"We" are happy to have almost anyone stay in the Cellar, even slinkies.

No, I'm not calling Flint a slinky....or anyone else for that matter, just saying there's room for every point of view, and any topic. :hide:

I dug a VCR out of the neighbors trash a few weeks ago. Opened it up and started taking electrical components out of it for fun. Plus, you never know when you will need something like a little motor. I think I even posted a picture in the close-ups thread of one of the motors I got.

Anyway, just this last weekend, I found a use for the playback head drum. For any who have seen one before, they are shiny cylindrical things that spin with almost no resistance. High quality ball bearings in there. My wife asked me to make one of those spinning prize wheels like they have on Wheel Of Fortune for her pre-school. I wasn't sure how I was going to do it. I was thinking about using a bicycle wheel, or maybe just a bolt as an axle. Well, I remembered the VCR playback head. That thing worked perfectly. I did a quick test, and the board I bolted it to keeps spinning for about five minutes! This game prize wheel is going to rock.

If it really is five minutes, you may have problems with the attention span of preschoolers. :)

Yeah. I'm going to put a clicker on it. That will slow it down and make a fun noise too.

Exactly. The low resistance of the wheel itself means that the spin time can be fine tuned based on the variable of how much resistance is offered by the "clicker" mechanism (and, of course, the force provided by the wheel pusher).

I knew there was a reason I saved that box of VCR parts... Nice job finding a use for yours!