At this stage I finally had enough components to assemble the structure and effectively see if the design will work in reality. It was a possibility at this stage that I could have underestimated the total weight and I would watch it fall over unable to support its own weight. Luckily I was happy to find that it was much heavier and stronger than I expected, and therefore quite sturdy.
I struggled for a long time trying to find a way to join the circles whilst still being able to run the electrical wiring through the moving parts. Eventually by calling in a favor (and a few beers) I got a friend of mine who is trained in metal milling to hollow out a few bolts for me. These were the perfect solution because they are able to be tightened to hold the components together but can now also house the electrical components as well.
The mechanism that I used to allow the top circle to move from side to side is very similar to the one I designed for the earlier prototype. Basically bolt holding the top circle screws into a bent piece of aluminium (actually made from an old toilet roll holder) which pivots from the middle to sit in five positions. There are magnets that hold it in place in each position and one big magnet built into the lever.
I was so happy to see this baby stand for the first time, and it even swivels! At this stage only the outside copper pieces are in place and the top and bottom circles are just held together with tape but getting this together definitely helped me to get my head around how everything will eventually come together. I played with different positions and was glad to find that it is stable in every position.
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