Snowman Wobbler
The Idea
I saw a video of someone using a bottle cap and putty to make a wobbly snowman. I didn't have those materials on hand, but I figured I could build something similar using foamcore and a few small weights.
Proof of Concept
I grabbed the wheels from the dump truck project and some hot glue to throw together a quick prototype. Pennies made perfect weights since they are cheap and I had a pile of them. It wobbled well enough to confirm the idea was worth pursuing!
First Proper Design
With the concept proven, I designed a proper 3-circle snowman in Figma with a built-in cup section to hold the pennies in place.
Laser Cutting and Assembly
I sent the files to the laser cutter and produced two full snowman panels for the front and back, plus two middle sections to sandwich the pennies inside.
Close but Not Quite
The assembly looked great and wobbled nicely, but push it too far and the pennies spilled out and the whole thing tipped over. Time to rethink the penny compartment.
Enclosed Penny Design
I redesigned the middle section to fully enclose the pennies and added alignment markings to make assembly easier. The holes were a touch too tight so I opened them up with an exacto knife, but with just 3 pennies inside it wobbled really well!
Fixing the Scale Issue
Figma normally uses 72 pixels per inch, but after importing the SVG into the laser cutter software the size was off. I drew a 72-pixel reference line, measured it physically, and found the actual conversion was 97 pixels per inch. I corrected the design and kept a red 1-inch reference line in the file for future sanity checks.
The Final Design
The final version came together and wobbles great. I also cut a plain 3-circle version without the snowman details on the back and honestly might prefer it. Want to build one? Reach out and I can send you the laser cut files or a ready-to-assemble kit!
