This one is simple, but a fun distration. Write your own prizes and punishments on the wheel and mark the table to determine where it has "landed."
To make it, you just remove the bottom and trim it. You can try extracting the dome to remove the outer flange, but it requires practice to do well. I used a pop rivet ($0.05 per) to make the one with the metal spike. You don't even have to fix the pop rivet into the center hole, since friction locks it securely and the rounded tip makes a good pivot point. The other spinners were made with an ordinary toothpick or pushpin.
Use the centerfinding wheel to locate the center, then poke it with the pushpin. If you're using the pop rivet, use the punch to enlarge the hole, then use the slider or a 6D nail to enlarge the hole so the rivet body can be pressed or hammered in place. You want it to be very difficult to insert the rivet, since the only thing that will be holding it in place is friction between the side of the rivet and its hole. I find it easiest to make the hole smaller than 1/8th inch and use the rivet itself to expand the hole to the necessary diameter with the necessary friction. Since the rivet is locked in with metal gripping metal, any significant lateral pressure can enlarge the hole to create wobble, since metal doesn't spring back like the compressed wood of a toothpick will. The pushpin model suffers from the same defect, so you might want to adhere these in place with white craft glue, hot glue, or superglue. Of course, you can use a rivet gun to permanently lock it it, but the tip won't stay rounded.
In the video, you'll see that I'm using a PVC green wall anchor (cost $0.06). This keeps me from bending or breaking the rivet's mandrel. The plastic black well is the lid of a garlic spice bottle, which coincidentally is the perfect diameter.
To make the curled "pinwheel leaves" shown in the first video, follow the instructions for making a pinwheel. In the video above, the rounded bottom of the spinner is directly resting against the table.
Here are some colored wheels you can print out, together with images you can put in your pinwheels and turtles:
Adjust the output size in your pdf print-settings menu.
If you like, you can use heavy duty wire cutters to cut up the side of the spinner into short segments. Then fold them down. Or, you can bend the flaps back and forth along the fold until they break off on their own; then trim them with the cutters to get rid of any sharp edges.
I invite you to look at my Instructable for more info on this project.
