So many gears don't need to have that wooden inner support.
However, if the gear exceeds certain sizes, or many of it,
then some support to cover the volume is probably needed.
Like auto-playing pianos, (mechanically, not digitally)
organs, or even violins.
So I guess what i'm suggesting is revival of the mechanical
era, and items from those era. They are very much mechanically
sophisticated for assembly, but, much of that design can be
reduced with electronics these days as well. So somewhere
a mix...
Not limited to collectors and rich folks, but accessible and
abundant to the today...
Even the most sophisticated mechanical antiques/devices
from the history, is not something overwhelming complex.
Just a puzzle box one can replicate by taking them apart,
and scanning, re-scaling, and re-designing them to befit
the needs of people's interest.
But these are regarded as such treasures, they are stuck in museums,
and hardly ever replicated, or triggered of education to
create more variations. It slowly faded away from that era.
So it became exceedingly rare, and people search for that rare,
and upon finding, it is exceedingly expensive. So I think
people mainly focus that passion on mechanical wrist watches today.
They all tell time. But it's basically to show what people can
do and in what variations.
But in those era, it extended to all kinds of industries.
So furnitures are a good starting point, to expand out into
mechanical devices of all kinds.
It's basically creating more cars Mr Musk. But bringing back
those era that had certain mystery, sophistication and meaning
assigned to everyday objects.
I am never inspired by Ikea furnitures. I see plastic drawers,
and I don't really want to put anything in them. I want to
create the very notepad I would want to write on, along with the
pen that writes it. Even to the point of the ink and paper.
And that is what inspiration is about, and people search for
these things...