re: stitching ponies
I looked at a couple of Instructables, then made up my own cutting list/customized plan from what I saw. a pony can be made from a single 1X4X6 foot board (I used oak), a 3" door hinge, and some misc. 5/16" nuts/bolts/washers/springs. If you made the arms 1/2" shorter, you could use a 5 foot board.
Note that the exit hole on the movable arm is oversized. I also ended up adding an additional nut to hold the horizontal bolt tightly to the fixed arm.
I designed and 3D-printed the two knobs: the files are still in my Members folder or you can look up “parametric knob for tools” on Thingiverse and customize your own.
The parts list below was my starting point: some minor changes to hardware were done (and none is particularly critical - use what you got). “Kerf” is my accounting of the saw kerf width when cutting parts from the board to better estimate total length needed. There is no actual part for this line.
The leather pads for the “hands” are not included in the parts list. Cut them oversized, glue on with Barge, then trim to fit once dry.
I made the four for the space for a total cost of just under $60. Making one would be slightly more expensive because springs and hinges come in multipacks (or cheaper because you already have some bits laying around that you could repurpose).
PARTS LIST
