Finalized wing design!

Below is the final scale drawing of the full puppet, with all the changes so far on the wing and the rest of the body combined and incorporated. We'll see how many times this still will change...

At least I think I am finally happy with the wing design... I completed the second wing using the new design, and it can move and fold in the right way now. The only issue I would have still with this design is perhaps that it moves too freely. As I changed the shoulder from one single ball joint plus a hinge joint into suddenly two ball joints + a double one at the elbow, there are many more ways it can move into, which could become confusing... But now the feather rods are on it already helps making it clearer and I think when everything is in place it should be ok. Compared to a wire armature it will still be more limited.

One other issue that came up this week was that I noticed that some of the bigger ball bearings I have been using - which were annealed by someone in the fabrication cente previously - were not entirely smooth anymore. They seem to have little dents and spots on the surface. I am afraid that it may have been caused by the annealing process, and maybe these steel balls got too hot or were too hot for too long. These balls are definitely softer then the smaller ones I annealed myself... They may be too soft. I'm not sure at the moment what I will do. I have already used the balls in several places. In the start I never noticed this damaged surface, but now every one I use seems to have it, and I can feel how it affects the smoothness of the movement in the joint. I am tempted to get new balls and anneal them myself and replace the non-smooth ones. But then it will delay things again... Maybe I will first do a proper animation test with this wing to see how bad it is.

Making new rods for the wing.

Making tiny screws even tinier. 

The new countersunk screws reduce a lot of volume from the previously sticking out screw heads. I will probably replace all of them in the other wing as well.

And here is the new wing all final and completed. Except the wire and fanning mechanism.

Really looking forward to completing the other wing in the same way now, to combine both and make an animation test with two wings...