HomeWild GearsStorageStoring Wild Gears 2: by Jay Heyl

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Storing Wild Gears 2: by Jay Heyl — 9 Comments

  1. Ahh didn’t think of one of those. Good idea.
    I tried a CD spindle and wasn’t happy with it. next thing I am trying is a hanging spike for the wall like the ones in the shops. I will have to wrap it with something to protect the teeth of the gears.
    Maybe I should break out the sewing machine and just stitch it up.

  2. I’ve been using this about a week now and I’m happy with it as a drawing table top storage method. It can store a lot of gears in a relatively small space and still keep them right at hand for easy access. If your gears are safe sitting out on your drawing table, it’s a decent solution.

    I’ve not done it yet but I’m planning to hot glue a section of dowel across the top of the rear upright dowels to act as an additional support for the large rings. Right now I have a plastic plate at the rear. It works but it takes up too much room and looks really tacky. The dowel crosspiece would look like it was part of the original design.

  3. I love this idea! My only concern is regarding the rings. I’m hung up on the idea that they will warp over time iif they are not stored flat. That’s the reason I opted for a pizza box type of storage. I purchased the thinner of the two Wild Gears sheets offered, so does this concern of mine have merit. If not, then I may pay Amazon a visit!

  4. Warping is not something I considered. I don’t think it would be an issue at normal room temperatures unless some force beyond gravity is applied unevenly. If you put a pen underneath it and then put a heavy book on top it might eventually warp. The thin pieces from the Hoops set would be more at risk than any others I have. Certainly, storing them vertically wouldn’t result in warping, so you could fill the space between the posts to force them into a fully upright orientation. Even without that, as long as you have more than one or two pieces between each post, the angle is not far from vertical so I suspect it would take a very long time sitting in the same position for there to be any warping.

    • I don’t think warping would be a problem. I asked Aaron about it a while back and because Wild Gears are made from acrylic they should not warp. As opposed to the Spirograph-brand toy, those are plastic and I definitely experienced warping with those pieces.

  5. Thanks for the great ideas! I’ve gone a more rudimentary, unwieldy, and not-so-artistic route but am mostly satisfied with it, though it’s a bit unwieldy. I’ve used one of the cardboard boxes the Wind Gears ship in and used putty to adhere the gears to the inside of the box, arranged by size and labeled. I can fit the Full, Compact, and Strange Shapes gear sets on the large panel of the box and one of the two side flaps (except for the large gear set frames). I like to be able to see everything at a glance, particularly when creating designs using a wheel within a wheel. That way I can see the size of the gear cutouts within the larger wheels. I took a picture but don’t see a way to upload it here. Keep the good ideas coming!

    • I like the idea of having all the large gears/rings in sight and easily available but I’ve not been able to come up with anything that will work the way I have things situated right now. I don’t have a wall close enough to hang things on. Even the dish/gear rack takes up more room than I’d like on my drawing table. Where do you keep the cardboard storage?

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