instructables

Flower Garden Spinner

by tattoogirl

Flower Garden spinnerIt’s that time of year when we start to spend more time out side in the garden. My husband has a super greenthumb and does all the gardening with no help from me The garden is spectacular thanks to him. Although I wouldlove to contribute, I really don’t know the first thing about gardening. So in an effort to contribute just a littlesomething, I decided to make a flower garden spinner. Here’s how I did it..

https://youtu.be/iRYKjgb3eQM

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Step 1: What You'll Need

Supplies6 in. x 2 ft. Round Metal Duct Pipehttps://www.homedepot.com/p/6-in-x-2-ft-Round-Met...

Scissors

e-6000 glue and or gorilla glue clear

Fidget spinner (we’ll be stealing the bearings out of it)

2 CD discs

Paints

Copper pole length is your choice (mine is a half inchby 10 feet)

Drill

5/16 Drill bit

5/16 hex screw 8 in. long

Nylon spacers 3 to 4

5/16 nut

4 - 5/16 washers

Sheet of fun foam

Muddler to help shape the tin

I originally thought to make the spinner with tin sodacans, but opted for tin that was a bit sturdier. But, youcould easily make this with old soda cans too.

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Step 2: Cutting Out the Petals

First I decided on the shape of the petal and thenumber of petals. I wanted to have 2 layers thatwould spin independently so I decided on 5 petals forthe front and 5 in the back. I made a template for alarger size petal for the back and a smaller one for thefront and copied each template on paper 5 times.After cutting the templateout, I sprayed the back with spray glue so I couldarrange them on the tin duct pipe for best fit. Iavoided placing the template on the edges that havea crimp and avoided the ripples on the end. I have toadmit, even though you can cut through the tin withscissors, it does make your hand really tired. I had torest my hand after ever 2 or 3 petals.

After all the petals were cut, I sanded down theedges. (As you will see from the picture, I originallyhad pointy tips to the petals and a little tab that I

ended up cutting off because they was just toosharp.)

Because I wanted to create a lifted edge on the petalto catch the wind, I left the paper on so I could draw acurved line to follow so I could score and bend. I wasa bit harder to score than I thought so I ended upusing a pair of pliers to bend the curve. To smooththings out, I placed the petal on a thick sheet of funfoam and with a muddler and good amount ofpressure, smoothed the curves out as best I could.Any smooth round hard surface could be use in placeof the muddler

Once all the petals have been curved and smoothedout, you can remove the paper template.

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Step 3: Painting the Petals

Next is the painting. The tin is a pretty slick surface so using a regular brush didn’t really work well at all. So I dugout my airbrush and airbrush paints and sprayed the colors on.You can easily use canned spray paint too. I chose some green, blue and purple and gradated it up the petal.

I let all this dry and sprayed on a couple of coats of a clear gloss sealer. Of course one coat at a time with dryingtime in between.

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Step 4: Stealing the Barings Out of the Fidget Spinner

While all the paint and sealer coats are drying, youcan dig into that fidget spinner to steal the bearings. Iused a jewelers saw to slice into the plastic and itpopped right out. You’ll need 2 of these. Grab thoseCD’s. This will be the base you need to attach theflowers to and to attach the bearings.The hole in the bearing and the hole in the CD justhappened to be a perfect fit.

They lined up spot on!

Using some gorilla glue, I glued the bearings to theCD being careful not to get glue on the center ring ofthe bearing because that is where the spin needs tohappen. When gluing the bearing down make surethat you are on the side of the CD that does not havethe coating on it as the bearing would then be gluedto only the coating and the coating could easily pulloff.

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Step 5: Adding the Petals

When the bearing is secured and cure in place youcan now attach the petals. It’s a good idea to lay themout to see exactly where you want to place them andif you want them toover lap them or not. I overlapped my just a tad soyou couldn't see the CD behind. I place them just to

the outside of the ring. Place a nice strong glue likeE-6000 on the CD and press each petal in place.Arrange them as you like and let them dry preferablyover night.

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Step 6: Assembly

Now it’s time to put everything together. First you willneed to drill a 5/16th hole through the copper tubing.Run the hex screw through just to make sure it goesthrough.

The assembly of the following components will go likethis:

Slide the first spacer up the length of the 8 inch hexscrew, then the small flower. Next will be anotherspacer and then slide the large flower. After that,another spacer and then a washer.

Slide this entire assembly through the hole in thecopper pipe, slip on another washer then screw thenut on securely.

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Step 7: Finishing Touches

For the center of the flower, I cut the bottom off a soda can (sanded the edges) then centered and glued it to theend of the hex screw.I left the copper tubing raw in the hopes it will patina, but if you prefer to keep the copper color you can alwaysspray the pole with a clear gloss sealer.

Now just find a spot in the garden, slide it into the dirt and wait for the wind to kick up.

Thanks for taking a look!

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Step 8: Final Result

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Looks pretty nice. Just a suggestion: if you were to bend the front petals on the opposite side, theymight spin in opposite directions from each other when there's a breeze. Either way, the "flower"will certainly add interest to anyone's garden. Thank you for contributing your 'ible.

That is really cool, thanks

Nice!

Why not enter it into the Make it Move contest as well? :)

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Adding a couple of small magnets and a coil, you could drive an LED to light it up in the dark ifyou'd like :)

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I'm going to make two small Savonius rotors myself, for driving torches (faux flames) each side of abalcony - got no garden to play in.

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Have a nice day :)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iRYKjgb3eQM

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Looks very nice!

Thanks Gadisha!

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