Importance of Pre-planning

Here's an example of how pre-planning, even though thought out carefully, can run afowl (no pun intended) in hindsight. Once the gourd scraps and miniature spinner gourd were measured  and in place, the crank could not be turned a full rotation. It seems the miniatures spinner gourd, though small enough to fit, does not fit once the crank shaft is positioned off-center.

It was positioned off-center so the chicken's rod it associates with would be moved up and down. However, now the space above it will need to be ground out to allow clearance. The other option is to disassemble everything and start anew. Since wood glue was used, disassembling would entail completely destroying the whole thing and starting over. Better to make the patch repair by making space for the gourd to turn full circle and learn the lesson for the next automata.