Gday Matt & Co.
I must agree with everybody here - this is a great article, well written and illustrated. I was about to go in search of all the bits to build my own turntable, when by chance, I came across cheap
Lazy Susans at Ikea in Richmond, Victoria. At the price of $16AUD, I couldn't resist buying one.
The Lazy Susan mechanism on the very Swedishly named 'Snudda' is considerably smaller than the one shown in your demonstration, and as such is probably not ideal for heavier pots. The foot of the Snudda is about half the diameter of the tabletop, and prone to tipping if a pot on top is placed way off-centre. Potential buyers beware: these are mass produced very cheaply, and apparently shipped and stored without much care, so it pays to take your time and sort thru the massive boxes full of Snuddas in order to find one that has a flat, well-centred tabletop and a smoothly turning bearing.
This is not the ideal solution by far, but I doubt that I could have made a similar product any more cheaply. As my trees become heavier and my pots more expensive, I may well come to regret this purchase, but in the meantime the Snudda is quite sufficient. Besides, Matt's excellent article has shown me a number of ways in which it might be modified to better suit my purposes.
Thanks again Matt!
FlyBri.
PS: The attached pics give everybody a glimpse into my cramped, makeshift little workshop. In the background of the second pic can be seen the turntable I had been using previously - when it comes to dealing with larger trees (such as my Angophora, nick-named Cletus) in such confined conditions, the low-profile Snudda works much better.