MotoGuzzi Cradle

Hi guys

This was a special project for me. I just learned that I'm going to be a father and to celebrate this fantastic news, I decided to build a cradle...with a twist. I love classic motorcycles and Moto Guzzis in particular, so I didn't have to think long for this project.
My enthusiasm was so great that I've done everything in a 'fast and furious' kind of way. It only took me 3 days from start to finish.
That being said, please forgive me for not being very precise and more descriptive with my steps.

I looked online for some plans and ideas and in the end drew up what I thought would work best. The head and foot part represent a Moto Guzzi (round barrel) engine as they were produced in the late 70s and early 80s.
If you're not into motorcycles like me, you could quite easily draw up something else. A cartoon character or an animal for instance.

Choose the wood you want to use. I had to settle for 0.5 inch plywood, because finding nice real wood here in Thailand is not an easy task and rather expensive on top of that. Once you traced all the parts onto the sheet of wood, it's time to use the jigsaw and start cutting.

Make sure all your edges and corners are smooth and sanded down. We don't want the little ones to get hurt, do we?

For that purpose I decided to splash out for another power tool and got myself a router, which makes perfectly rounded edges in no time.

The day started with a mighty storm and beautiful rainbow.

Once all my parts were nice and smooth, I used 2 different wood stains to give the different engine parts more contrast.

After that, I did a mock up to check all the parts would fit and then started glueing them together.

To make the cradle stable, I used a few 0.5x0.5 inch pieces of wood and framed the side panels as well as the base. I used glue and screws to hold everything in place, making sure there were no sharp edges anywhere.

Again, sorry if this instructable is short on information. If you need a particular measurement or clarification on one of the steps, just send me a message and I'll do my best to help.