Building a toy lawn mower
This toy lawn mower is a real favourite for those up to five years old (Image 1). When it is pushed it has the sound of a real push mower — but not so loud that it will annoy the rest of the household!
The mowers are made from packingcase timber that has been cleaned up.
Ray uses wooden templates for the mower side plates and mower reel. These are available free as a PDF document — just send Ray an email at joy.ray.eder@xtra.co.nz.
He uses a circle-cutting jig on the bandsaw to cut out the 150mm diameter by 20mm thick wooden wheels (2) and drills an 18mm hole for the axle. The cutter head is also fixed to the axle.
The ends for the mower reel are cut out next (3). The slots are carefully adjusted so that the wooden 25x10mm cutter blades are a neat fit (4). The mower reel axle holes are drilled next. Ray uses a 19mm bit for this, which gives a good clearance on the axle (5). He makes the mower side plates and reel ends as pairs, separating them once all operations are completed (6).
The side plates for the mower are cut out on the band saw and the holes drilled (7–9).
One of the favourite tools for rapid assembly is a pneumatic stapler, and Ray uses it to fix all the cutter blades in place using two staples for each bar (10).
The mower had been in constant use for 18 months and had only broken when a four-year-old had had a tantrum and decided to use it as a hammer
Next steps
With the mower reel assembled it is time to insert the 18mm dowel axle into place (11). The square blocks act as spacers. The blocks are stapled in