Design Preview:

The design of my project is an artifact inspired by yard art and the jagged, rusted aesthetic like the “Diesel Punk” like what can be found in the Mad Max movies. Counterintuitively, I plan to cast this aesthetic onto a sort of jagged tree which will serve as a bird feeder and bird bath, slowly rotating in my yard, partly just to see if nature will come to enjoy a juxtaposing, eye-catching, rough aesthetic over time.

Key Features:

The foundation of this assembly (literally) is a very heavy base plate which will stabilize the structure on my uneven lawn. As a part of this convenience, one requirement is that my final product must be able to disassemble in a manner that leaves this hefty base independently maneuverable for easy transport.

Along with this modular assembly, I have designed rotation into this ultimate bird feeder. Per the recommendation of Pod 4, I ultimately designed two rotation points. These are not intended to rotate with the wind, as I deemed that unsafe or unappealing to the local birds, but rather it is intended to add a configurable aspect to the way each component is spaced apart. This will provide a way to make this installation continually changing and able to facilitate a variety of “ornaments” in the form of different bird feeders, hanging climbers, or suet cages.

The rotation points are currently in a very simple state due to the poor sourcing options of thrust bearings in my location. Ultimately, I will use thrust bearings as the proper way to house axially loaded rotation, but for the moment I have use a slip fit for my uppermost rotation (with less weight) and a faceplated ball bearing to house the upper two segments atop the base.

A key part of my design process was sourcing materials and ensuring that I am able to implement them in an effective manner. I spent a lot of time scouring junkyards and “the boneyard” at one of the plants of the company where I am employed, and I ended up finding many different shapes and pieces which elicited certain vision.

This is part of what led me away from strictly straight and sharp geometry and was encouragement to add curved accents, such as the pieces shown below.

I also used my available materials and welding equipment as input to my design in order to achieve the desired result. This ended up being a valuable lesson in welding technique and improvement, between stick welding and TIG welding for finer pieces as well as rethinking what is important for preparation and fixturing of pieces being added to a larger assembly. My welding (and re-welding) improved drastically which was both satisfying and added to my capability to utilize in this design. The time taken for this work also had an impact on my design and fabrication schedule.

Results:

Ultimately, this design changed throughout the process but will likely result in a product that I find to be a realistic version of my initial concepts. This is a good practice in focusing on practicality with design, which is actually a major asset in my new role as a process engineer overseeing maintenance and installation of mineral processing plants. It was a pleasant change to emphasize creativity in this design!

Sources:

Photos: Myself (March – April 2025)