Designer Ken Condal, who goes by Zeamon, made this intricate and beautiful orrery, a mechanical model of the solar system.
Ever since the fourth grade when we made solar systems with coat hangers and styrofoam balls, I’ve wanted to build a more realistic Orrery but was never able to find a design or set of plans that inspired me. Having never worked with gears, I believed that designing my own was far beyond my skill level, but that’s never stopped me before. After three months of study and design followed by seven months of machining, I came up with the following Orrery.
No doubt once you watch this, your first reaction is, “I want one!” Condal posted several articles on the process of building the orrery. If you are a skilled artist and craftsman and have a machine shop at your disposal, you might be able to build yourself one. -via Laughing Squid