Week 9 – Creating the Handle

To create the wheel and handle, I started by drawing a helix with plenty of turns for the thread and making sure that the radius were the same. I then added an extrude modifier and changed the amount until the extruded part just touched the next coil. I then added a normals modifier to turn the thread the right way round as it was currently inside out.

I then used a Vertex Weld modifier to weld the gap between each coil together. I adjusted the amount just enough so the gap disappeared. I then went to Editable Poly and chose Edge mode. Selecting one edge down the length of the object, I pressed the Ring button to select the entire helix. I then clicked the connect button and gave the selection 1 segment. This now created another helix travelling the length of the object.

To set the thread depth, I selected one edge of the spiral and clicked the Loop tool to select one spiral. I then used the scale tool to decrease this spiral which would then adjust how deep the thread was. I then scaled the whole helix down the length to adjust how close the thread was.

To create the wheel on the end, I drew a Torus shape for the outline of the wheel. I then added a thin cylinder in the middle and joined that to the outside with small boxes. This then created the main wheel shape.

To create the wooden handle, I drew out a spline line for the outside shape and then used the lathe modifier to create the entire handle. It took a couple of attempts to get this right, but eventually, I had a shape I was happy with.

Finally, I placed this handle onto the wheel and then placed both onto the thread I created earlier. I added a long cylinder to the end of the thread to create the connecting rod.