4 desktops

I got a request for a desktop with some specific elements built into it. Namely the loop d' loop and the teeter totter. Being able to do both, I said "no problem" and welded one up. And as it goes with these things sometimes, it turned out well, and I received an order for another one immediately after. I took another day, welded up another that looked just the same. But, since it was popular, I sold it to someone else. I know, my bad, but they are family of my machinist, Bill, who has helped me in more ways than I could put into words. So I still had one to make for the previous order I did not fill, and Bill, wanted one for himself. That makes two more. So I thought; why just stop with two? Lets make four! So the last day and a half I've spent making all of the components I will need to assemble 4 new desktops. Oh, and these desktops use 1" marbles. See a picture of the individual components below:

What is shown in the photo is everything I will need, except for the track that will lead the ball from one element to the next. There are the frames, (upper left and right), the loop d' loops, the track splitters (center), tipping arms (right of the splitters), teeter totters (bottom center), and spirals. 4 of each. The one element not shown is the "marbles on track" element. That particular element is added to the track where the ball has enough speed. Want to see what I'm talking about? See the video below of #16. (Thanks Ann!)

A desktop - #15

I found enough time this week to hammer out a quick desktop sculpture. This one has two tracks, and uses 1" glass marbles. There is a track splitter, a loop d' loop with 3 loops, a tipping arm, a teeter totter and spiral. All mounted on a very sturdy 1/4" stainless steel frame. All of the track is made from 1/8" stainless wire.

See this desktop sculpture in action below...

#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:

#75 plus 2 more pictures

Three spinners, hot off (on) the welding bench. Literally.

Now those three spinners are welded on. Two on the single marble track; one before the tipping arm and the other just past the second section of wavy track. The third spinner is just after the loop d' loop where the marbles shoots out, giving the spinner quite a hard push. (Mostly hidden with this camera view.)

#75...it's construction in 10 pictures

I tried to take a photo after each major step was completed. Here's what I got...

If only it was as easy as it looks!

The marble collector, up close

I wanted to post the photos I had taken after each section was completed, but decided to wait until I finished it, and could post all photos in one. Tomorrow. So, instead, I decided to share the marble collector that I made today. Before today, what you see here was a 12ft piece of 1/8" stainless steel wire with no idea of what it was to become. With a little bending, cutting, welding and an added bearing, it has become the mighty ball collector, an important part of any RBS. This ball collector tips when the third marble rolls on.
Also in this photo is my trusty stainless steel block. Not just any block, it has been water cut into it's basic shape. The groove on the end looks like someone wanted to see if a very tight corner could be cut using the water jet. I dunno. I do know that it makes a great weight when needed, and is cool to think that only water was used to cut it.

Here's the collector installed on the sculpture. Note the added piece at the bottom. This was for weight, but will also be used as the stop when it tips down release the 3 marbles on the track below.

Another day, another track

Today I was able to install the two track switches that I built yesterday before powering down my welder and lights. I also built the loop d' loop, installed it, and made the section of track that will collect the 3 tracks and merge them for the lift. The loop is very nice, with a large single loop. The ball gets shot out the end at a very high speed, and comes nearly to a stop because of the back-spin on the marble. Then the marble rolls nice and leisurely back to the lift. See the video of my progress below.

Two more tracks to go : )

#75 just getting started; framed and lifted

This is my current rolling ball project - a wall hanging sculpture that measures 22" high X 32" wide. This ball run will have 3 tracks when completed.

This is the frame, it stands off the wall 7 inches so the track can go in front and behind the frame. It gives me more room to work and will keep the track from sticking out too far. The frame is made from all 1/4" stainless steel rod.

I just got the lift installed today. It's a helical lift, and uses a 7rpm DC motor. The tube in the center of the lift is 1" stainless tubing with 1/8" wire wound around the outside to lift the marbles.

Shown here are the two track switches I will need to turn one track into three. Think of it like this; The track from the lift leads directly into the first switch. Two track leave the first splitter-one track is full length and the other just leads to the next splitter. The second splitter has the other two full length tracks come from it, and that makes 3 total. The white plastic is made from a polypropylene rod, cut to 1" lengths and a 1/4" ID self lubricating bronze bearing pushed into the center. The bronze bearing keeps the switch moving smoothly for a long, long time.

The first track I will work on? The loop d' loop!

#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.

Added some spinners for fun!

This large circle spinner is installed on the single marble track.

This is the jump rope spinner. Only, the jump-roper does the spinning, not the rope!

Here's the other large circle spinner, this spinner and the jump rope spinner are both on the 3-marble train track.

And here are the 4 smaller spinners that get installed next.

This, of course, means that I will definitely be doing another video.

Photos of #74

The first section on the Loop D' Loop

The ball pickup.

The second track splitter/switch

The ball collector. It will tip when it gets the 3rd marble.

The section of wavy track.

The spaghetti track at the bottom. This section collects tracks 2 and 3, or not the loop d' loop track.

The whole sculpture.

A shot of track and spirals.

More track and spirals, with the ball collector on the left.

Now that it is all complete I will be starting on my next project; a wall hanging sculpture. Stay tuned!

#74 almost completed.

Track three coming to life.

Track three is gettin' to the bottom. I think I'll add another spiral, and leave the rest as fun track. The three marbles will chase each other from the top to the bottom. I'll be done tomorrow for sure. Next up... video! I'll definitely get some posted tomorrow - with the help of my cat Mia.

New sculpture

My current project. #74. This sculpture is 4 feet tall by 4ft wide. It has a chain lift which delivers about 5.5 marbles per minute onto the three tracks. There is a loop d' loop track with 5 loops and a fun inverted section at the end that lets the back-spin on the marbles stop it. Track two, with only one rolling marble at a time, has 3 spirals, 2tipping arms and some fun wavy and fast flowing track that ends in the back and forth spaghetti section. See pic below. Track three has a marble collector which releases with 3 marbles. Track three is only 15% built and the rest is yet to be...and only exists in the ether and statistical mathematics.

This is spaghetti section at the bottom of the ball run, track 2.

This would be the end of day Wednesday.

Here is the spaghetti track installed at the bottom.

This is my progress as of today. I should be able to get most of track three laid tomorrow. I can't do the wavy track like you see at the bottom of the sculpture now with marbles rolling in a row, like a train. In a marble train, sometimes the marble behind another goes faster than the marble in front. When this happens then the marble behind can run into marble ahead of it, slowing itself enough that it will fall back and settle in a valley, stopping all other marbles that come next. It is quite enjoyable to attach the next track rails and then decide where I want the track to go. I plan a few moves ahead, build them, and go onto the next. I especially like to make the loops which is why a lot of my sculptures have them. They are FUN to make, and even more fun to watch, over and over. : ) I enjoy tracing the two rail paths in my mind as I bend the corners and try to imagine where the track can go next on it's fast, gravity defying path.

I will take some video soon. I will probably wait until I get it finished. It is close and I don't want to use the time to take video, when it will be better to film when it is finished. Can't wait!

Chain lift assembly

Here is a motor mount for a DC motor. This motor mount was originally built for a helical (spiral) lift. The opening around the motor shaft is set-in to allow for the thrust bearing that is needed between the mount and the helical lift shaft. Without it, the weight of the lift and marbles would be directly on the motor. Not good. The only thing missing from this photo is the shaft that connects the motor shaft and the lift. I hadn't made any yet, and now I am glad that I did not. I needed to make a chain lift, and decided to use the DC motors because the mount was already made. So this means I needed to adapt what I had, to what I needed.

These are the extra parts needed. The square pad at the top is just to hold the roller bearing in place. The shaft fits over the motor shaft, goes through the bearing, and holds the sprocket. The allen head screws are easy to identify, also see the small aluminum 'stand-offs' that keep the bearing pad from pushing the shaft into the motor mount. And of course, the two sprockets. One is a 30 tooth, and the other is 45 tooth. Using a lathe, I turned off some of the shoulder on the big sprocket, to reduce the weight, and so the set screw hole would not have to be threaded as much.

Here is the shaft, installed first.

Next, the bearing pad fits onto the shaft.

To keep the bearing pad from crushing the shaft into the motor mount, a stand-off is used between the bearing mount and the motor mount. Once tightened it holds the weight of the sprocket against the face of the mount, while leaving room for the shaft to move around easily. The flat on the end of the shaft is for the set screw on the large sprocket. With a flat spot like that the set screw does not need to be tightened to within an inch of it's life...

The large sprocket is the drive sprocket. Here the ladder chain is draped over the top, but the motor will be at the bottom, so the chain will actually go around the bottom of the sprocket. The smaller sprocket spins loosely, so it has a bronze bearing pushed into the center. It will be kept from moving side to side once it is mounted on the 1/4" shaft that fits through the bearing.

I am very pleased to be learning to use a Lathe and Mill. Without them, this would be very difficult, if not impossible. (Thanks Bill B !!) To get the nice rounded look on the aluminum, each pieces is routed on the edge. To save time, and reduce costs, always make more than one. (I made three...)

This assembly has been installed on my next project....A 4' X 4' floor standing sculpture. 3 tracks. See it here soon!

Rolling Ball museum in Korea - Funique

Stephen Jendro posted this Link to a set of photos taken at Funique in Korea. The photos are taken at the Rolling Ball Museum which is part of Funique. There are a few of my sculptures in these photos (see below), as well as other RBS artists. The variety of ball runs will amaze you!

(above) These two hand powered sculptures use 2" balls. The closest sculpture used 3/16" stainless wire for the tracks. It was hard to bend, but was perfect for the larger marble. Using a lot of track spacers made the tracks almost look like train tracks. A fun sculpture to build and operate. Quite noisy though. Lots of clacking and clanking when in operation. 2 of 4 that I built in that size. I don't see the other 2 on the photos, perhaps they are somewhere else...

(above) There are 4 different tracks on this sculpture. 3 balls collect at the top, tipping with the third marble. Two of the marbles go through loop d' loops and the third marble drops to another collector. The second collector tips with two marbles, and each of those two marbles has it's own loop track too. All 4 tracks collect back at the bottom, and the marbles go back up the lift for another spin down the rails.

(above) See a great section of twisted loop d' loop track. 3 tracks on this sculpture with a wide flat funnel that dropped the marbles randomly into the three tracks. I remember taking video of this sculpture and was lucky that on my very first take of filming, all 3 tracks were taken at nearly the same time. Never occured again when filming this particular RBS...I couldn't edit my video then, so I had to use that first take.

(above) This sculpture uses 5/8" steel balls, and has the tipping arms at both sides.