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   

[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.

[shmokes]

I have many times rolled snowballs around the yard until they were very big and then created a snowman sculpture out of them. Does that count?

[ahofle]

It's crazy you post this as I just learned about 'Rolling Ball Sculptures' yesterday.  My kid got one of those 'Perplexus' toys for Christmas and we wanted to see how fast people could solve it so we searched youtube.  That's when we found all kinds of giant rolling ball sculptures under related videos, including one made entirely out of fractured popsicle sticks!  I would love to build one, but I'm guessing it would be very difficult to get it perfectly fine tuned.

[Xiaou2]

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.

 Heh.  That guys one of those people who is never happy / satisfied.

 Personally, Id never even attempt to recreate the box design.  Such a kit is way too organic to be able to replicate things perfectly, nor even easily.  To me, a kit like this is all about creative freedom of expression.  I went straight into making my own layouts.

 I think my kit was called Space Warp.  The name has changed many times over many years.


 Perplexus is really cool.  I picked up Superplexus at KB Toys on clearance for cheap.  I probably should have bought an extra, as an unopened collectors item.  Ive contemplated getting the new version... but the reviews show that theres some MFG. problems, which is making them fail quickly.

 For kicks, check out the creator of the game.  Hes made a mega-plexus thats like 4ft in diameter, commissioned by a museum or something like that.  Pretty sick. 


 Another cool thing to look into is Kinetic Scupltures.  Theres some great vids of them on youtube.

[Le Chuck]

When I was a sculpture/studio art major a decade + ago I played with mobile construction on an installation scale. Lot of fun. I can't wait to start exploring this stuff.

[SavannahLion]

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'.
 

Oh great, X and I have something in common.  

I too used to have a similar kit as a kid about er.... twenty plus some odd years ago. Wasn't called space anything. It was a big beast, having something like four base plates and hundreds of those damn connectors that killed your fingers. I still have the kit but I found that the "tracks" have gotten so stiff in storage that there's really no way to put some decent curves into them so that you end up with about three times as many clips to hold the tracks in position.

But I digress, I was so fascinated with the concept that I made an attempt at building it on a much larger scale using parts from my dad's junk yard. I don't remember what the ball was made from, a bearing of some type and I used lots and lots of his old lead, steel and copper pipes. I spent about three hours pulling all the pipe out of the junk pile but got too tired trying to bend the pipes to shape. I didn't know there was such a thing as a pipe bender.

It's cool they still make the kits. My four year old is fascinated with another of my marble toys but the plastic is so brittle I doubt it'll last four months under his rough play. I think it might be worth shelling out for a new set he can call his own.

[EightBySix]

I came across these under the google phrase marble machines, which tends to return more wooden ones. One guy made a modular one so it could be redesigned a bit like Lego.

I'd love to see any pics or designs you come up with. Bonus points if it can sort coins and integrate with your coin mechs

[drventure]

I've played with this idea for years too (this and building wooden clocks).

There's a ton of great vids on youtube of kinetic marble machines or sculptures.

I've never seen any good info on best ways to do all those compound bends in the wires though (or for that matter how to accurately cut clock gears, assuming no CNC).

But I haven't searched too hard either.

Looking forward to what you come up with!

[Le Chuck]

Now I totally have to start. I'll get a design going and make sure I document if I have to build any jigs.  I think I can pick up 1/8" rod stock at my local welding supply. I'm thinking pinballs, copper, mahogany, a funnel, a corkscrew, and a chain lift.

[EightBySix]

Useful ?
http://woodgears.ca/gear_cutting/template.html

[drventure]

Awesome. Nice site for gear templates!

Bookmarked and will hopefully be put to some use soon!

[SavannahLion]

Awesome. Nice site for gear templates!

Bookmarked and will hopefully be put to some use soon!

ditto

[amendonz]

this looks cool but i'd imagine if i were to get one i'd only be able to come up with lame ---steaming pile of meadow muffin--- that barely worked 

[Le Chuck]

Found some good stuff on the rubegoldberg live journal here.  I will definitely be taking some cues from this guy on materials and support integration. Small form with nice lines but I want some automated reset.