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The DB Fletcher Capstan Tables are very cool (and probably very expensive), but this walking table is sweet too. Now you can just push your table to where you want it. [via digg]
Ok the walking table is sorta cool, but those capstan tables are awesome. What a great peice of engineering genious.
The problem I run into... Is since I am an engineer I want to know how it works. When I think about taking the 6 arcs of a circle like the table does and expand it how the heck can you make another perfect circle. Thus I propose "The Capstan Conundrum".
If anybody knows the answer I will, umm... Send you a string of used blue LED christmas lights.... Maybe.
If you look closely, there are also 6 leaves underneath the 6 original pie pieces that merge to form the larger circle. The hidden leaves are parallel sided, so they don't add any extra degrees to the circle, but it does appear that the ends are rounded.
On close inspection, it appears that the small circle has subtle, but noticeable, irregulatities in the curvature where the leaves meet. This is because the arc on the leaves is for the larger radius. You only can see this once the outer edge drops to reveal the leaves, so I'm guessing they fit flush with the outside rim, and the outer edge of the rim is a perfect circle, completing the effect.
What's really crazy is how all the leaves move up and down to avoid collision while the table is rotated. It looks like the table settles into position with the leaves in the down state, so I'm assuming their weight keeps the table from unwinding.
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