How the finished project should look

9 January 2024

Linda gave me this wooden kit for Christmas. Like the Vitascope Model it is mainly constructed from bass wood, all components and tools are included and no glue is required.

Both kits are marketed by ROKR, a sub-brand of Robotime Technology, a Chinese toy brand based in Shenzhen, China.

There are three other sub-brands - Rolife (non-mechanical structures such as Book Nooks, but not the one described here), Robud (children's toys) and Mewoofun (pet related products). The ROKR products have a more functional appearance with fewer twee elements than found in the other Robotime brands. However this piano kit does include a cat, which does not seem relevant and does not appear on the illustration on the box lid. Needless to say it does not appear on my finished model either.

11 January 2024

The first stint today, and start by assembling the tool that will be used to accurately position the grommets on the metal spindles.

The music box is hidden in the two books that prop up the rear of the piano. Assemble these, add the piano base and the lid prop. The rim is made from a continuous sheet of ply with laser cut slots to provide flexibility.

The new tool is used for positioning the first gear and spindle, the gear teeth first being waxed for smooth operation.

12 January 2024

The second stint involves assembling the fixed keyboard and the movable keys. These are operated from a horizontal roller with raised lugs that is driven from the music box motor.

13 January 2024

The third and final stint today. The remaining gears are waxed and installed, the lid fixed (more of which later), floral rotating display assembled, music desk attached and finally the piano stool assembled. At this stage find an unused piece, which turns out to be the fallboard. Fortunately this is easily retrofitted without any deconstruction required.

Apart from the rotating flowers there are two accessories that are rather out of place. One of these is a candlestick to position on the top surface. Omission of this would leave cross-shaped slots exposed, so reluctantly it is fitted.

The other anomaly, as mentioned earlier, is a cat that should be located near the pedals. It remains in the box - but is it alive or not?

It's time to wind up the old Joanna and see how she performs …

14 January 2024

Unlike the Vitascope model, no parts were harmed in the making of this piano. ROKR state that they have an efficient service for replacing missing or broken parts. To ease the load on this service they provide a number of duplicate parts - a good idea as this only requires a change to their laser programming and does not require any extra material. It is still quite surprising how many spare parts are provided.

The only tool that fell short was the small emery board used for removing burrs. These are the small projections where the wooden pieces remain attached to the bass wood ply after the laser cutting process. Two of these boards would have been preferable, although a nail emery board is an acceptable stand-in.

17 January 2024

Postscript.

There is a weakness in the lid hinge arrangement and the instruction sheet admits that the lid will not close fully. This is because the closed hinges do not provide sufficient clearance for the screw heads. The screw heads are too large for the hinge hole countersinks - and they would preferably be brass screws to match!

Having failed to locate any replacement parts this small decide to follow the instructions and slacken the lower screws. Not a particularly elegant solution but it works.