Marble run #196 - chain lift

Here's the chain installed onto the frame. Now onto getting the ball in and off of the lift. After that, track splitters, then loop d loop.

Chain lift hooks

Here's a couple hooks welded in place. I'd say I have about 15 more sets to add.

Chain lift hooks

Untrimmed pickup hooks and the chain ready to get hooks welded on to pick up the marbles.

Spiral Fail

Bent up this spiral... And it was too shallow to work well. If the ball got stopped, it would not go again by itself. Now it will end up parted out for support rods. It might make a nice campfire cooking grill... Or use the imagination.

Completed sculpture #76

This is my latest project. It stands 5ft high and is 3.5ft wide on each side. A chain lift brings the balls back to the top and releases them into the 4 tracks on this sculpture. This sculpture has several fun elements. First is the Plinko Track Scrambler. 3 of the 4 tracks go into this element and the marbles mix up, taking one of the 3 tracks exiting. The fun part is watching the balls bounce around randomly before dropping off and continuing on the stainless steel paths. The loop d' loop has 7 inversions, and jumps into a basket. See the video of the sculpture here:



One of the paths goes into the Ferris Wheel Lift. The 1-3/8" marble is directed around the outside of a large 12" ring. The ring has tines that catch the marble, and allow the marble to spin the wheel. When the wheel spins there is a smaller ring on the inside that lifts 1" marbles, about 4 inches, onto their own small path. They race out and around before returning to the lift. I have only made two of these elements, this being the second one. I spent a lot of time turning this one over in my head to make sure it was built correctly. I think it came out just right. The most complicated part to making this element was getting the bearing exactly in the center of the large ring. Once that was accomplished, the rest was easier, but no less important. Building slow, is the key to building something like this. Below is a video of the Ferris Wheel Lift.

Desktop #18 Completed July 1st.

One more hot off the welding bench...
These desktops use more wire that you would think. I use at least 60ft of 1/8" wire, 5ft of 1/4" rod and 3 pivot bearings. The wire adds up quickly as it's not just used for the track, but also for support wire and guardrail.

#75 Final Video

32"w X 24"h X 18"d. This wall hanging sculpture has 3 different tracks and is made from all stainless steel. There are 1 3/8" marbles used on this sculpture. Watch the video to see all of the things that I don't have to describe!



For you who cannot view youtube videos, such as those of you in the military, I have also uploaded my recent videos to Google video. : )
Like this one:

#74 Final Video, now with 7 spinners

Here's the final video. I added 7 spinners to add some movement and fun. 3 tracks total. 4ft tall x 4ft wide x 18" deep. All stainless steel. 1 3/8" glass marbles. A very fun sculpture, it has nice sounds and rythyms.

More track

Rolling ball sculpture has a couple different major sections to it's construction. First the frame, then the lift, then track and elements. The frame is straightforward, and should be braced before you begin building, so that the frame will not move. It does not seem too important when the frame has no track on it, but when the marbles start to roll, they exert energy and can make the whole sculpture shake.

The lift is somewhat complicated, but I think the real challenge with the motor is installing it so that the weight of the lift is off of the motor shaft - more of a concern with a helical lift than a chain lift.

Finally there are track and elements. I have somewhat explained making track in my how to secion on my website, but I have a little more to say here. I am working on a table top sculpture that has three tracks. One track for the loop d' loop, one track with just one marble that goes slow and has a few tipping arms. The third track will have a marble collector (adjustable) that will tip with 3-6 marbles, you choose. Track seems like it is the easy part of making RBS. Actually, it can be quite frustrating to make a track that just doesn't seem to fit into the space you have for it. I have found recently that the best way to add track that fits perfect the first time is to bend as much, if not all, of the wire track after it has been attached to the previous section. Track is not just for the ball to get from one place to another, but can be an element in itself. It is very important to keep the spacing consistent and to test the marbles as you go so you will not be surprised later, and not be able to get to the spot to fix it because it is buried behind other things on your sculpture.

I think making track is a lot like drawing a maze. Sometimes the track path must be very carefully led out of a tight spot. If you are truly stuck, the use a tipping arm to lower the ball down. Get creative! Since everything you will make is one-of-a-kind then your imagination is your only limit (besides tooling....).