But alas, This piece of bamboo is a bit large. I need a piece with an outer diameter no bigger than 3/4 inches.

I went out to the two places close by where I had previously seen bamboo for sale cheap. Neither place had it. So on the way home I decided plastic pipe wouldn't be such a bad idea after all. It's more uniform, smoother on the inside and if I don't have some of the desired size I'll be near a place tomorrow where they have all kinds in all sizes.

The block seen above was an idea I got while googling my problem. It should work as it gives the end of the crank axle somewhere to be anchored. So things are plugging away.

Below is the base glued up and Cranky's head block is on the right. This should work out eventually.


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## CFrye (May 13, 2013)

Dave10 said:


> *Eureka, Grr and Okay*
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Flexibility and an open mind. Handy qualities to have Dave! Is that the head turning mechanism?
Edit: sorry I missed an installation. Nice gears! Love those Eureka moments!


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## Dave10 (May 29, 2012)

Dave10 said:


> *Eureka, Grr and Okay*
> 
> 
> 
> ...


CFrye,

Yes, that's the head turning mechanism. It's made more difficult in that a string has to pass through it for lifting the magnet as well.


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## Dave10 (May 29, 2012)

*Progress*










I need to go out for a small part, but as I set my safety gear on the table I noticed the nice hodge-podge of parts from this project. The only camera I had at the moment is my phone, so apologies for the picture quality.

Yesterday I found exactly what I needed for the hollow, rotating shaft which will turn Cranky's head. I was thinking I needed a plastic tube of 1/2 inch diameter. The plumbing department didn't have it. Even the metal tubes they sell to hook up faucets were all slightly bent.

The garden center didn't have it. I thought maybe something associated with automatic sprinklers might work, but I couldn't even find that section. They did have bamboo, but it was not straight and nowhere near as regular as the length I already own which is too big.

The electrical department didn't have it. Every thing was too big.

I found what I needed in the lighting section. There before my eyes I saw the perfect thing! It was rigid, it wasn't too big in diameter, and it was the right length and right price. It's a threaded, 6 inch by 1/2 inch electrical lamp part. The package calls it a rod, but to me rods are solid, not hollow. Ah well, it will work. I can thread nuts onto it to hold the gear secure, it will pass below the gear and allow the lifting string to pass through. Things are coming together.


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## Dave10 (May 29, 2012)

*Ready for Assembly*










Well, the parts are just about ready for assembly. One cannot believe how many little things have to be done on a project like this, whether it's drilling one more little hole, or having to figure a way to attach the bottom of the base so that it can be removed.










The photo above shows the assembled gear block and a shaft for the crank. The photo below shows the gear block on its side so you can see how the head shaft is hollow to allow the string to run up to the head from a winding crank










I had to add a screw to the crank gear so that I could remove it if ever necesary. A small phillips head screw holds the gear onto the shaft.










Never underestimate the usefulness of simple spool clamps! Here they are holding a few small elements on while the epoxy sets. I wanted some extra support for the crane book. It's now thoroughly immobilized.










Here's how Cranky looks with the parts just put atop one another. Now for the assembly…


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## FatherHooligan (Mar 27, 2008)

Dave10 said:


> *Ready for Assembly*
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Very cool!


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## Dave10 (May 29, 2012)

*Ready for Paint*










Cranky is now ready for paint and the final decorations. The plan is to paint him primer gray overall. The control knobs will be red, and the crane boom will be black. The head will be finished by the addition of decals which I will make in AutoCAD and apply via decoupage. His face will be a slightly altered picture from Google, again applied through decoupage. The decorative elements of the base will be added through wood strips painted black. Mechanically he functions well, but I'm happy he won't have to undergo the rigors of a preteen in normal play. He's essentially a fancy prop. (Note: Some might notice that I changed the design of the crank handles. Since his head does not need to spin around like in the Exorcist I made it a simple knob instead of a crank. The string still has a crank, but I decided to make that more knob-like to match.)

In the photo below you can see a glimpse into Cranky's ugly insides. A peek at the gearing is visible on the right. The hole in the middle with a nut around it is the bottom of his head turning shaft through which passes the string that raises and lowers his magnetic 'hook' The spindle crank is what controls that function. The four dowel stumps are what the base plate screws onto.










And finally, I want to show my unique claming system for gluing up his upper parts. There's nothing more useful than a spare grind stone. I bought the grindstone by mistake. I need a 4 inch size and picked up a 6 inch. I'll store it until the one on my new grinder wears out.










* 
Finished project here.*


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## Dave10 (May 29, 2012)

*Video Wrapup*

A few of the Lumberjocks asked me to make a video showing how Cranky works. Ask and ye may receive.

Here's the link:


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