How do you get the rocker "right" on a rocking horse?

[Wild Turkey]

The Rocking Dragon post has led to me being tasked with making a "Rocking T-Rex"


I made a "Rocking Lamb" for my SIL a few years back; she loved it but it was noted for "walking" sideways when niece was riding it.

I assume I either got the rockers crooked or not equally curved.

So how do I avoid this problem?

[Richard D.]

If your rockers are not the same radius then all bets are off. It should be easy to line them up next to each other before you mount them so I'll assume that's not your problem. Having them parallel or toed in at the front and even is a construction and layout problem that should be built into the plans and up to you to figure out. The main cause for walking, and the one that isn't evident, is having the flat bottom that touches the ground be on the same plane. To make sure, you should clamp them to your work bench as they would sit on the floor and mount the dragon to them. That keeps the orientation so they rock on the same plane and don't tend to walk. Carpet grain can cause them to walk and rocking against the grain on wood floors is noisy.

[Richard D.]

I looked closer at your pictures and it seems the bottom of the rockers are rounded, they should be flat.

[Cooler]

Cut the first rocker and use a pattern bit in the router to fine tune the second one.  You will want to  hog off most of the excess with a jig saw or on the band saw, but the pattern bit will make an exact clone of the first.  

I wonder if gluing rubber to the bottom of the runners would be a good idea.  It might be kinder to the wood floors.  Self adhesive stair tread material might work.  

https://www.harborfreight.com/self-adhes...98856.html

[fredhargis]

It's usually attributed to a slight difference in the profile of the rockers.  As mentioned using one as the pattern for the second is a good way to avoid that.

[Eazyduzzit]

One of my grandkids loves dinosaurs. When I saw your rocking dragon post, it got me thinking about trying to make a rocking dinosaur. I'm having trouble coming up with a design. If you have a design, would you mind sharing it with me? I'm an ok woodworker, but not very creative.

[Wild Turkey]

PM me your email and I'll send you some pix.

Do you have Sketchup or PHotoshop? If not I'll do what I can with Word.

[Cooler]

Here are plans for a 6' tall T-rex model. You can't ride it but it looks very cool.

http://www.instructables.com/id/Build-a-...Rex-Model/