Space Shuttle Mobile

This space themed mobile features a space shuttle surrounded by four orbiting wooden planets. The planets are suspended from two bent brass arms by a thin semi-transprent sting.

I fabricated the planets using scrap pieces of walnut, maple, and plywood—but probably the coolest looking planet is made from a burl that I found on a walk near my house. The mobile now spins over top of my son’s crib.

There were a few challenges with this project:

• How to make wooden spheres for planets without a lathe,
• how to attach the wooden planets to the strings,
• how to balance the mobile so it wouldn't collide with itself,
• how to fabricate a space shuttle.

Shaping the planets started with my band saw, where I cut the wood into a cube. After marking circles on the sides with a compass, I cut the block into a cylinder, and then I sculpted the shape into a rough circle-like polyhedron by cutting off little pieces at a time. Using a small jig and my belt sander loaded with an 80 grit belt, I kept removing the high points until I had a rough sphere. From there I worked down to finer grits and ended with a good looking planet.

The attachment points for the strings were made by drilling a hole in the top of each planet and pushing a bent piece of wire into the hole. This created a minimal loop, which I then secured with super glue. Balancing the mobile took trial and error. I tied each planet onto the arms loosely with string. I'd slide each string around little by little until everything was spinning without touching.

The main body of the space shuttle was carved from a piece of soft pine. The engines and wings were glued on. Once dried, I primed and painted the space shuttle with several coats of white enamel paint. This gave it a smooth, almost plastic look.