Your videographer skills are on the same level as your sculpture skills. Loved the scene with you debating the ball gatherer with yourself. Excellent work and worth waiting for you to post your latest masterpiece. Thanks!
Wonderful! There's so much I like about this piece. All the precision and technical pieces, but my favorite bit is probably the long sweeping curve on the side opposite the spiral lifter. Simple, but beautiful. I love the curving logo. Very clever how it was laid out and made, then curved. The whole thing seems very solid. It's not shaking or making a lot of jangle noises. I've learned a lot watching your videos. I think I've seen all of them. It's been fun watching you develop your process and tools.The way you approach layout, making repeatable curves, standardized track supports, and track modules. Great work!
Glad you have a new RBS to show! I love the long format, it shows all the design changes that need to be made to fit your criteria. I also like the way you design an element and then construct it to see if it works as you want. Not sure how, but you always manage to use nearly every square inch of the sculpture. Great job!!
Hi Ian, I really like your work (both the kinetic art and also your video documentaries) and I really, really loved this long-form start-to-finish version for RBS8. I thought the vignette about the ball gatherer was interesting for a number of reasons. First, it shows how during the creative process, sometimes there is indecision about how to accomplish a desire. Second, it shows that for even an accomplished creator like you, there can be setbacks and difficulties in implementation, and you just persevere to get what you want, even if it takes many trials. And third, visually, I thought the trick of reversing the sequence of video frames presented a new and interesting way to present the details of the gatherer operation and the track following. It might be fun to include this sort of reverse video in future creations. I did have a thought about the mechanics of the ball gatherer (well, ball gatherers in general.) You have the axis of rotation tube parallel to the long edge. I was thinking if you deliberately placed the axis at a small angle to the long edge, it may improve stability of the gatherer as balls are gathered, and then provide a larger impulse for tipping when the final ball arrives? I’ve laughed out loud every time Cardboard-Aided-Design appears in your videos, even when I’m expecting it. I appreciate being able to use slow-motion of modern video editing or even capture modes on smartphones to capture mechanical motion. One trick I’ve used is to use paint dabs or marker on one of the balls, so that I can also visualize how much the ball is rolling versus sliding, especially as there are big speed changes along a feature. I’ve used this to help tune loops so that I can increase the degree that the ball is rolling rather than sliding, as that rotation tends to stabilize relatively straight loops and also helps me visualize where I should probably add guardrails as a safety measure. After seeing the choice to use brackets in the four lower corners, I really expected to see a similar bracket at the tip with four holes to stay the top of the threaded rods. I can see that the ball distribution assembly is enough mechanically to stabilize the threaded rods, but was thinking a plate would be more of a visual tie-in. I was also looking forward to where the windchime or musical feature would be, but I guess I will have to wait for that on one of your future works. I liked the motif of using a lot of rails with relatively straight sides and squarish corners, which felt very much in place with the mandate for absolutely straight lines on the exterior planes. I know how hard it is to get a ball to change direction at 90 degrees. I thought the workmanship on the helix lift was exquisite. You mentioned a helix pitch of 1.5 ball diameters. I’m curious if you’ve found any other rules of thumb for such lifts, such as ratio of helix diameter to ball diameter, or how large the central tube can be. Also, you used a double-rail track that the ball is pushed along; what are your thoughts about just a single rod? Have you considered using the same helix as a multi-lift, using more “sides”? Have you studied the timing of the tracks on RBS8 to see what the shuffling function of the balls would be? :-D I would imagine the holey bowls do introduce some uncertainty into that function. In closing, it was another remarkable build and I envy your talent, skill, and artistic vision. I look forward to anything more you make.
Wow, thanks for the super detailed comment which is full of RBS understanding and support. It’s the best comment ever. I’m slightly busy today so can’t answer in detail right now. I’ll make sure to come back and answer your specifics when I’ve got more time to do this justice. It sounds like you also make RBS. Feel free to share your work via email if you wish. I always enjoy seeing more people working on these things. Cheers for now. 🙏
I've had an idea about using having a bunch of arms that do a series of hand offs to move the ball from one side of a piece to another. Like Tarzan swinging on vines. Possibly with inverted pendulums - like on a old metronome. I'd also considered using small electro-magnets to lift, carry, or swing a ball from place to place. Wires could be run inside tubes.
That turned out brilliant. I did find it a bit difficult to follow the tracks from the top to the bottom, there is so much going on. Having 2 tracks dump into the larger bowl gave me an idea. Once I get an idea if I don’t spit it out it may be lost forever, feel free to incorporate as much of it or not as you want into a build. The base 2 to 3 feet in diameter a helical lift in the center. Have the top about 12 inches taller than the diameter (all dimensions are just initial thoughts and can be changed as needed lol). The base should be a big bowl with a gentle slope. You would need a spiral feeder guide. Have one track drop just about vertical to the bottom. To shoot out around the circumference of the bowl with that speed it should make several laps around before dropping to the inside. Have the other tracks enter at various distances from center and all exit in the same direction. You might need to have an arched guard around part of the spiral ball loader. Maybe a sharp angle spiraling out to make sure all the balls reload. You could do a similar concept but have a slope to a corner. As I type this out other ideas keep coming, I better stop. Great sculpture I always enjoy seeing what you come up with. Keep soldering on.
Nice! I might have to 'borrow' your rod-inside-tube design; it looks a bit more rigid than the multiple twisted strands of copper I'm currently using. I don't have any issues resistance soldering wire and thin plate together using the higher voltage taps on my transformer (I DO use flux on these). I've also found that using the 'ground' clamp to hold the little connector pieces to be more effective than clamping the ground to the track and using the wand to touch the connector pieces. Just a couple of things to consider for whoever reads this... Thanks for your efforts!
Adding that bearing to the base was a stroke of genius...
Thank you darling. I am forever grateful to you. 🙏👍😀👌
Your videographer skills are on the same level as your sculpture skills. Loved the scene with you debating the ball gatherer with yourself.
Excellent work and worth waiting for you to post your latest masterpiece. Thanks!
Thanks very much.
I was wondering when you'd upload again. I love your videos, they're so calming. Thanks for making them.
Glad you like them!
just been watching vids about the brachistochrone curve, that will come in handy for ball rolling sculptures im sure
That’s really interesting and a new term to me. Thanks so much for commenting.
Wonderful! There's so much I like about this piece. All the precision and technical pieces, but my favorite bit is probably the long sweeping curve on the side opposite the spiral lifter. Simple, but beautiful.
I love the curving logo. Very clever how it was laid out and made, then curved.
The whole thing seems very solid. It's not shaking or making a lot of jangle noises.
I've learned a lot watching your videos. I think I've seen all of them. It's been fun watching you develop your process and tools.The way you approach layout, making repeatable curves, standardized track supports, and track modules.
Great work!
Thanks for commenting and sharing your feedback. Very appreciated 🙏😀👍
Glad you have a new RBS to show! I love the long format, it shows all the design changes that need to be made to fit your criteria. I also like the way you design an element and then construct it to see if it works as you want. Not sure how, but you always manage to use nearly every square inch of the sculpture. Great job!!
Glad you liked this one. It’s a strong statement piece and I’m also super happy with the copper per square inch I ended up with.
@@CopperGravity ...or is that per cubic inch ? ;-)
Looooove everything about this, Ian!
Just fabulous.
Interesting, satisfying, calming and for you, clearly a big achievement.
Very well done!
❤️
Thanks Martin. 👍
Real art. Hats off to you!
Thanks James. xx
Hi Ian, I really like your work (both the kinetic art and also your video documentaries) and I really, really loved this long-form start-to-finish version for RBS8.
I thought the vignette about the ball gatherer was interesting for a number of reasons. First, it shows how during the creative process, sometimes there is indecision about how to accomplish a desire. Second, it shows that for even an accomplished creator like you, there can be setbacks and difficulties in implementation, and you just persevere to get what you want, even if it takes many trials. And third, visually, I thought the trick of reversing the sequence of video frames presented a new and interesting way to present the details of the gatherer operation and the track following. It might be fun to include this sort of reverse video in future creations.
I did have a thought about the mechanics of the ball gatherer (well, ball gatherers in general.) You have the axis of rotation tube parallel to the long edge. I was thinking if you deliberately placed the axis at a small angle to the long edge, it may improve stability of the gatherer as balls are gathered, and then provide a larger impulse for tipping when the final ball arrives?
I’ve laughed out loud every time Cardboard-Aided-Design appears in your videos, even when I’m expecting it.
I appreciate being able to use slow-motion of modern video editing or even capture modes on smartphones to capture mechanical motion. One trick I’ve used is to use paint dabs or marker on one of the balls, so that I can also visualize how much the ball is rolling versus sliding, especially as there are big speed changes along a feature. I’ve used this to help tune loops so that I can increase the degree that the ball is rolling rather than sliding, as that rotation tends to stabilize relatively straight loops and also helps me visualize where I should probably add guardrails as a safety measure.
After seeing the choice to use brackets in the four lower corners, I really expected to see a similar bracket at the tip with four holes to stay the top of the threaded rods. I can see that the ball distribution assembly is enough mechanically to stabilize the threaded rods, but was thinking a plate would be more of a visual tie-in.
I was also looking forward to where the windchime or musical feature would be, but I guess I will have to wait for that on one of your future works.
I liked the motif of using a lot of rails with relatively straight sides and squarish corners, which felt very much in place with the mandate for absolutely straight lines on the exterior planes. I know how hard it is to get a ball to change direction at 90 degrees.
I thought the workmanship on the helix lift was exquisite. You mentioned a helix pitch of 1.5 ball diameters. I’m curious if you’ve found any other rules of thumb for such lifts, such as ratio of helix diameter to ball diameter, or how large the central tube can be. Also, you used a double-rail track that the ball is pushed along; what are your thoughts about just a single rod? Have you considered using the same helix as a multi-lift, using more “sides”?
Have you studied the timing of the tracks on RBS8 to see what the shuffling function of the balls would be? :-D I would imagine the holey bowls do introduce some uncertainty into that function.
In closing, it was another remarkable build and I envy your talent, skill, and artistic vision. I look forward to anything more you make.
Wow, thanks for the super detailed comment which is full of RBS understanding and support. It’s the best comment ever. I’m slightly busy today so can’t answer in detail right now. I’ll make sure to come back and answer your specifics when I’ve got more time to do this justice. It sounds like you also make RBS. Feel free to share your work via email if you wish. I always enjoy seeing more people working on these things. Cheers for now. 🙏
It’s a fantastic creative piece of art. Love it❤
Thank you so much 😀
I've had an idea about using having a bunch of arms that do a series of hand offs to move the ball from one side of a piece to another. Like Tarzan swinging on vines. Possibly with inverted pendulums - like on a old metronome.
I'd also considered using small electro-magnets to lift, carry, or swing a ball from place to place. Wires could be run inside tubes.
Have a look on FaceBook at the Automata / Automaton Group for some other amazing content. The hand off thing is a thing of beauty.
Your best one yet. Excellent work, thanks for sharing it.
Many thanks! You’re welcome.
Brilliant! Inspired and inspiring work.
Glad you enjoyed it! Thanks.
This is beautiful.
Thanks very much. 👍
extraordinario!!!
Thank you. 🙏
That turned out brilliant. I did find it a bit difficult to follow the tracks from the top to the bottom, there is so much going on. Having 2 tracks dump into the larger bowl gave me an idea. Once I get an idea if I don’t spit it out it may be lost forever, feel free to incorporate as much of it or not as you want into a build.
The base 2 to 3 feet in diameter a helical lift in the center. Have the top about 12 inches taller than the diameter (all dimensions are just initial thoughts and can be changed as needed lol). The base should be a big bowl with a gentle slope. You would need a spiral feeder guide. Have one track drop just about vertical to the bottom. To shoot out around the circumference of the bowl with that speed it should make several laps around before dropping to the inside. Have the other tracks enter at various distances from center and all exit in the same direction. You might need to have an arched guard around part of the spiral ball loader. Maybe a sharp angle spiraling out to make sure all the balls reload.
You could do a similar concept but have a slope to a corner. As I type this out other ideas keep coming, I better stop.
Great sculpture I always enjoy seeing what you come up with. Keep soldering on.
Thanks Mike. Great ideas.
❤
beautiful work of art, i wish i had the patience to build something like this. On the other hand, it's relatively loud, so I'd prefer a video :)
Thank you very much!
Nice! I might have to 'borrow' your rod-inside-tube design; it looks a bit more rigid than the multiple twisted strands of copper I'm currently using. I don't have any issues resistance soldering wire and thin plate together using the higher voltage taps on my transformer (I DO use flux on these). I've also found that using the 'ground' clamp to hold the little connector pieces to be more effective than clamping the ground to the track and using the wand to touch the connector pieces. Just a couple of things to consider for whoever reads this... Thanks for your efforts!
Great advice. Thanks for commenting and sharing your experience. 🙏👍😀
Do people pay what your asking on etsy? If so, great job.
Sometimes yes. 👍
Van you share a link where to buy the bowls? T x
Hi. Someone I found on Etsy who is based in the UK. Hope that’s enough info for you to find what you need.