How to make a dancing bird automaton

Hi, my name's Gary and over the next 10 minutes or so I'm going to walk you through how I make this little dancing bird. If you'd like to make this exact design, I've put a link in the description where you can download and print a full scale template you can use to cut out all the pieces exactly like you see here. I've decided to make the base for this project out of standard 2x3 construction lumber. By cutting the 2x3 every 2 1⁄2 inches, you get nice 2 1⁄2 inch square bases that are 1 1⁄2 inches deep. I mark the center of the base piece and drill a 1 1⁄2 inch wide hole with a Forstner bit. This hole will be about a quarter of an inch deep and becomes the inside of the nest. Leaving the base clamped in the same spot, I use a 2 inch hole saw to cut 2 thirds of the way through the base and then flip the base over to finish the hole. That makes for a nice clean cut on both sides. I use the pilot hole to line the hole saw so that both cuts meet up nicely. I cut the plug left from the hole saw in half. This can be a bit dangerous on the bandsaw because the plug wants to spin as the blade cuts on both the leading and trailing edges. I use my drill and a small belt sander to round the edges of the plug to make a nest shape. I really don't like sanding, but it makes such a huge difference in the finished product. I use my wide belt sander to get most of the roughness out of the construction grade lumber. I mark the center of the sides of the base to drill the holes for the crane candle that will pass through. It's pretty critical that the two holes are directly across from each other, so take your time with this step. I'm using 1 1⁄4 inch dowel for all the shafts in this project. I found that a 9 3⁄2 inch drill bit allows for smooth movement of all the shafts without too much slop. I highly recommend you sign and date all of your projects. I sometimes burn my name and date on the bottom, but in this case I'm making 30 of these little things, so I just decided to set up a job on the CNC. Like I said, I don't really care for all the sanding, but it makes such a difference in the look, feel, and durability of my pieces. I'm using a bit of wood glue here to attach the nest to the top of the base. I prefer wood glue for this because it gives me time to adjust the position of the nest and rotate it to the side I think looks best. I'm making up to 30 of these little bird automata at a time, so in the background I'm using my CNC router to drill and cut out the cranks, spacer, and cams. Before I had a CNC I would use a jigsaw or hole saw to make my cams. I found that a 1 inch, a 1 1⁄4 inch, and a 1 3⁄4 inch hole saw will work perfectly. Just remember on the 1 inch hole saw not to drill the pilot hole because the hole is not centered and if you center it your bird will spin but it won't go up and down. I've come up with a process for turning out lots of 1⁄4 inch thick parts using the CNC and a bandsaw. I can run the same board through multiple times and get up to 3 sets of whatever I'm trying to make a lot of. In this case it's cranks and cams for this project. Once the glue on the base is dry, I drill a 9 3⁄2 inch hole for the 1⁄4 inch shaft that will eventually have a bird on it. I found it's a lot easier to finish the bases before everything else is attached so I'm going to swap out for a finished one. The tail is made out of a strip of wood about 1⁄8 of an inch thick. You'll have to sand the edge of this piece down a bit depending on the saw that you use to cut the tail slot later. There are a lot of ways for you to make the tail for the bird. I use the CNC when I'm making multiples but as you can see here you can also use the saw and then final sand it to the right shape. Out of 1⁄4 inch dowel, you'll need a 1 inch, 2 inch and roughly 3 1⁄4 inch long piece for this project. To assemble the crank, glue the 1 inch long dowel into the hole on the edge. This will be the crank handle. I wipe off any excess glue with a wet cloth so that when I put the finish on the piece the wood isn't sealed. Glue the 3 1⁄4 inch dowel in the center hole on the opposite side to make the crank shaft. While the glue is setting up I use a 1 inch and 3⁄4 inch wood ball to make the body and head of the bird. I drill 1⁄4 inch holes in the center of both balls roughly 1⁄4 inch deep. I glue the 2 inch long wood dowel into the larger 1 inch ball making sure that there is at least 1 3⁄4 inch length protruding. On the first few of these I just held the wood ball by the shaft and pushed it up against the belt sander but I found it hard to keep the ball from trying to rotate slightly. I ended up making a jig out of a scrap block of wood. You get some interesting character out of the birds by varying the angle and how much you sand off the face of the balls. So don't be afraid to free hand and play around with this part. I'm just cutting a small slot in the larger wood ball opposite the flat side for the tail of the bird. I use the exact same process for the smaller wood ball that will be the head. I check every so often to make sure that the flat spots are about the same size. On my jig I have a couple of lines that tell me where to mark for the eyes to go on the head. The eyes are drilled out with a 1⁄8 inch drill bit about 1⁄8 inch deep. I used a pencil sharpener to make the bird's beak. I found later that shorter beaks looked better than the ones I made with the pencil sharpener so in the latest versions I use a drill and belt sander to make them instead. I cut the sharpened dowel and leave about a quarter inch of length behind the sharpened part so I can glue it into the head. I glue the tail into the slot I made with the bandsaw. When you glue the head onto the body I found that you can rotate it a little bit off center and it gives the bird a little bit more character so don't worry if it's not absolutely perfect. The crank shaft goes through one side of the base and then you put the offset cam onto the shaft before you put the shaft through the other side of the base. I glue a ½ inch round spacer on the end of the shaft to keep it from pulling back through. I want to make sure that the shaft turns easily and that there's a little wiggle room for the wood to expand and contract. The bird's shaft goes through the hole in the top of the nest and the 1 inch cam gets glued flush with the dowel. I glue the ¾ inch offset cam in place last making sure that it's under the edge of the cam attached to the bird. I give it a good test crank before the glue sets up so I can make any adjustments necessary. I use my rotary tool with a soft sanding wheel to remove any fuzz from the beak, tail and eye holes. Depending on the length of the crank shaft I might sand off any excess dowel sticking out so it's flush with the spacer. I use a Danish oil that's food and skin safe since these are handled a lot. The final step is to finish off all the remaining exposed wood.