Baby Rocker
With an onslaught of new nieces and nephews, I wanted a gift for the prospective parents that would be reasonably easy to make, useful and most importantly a little bit special.
The design itself is references existing designs that I found I found online and is optimised for fabrication using a laser cutting or CNC router so that it can be constructed from flat sheet.
ITERATION ONE
The first iteration was a success despite the challenging assembly. It also included an additional mobile mounted to the back which was cute in theory, but with compound rocking motion turned out to be rather horrifying.
Seen below, the first iteration had a curved slot to form the platform / bed which proved extremely difficult to fit and resulted in at least one broken bed.
It also featured a double walled side in order to conceal the screws. Whilst aesthetically pleasing, construction was more complicated and it was a poor use of material.
The finished rocker looked pretty spiffy in the end, although I won’t be using varnish again. Credit to my partner for making the super cute native Australian felt animals on the mobile!
Seeing a friends child enjoy the rocker and mobile is the ultimate reward - I think she rather enjoyed it.
Turns out it’s popular with the pets too.
ITERATION TWO
The first iteration proved successful but was a pain to construct. With two more babies on the way, I made some improvements and compromises to the design. I did away with the double side wall design and compromised with visible screws. To apply the contour to the bed platform, I made two thin strips that are fixed from above, with the cross beams supporting from below.
At the end of the day, the visible screw heads aren’t a huge detractor and any recipient of a handmade baby rocker will be too chuffed to care.
Head over to my Thingiverse page to get the design and make one for yourself. Make sure to post a make - I’d love to see how it turned out!
