My Flamie Dragon Carousel

  I had a request to build a christmas carousel. I knew that I'd be keeping the prototype so I made one I'd like for me! It is powered by candles that you set around the outside and the heat from the candles powers the fan like top. It needed to be extremely free of any drag and finding the right bearing turned out to be a major challenge. So,  I put my imagination to work and came up with a clever design. I love magnets and always have plenty around to play with and they came to the rescue. I build a cavity and glued one magnet + side up in the bottom and glued one + side down on the main shaft. They oppose each other and float the main shaft upwards and the display plate is glued to the main shaft. The new magnets are very powerful and will support several pounds. Seems it's a HIT because everybody that comes over always finds it,... and plays with it !