Main > Everything Else
Anybody dabbled in Rolling Ball Sculpture?
Le Chuck:
I've been kicking a rolling ball project around for years. I think I'll get started soon but wanted to know if anybody has played around with them and can give any advice. I'd like to do a crank operated desktop model all in copper and dark woods.
You can see them in the movie Fracture, and they are all over airports and malls in Germany which is where I got introduced to them.
Found this on a quick google. Not what I intend to create my first go... holy cats!
Howard_Casto:
I haven't worked on anything specific like that, but when I was a kid I loved to make rube-goldberg devices and that is very similar.
My only advice to you is to get it working first, with cheaper materials and then make it look nice one it works reliably. It would be a colossal pain in the butt to solder all your tracks together just to find out that one of the angles are too steep and the ball falls out half of the time.
Anyway, sounds like a fun project! We want pics when you are done!
Le Chuck:
Good advice. I usually prototype out of cardboard but in this case I think a scale mock maybe the way to go, or at least build it in pieces using cheap stock first and as I confirm angles and lines replace with good stuff. I've seen some really nice Japanese models that are all plexi, I may play with that too. Definitely a lot of room in this sandbox. It'll be a while considering I just wrapped a cab but I'll document and get something up. If it's really good I'll bump it over to the project announcements thread then let the moderators stick it back over here ;D
Xiaou2:
http://www.amazon.com/Kids-Authority-Spacerail-Spacewarp-4-Roller/dp/B002CVM85U/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1325221567&sr=8-1
Ive got one of these yrs ago. Was pretty cool.. however, the track clips were murder on your fingers / thumb. Extremely tight fit. The bases lock together, but are easy to shift and come undone. Make sure to mount them somehow, to a solid wood (non-flexing) backing. The rail material is mildly flexible... so it requires good support usage to maintain rigidity when the balls fly down it.
Before this, id considered using Round basket weaving Reed. Id bet it would work decently for prototyping, maybe with a nice painted finish and some F21 lubrication.
Not sure what I was thinking about for the post and connectors however.
Still, Im not so sure the thing would work the same in wood / plastic, as metal.
Might be something you have to build and tweak 'on-the-fly'.
Le Chuck:
Cool kit! I love the reviewer that says Cathy is obviously working for the Chinese haha. I'll probably get a small set to start learning the angles then move up to metal.
Navigation
[0] Message Index
[#] Next page
Go to full version