Box of Tricks Collections Reviews 

Delivered before predicted date, so very pleased. The Orrery is a project for autumn/winter so not done it yet but kit looks fine

Delivery next day. Great service. Orrary excellent inevery way. Instructions excellent. Workes fine. One small gripe. Alan keys poor quality round off easily. Buy a
Good quaility 1.5 and 2.0mm, then all will be fine. Even give you spare screws. It,s so easy too mislay the very small grub ones. All in all excellent.

This Orerry is an excellent model. It was exacting but not difficult to put together. A couple recommendations for those purchasing -
Leave the planets and moons safely secured in their styrofoam until you have finished successfully assembling the ornery. It really easy to lose them if they fall out of the ornery while it is being assembled.
The gear sandwiches need two different size locking screws. If you don't get this right they will wobble.
If you lose a screw and can't find it, fear not, there are a spare bunch of screws in the stage 12 Styrofoam.
If you get into trouble, call and you will be helped.

Arrived quickly and well packaged, very good instructions easy to follow very pleased with purchase.

Prompt delivery. Impressive model - went together really well. A replacement part for a damaged part was received the next day. Very impressed.

This is my first orrey and have been fascinated by them for some time. Decided to purchase this one after seeing an ad in Astronomy magazine for $100 off the price! Worth every penny, and still building it slowly and enjoying the experience. I've watched many videos of this orrey in action, and once finished, I will be placing it on a nice tall black piano-finish pedestal for permanent display. Shipment arrived early and packed very securely, with no pieces missing and nothing damaged. Very glad I decided to purchase this orrey!

Fast delivery, fair price, great model.

Excellent product and service and support.

After determining that they can't ship to PO boxes all went well.
I would buy from them again.

HIGH QUALITY PRODUCT. Best instructions ever encountered. Excellent support. Thoroughly recommended.

Haven't started project yet, will be a job for Winter, kit arrived very quickly after placing order, less than 24hours, well and securely packaged.

Everything went well. All the parts were there and there were no broken or defective parts. Enjoyed putting it together. Only trouble I had was with UPS. They delivered it to the wrong house.

Review of the Brass Orrery Kit

The order arrived at my doorstep a bit more than one week from being placed, shipped to US from UK! Beautiful packaging parts all placed in 12 consecutive tray sections in order of use with excellent instructions identifying each one, A package of 4 magnetic phillips scredrivers and 5 hex allen wrenches. Many miniature screws used in each section provided and identified. Parts beautifully machined and 99% fitted perfectly, albeit with many tries to get parts to fit. Some times this could only be done by feel. A number to be counted on one hand did not fit. Sometimes it took an hour to get one screw to go in, but with care most finally were tightened. More instruction on how to get some gears etc, to mesh by feel is necessary. I learned this the hard way. Great care needed to avoid loss, damage, cross threading etc., which I mostly achieved. I got it all together all gears meshed perfectly. whole assembly doesn't rotate. I suspect that some axles "stick" some gears not clamped together completely to axles -- didn't learn how to use wrench to align the holes and keep rotating until the gear drops noticeably with audible click. Pluto arm set screw jammed 1/2 from securing that , so I discarded Eris and used it's hole to mount Pluto, with no great loss. Cramming all the stuff in the base, and one of the 3 screws, or any replacements failed to complete securing the motor, hut closing the system serves to restrain it in place. Great difficulty with the last 3 large screws (labeled allen head in one place, and cross slot in another -- latter provided), but the largest screwdriver failed to turn them. difficult to find the target holes blind but after an hour it all closed up tightly. Replaced all the planets minus 1, and set it on a purpose purchased small table. I am sure the assembly won't rotate. Quite satisfied with that. Will eventually disassemble and rebuild with the skills learned in this first pass, but it serves as a beautiful antique. Reminds me of a non-functioning 18th century sextant, one of Harrison's 4 chronometers in the Greenwich Royal Navel Museum.. or even the 1st century Antikythera mechanism as it left the shop. The most challenging assembly I have ever attempted, including grinding, polishing and parabolizing a 6" f/8 mirror to 1/10 wave for a Newtonian telescope, completing a fully rigged model of the USS Constitution; and nearly a dozen Heathkit radios, TVs. Hi-Fis etc. I found necessary at least a dozen another common tools. Also could use a new prescription for my glasses, and a prescription for my 80-year-old arthritic fingers. So my hat's off to the designers and manufacturers. I believe that this works, and eventually I will get it to; unless god calls me to the choir eternal before that day. ----So 4 stars instead of 5.

George M. Frame

Have wanted an orrery for a very long time, but prices for anything half decent were just ridiculous. Came across this kit from BoT at a reduced price through the Sky at Night Magazine, and it really hit the mark. Quality parts, well made and presented in a great way to ease the build schedule. Don't rush, and follow the clear instructions, and you will be rewarded with a lovely talking point. My only minor niggle, is that there are a very few parts made from plated steel rather than the brass I would have preferred.

The company was good about sending the correct power supply, when I complained about the wrong one. I haven't powered it up yet (can't), but the instructions were well done. I found spare screws at the very bottom. Would've been nice to have those earlier. Only complaints are that the planets fall out easily--a touch of glue seems to help. Outer planets sag--I'm not sure a grub screw on a round rod is the best choice. I would recommend this kit, though be prepared for a lot of adjustments syncing gears.

I wanted an orrery all my life. I never thought I would find one. I haven't begun to assemble it, so I can't say more.

A great Orrery, was fun to build, looks very impressive while moving. You must follow the correct sequence of construction. However I've found a few issues with some of the axles (70-71) in the planet gear arm (50) at stages 4 and 7, causing excessive wobble in the gears. Stage 7 being the worst. Overall it's an impressive model of the Solar system 👍

The Solar System Orrery is truly very detailed and well made knowing it's going to reqiure patience and time, I've always wanted one. This is indeed a beautiful piece of equipment and happy to have one before there future dissapearance. Thank you sincerely for this wonderful astronomical educational tool.

I have been assembling models for 6 decades. This, by far, is the best I've assembled. The instructions were clear and well presented.
The kit is well organized with color pictures and simple step by step instructions. Everything was well made and fit perfectly.
The negative would be the location of the controls. They are underneath the base and are hard to see and operate.