The Sarlacc Pit?

 

Mock up of engine storage tracks

I was distracted for a few days by an interesting track plan assignment. So today, I started building the pit for the turntable. If you recall, I built this turntable for the Road Show several years ago. I saved the rotating wooden part, but not the pit. So I had to make a new pit. Note that this pit is a conical shape, like the Sarlacc Pit in Star Wars. Now I need Boba Fett figure for the turntable scene. 

I thought, "no problem, I have the files for the parts on my computer, I'll just cut an another set and glue them up." That went well enough for the main pit. But,... for some reason, the wedge-shaped pieces to make the surface of the pit were not the correct size. I must not have saved the final version of that file. So I had to redraw those parts. Now, they are tricky to design as I had to cut the parts in 2D but rotate up to make a 3D cone. It's kind of like trying to make a model of a building with hipped roof from 2D plans, except a bit trickier as this is a truncated cone or frustum.

I could have spent a few hours doing the math, but instead I got out my calipers, measured the required shape and cut the parts on the laser. It took a try or two but I got the parts I needed. I cut those parts from 0.032 in thick laser board. 

Plan B v2 with storage tracks

Now the decision is where to place the turntable. I am coalescing on a modified version of Plan B from my earlier post.  Note that I am adding two engine storage tracks to the design. I like how the parked engines look alongside the engine house. The storage tracks are needed as I have 6 engines, but we usually only use 2 or 3. 

I did a short video describing how the turntable could fit in the space.