Pukeko Whirligig

A Whirligig is a wind-powered outdoor feature, and a Pukeko is a native New Zealand bird that I like. I've wanted to make one of these for a while now and finally got around to it.

I wrote a separate Instructable the other day outlining how to generate your own custom templates, but I've attached mine as a PDF here for your convenience.

• PVC Plastic Sheet
• Pukeko Whirligig plans
• Jigsaw
• PVC Cement
• Drill
• Lathe
• Sandpaper
• Card Scraper
• Spray Paint (Blue, Black, Red)
• Clamps
• Stainless steel rod
• Googley eyes
• Acetone
• Half-round file
• Hot air gun
• Brass tube (4mm and 6mm diameter)
• Tube Cutter
• Stainless Steel screws

Buff up two pieces of the PVC sheeting and then wipe them down with the Acetone, apply some PVC cement and then clamp them between two boards. Using the same process to laminate four pieces together, I also glued a small square on each end and clamped in the vice, this is to support the PVC while it's in the lathe.

Once the PVC cement is dry cut out the templates and glue the body onto the double thick sheet and the two wings onto a single thickness sheet each.

Now using a jigsaw to cut out the body and wings of the Pukeko, I used a half-round file to clean up the edges of the parts. I used an old putty knife to scrap off the paper template from the PVC and gave everything a light sand. I used the card scraper to give the PVC a final smooth, the scrapper does an awesome job at removing any of the 'fluffy' plastic.

This part gets a little messy, to be honest, but it came out pretty good. Using a lathe turn the PVC block that is four layers thick down to a round shaft. I made this 20mm in diameter, be very careful not to make this too small as you want it to be a tight fit. I used some sandpaper to creep up on the final size, in hindsight I think I needed to sharpen my chisels as well.

Mark the centre of the wings and drill a small pilot hole, we'll drill this to the final size later once I get the mounting screws. Figure out where you want the wings to be and then mark and drill a small hole there as well.

Next I used a 20mm Forstner bit to drill a hole through the body for the wing support to go through, this needs to be a tight fit. I added some PVC cement and pushed the wing support through the body, making sure it's centred correctly.

Now drill another pilot hole on each side of the wing support.

Mark where you want the stand to be and start with a small pilot hole before moving up the final size for the stainless steel rod. Be careful to drill this straight and use a couple of clamps to make sure you don't split the PVC layers apart.

We now need to bend the wings into a simple propeller shape. Using a couple of scrap pieces of wood to protect the middle of the wings is critical as the middle of the wings need to remain straight. The wood can be clamped into place to stop anything moving.

Now using the hot air gun soften the PVC of the wing and twist it about 45° and hold it steady while it cools. Repeat the process with the other end of the wing, making sure to twist the wing in the same direction. Do the same for the second wing.

Give everything a quick wipe-down with some acetone to make sure everything is clean before painting. Now spray paint the body with blue paint and the wings black. Make sure to follow the directions on the can and apply multiple coats of paint as required.

I installed the stainless steel rod at this stage since you need to mount the Pukeko on something to spray paint it anyway.

Mask out the Pukeko's body and then spray paint the beak red. Once the paint is dry remove the masking tape.

At this stage through the build, I was a little worried that the two layers of the body might separate over time, and I also wanted the incorporate the legs as they are a really distinctive feature of the Pukeko. I ended up following the same process above, print out the legs on paper, glue to some PVC, cut out, and paint.

This change allowed me to use the bolt to both lock both sides of the PVC body together and add the legs.

Cut off a couple of lengths of the small brass tube, these should be a couple of mm longer than the thickness of the PVC. Now dill out the wings and insert the bushings, this should be a tight fit.

If you made the legs repeat the process with them cutting another two bushings. I used a slightly larger tube for the legs simply because the only bolt I had was larger.

Now stick the googly eyes on the Pukeko, I probably should have used something nicer but I think the googly eyes are funny.

Now screw on the wings with some small stainless steel screws, as this will be outside it's important to use materials that won't rust and cease up the whirligig.

Now you just need to drill a hole for the legs and bolt them on. To allow the legs to move in the wind we're going to use a couple of extra nuts to clamp the bolt in place while still keeping the parts loose.

This project went well and I'm happy with the result, though I did make a mistake along the way and accidentally printed out the legs on a smaller scale, I've since fixed this on the template that is attached. In hindsight, I probably should have gone for some red reflective eyes rather than the googly eye. The short legs and funny eyes give this a sort of blue pigeon look, so I might change this later.

I'm just waiting on a windy day to get a video of this working!