2 Year Old CNC Laser Water Wheel

What you see here is a CNC laser water wheel that’s been sitting in my computer for the past two years if not longer. It’s an old design that I made that I’m still debating if its a finished project or the beginnings of a bigger one.

Part of me wants to simply add a base to it and a hand crank on one side and call it a day… it would be a spinning water wheel that looks awesome laser cut at scale.

Another part of me wants to build a whole laser cut steam ship ahead of this water wheel, rotate it 90 degrees extending the paddles outwards a bit more or maybe as a power system for a flying jet or car.

After two years, I still don’t know what direction to take this… I can also put it vertically to make some kind of wind turbine – each time I look at this, there are three directions I can go and all are equally appealing and fun but so far, not one has stood-out as the direction to take with this laser cut model.

Of course, I can also cut with now with my router or try to convert it into a 3D print… so the options keep getting broader and deeper as time goes by… would also look cool as a CNC plasma cut project! Funny thing is, I spent more time thinking about what to do with this than it took me to design it.

So, what you see here is either a beginning or an end… and after two years, I still don’t know which best suits this model.