toy wheelbarrows
The wheelbarrow is a good example of a design for the shaper, with only a couple of operations requiring the use of other machinery.It illustrates the use of patterns and jigs to aid the machining.
The wheelbarrow pictured here has shafts 900mm long, making the 'barrow about two-thirds full-size and suitable for a child up to ten years old.
The parts in the photograph are for a half-sized wheelbarrow along with their relative patterns and jigs. The sides are machined as a pair, bolted to the pattern using holes required in the finished toy.
To allow for all of the machining to follow the grain of the wood and to avoid holes being left in a visible surface of a leg by the screws that hold the jigs in place, several jigs are required.
(Similar jigs would be required if one was using a spindle moulder).
toy plane
Another simple but popular project is the toy 'plane. Holes made by the screws holding the pattern to the work are lost when the portholes are drilled out.