RBS Vertical Rolling Ball Sculpture ~ TickTock

This is my first RBS and is made of 3.7mm (9 guage) galvanized steel wire and acid-core solder (using a blowtorch). It stands 6'2" tall (on its base) and is 28" wide. It uses a 115VAC gear-motor at 20 RPM's through the gearbox hub to raise the balls. A 25mm x 47mm x 15mm axial thrust bearing is used to support the galvanized steel and copper helical coil lift system and a 1" four bolt flange mounted bearing supports the top. Total travel time for the 1 1/2" (38mm) hardwood balls is about 45 seconds and covers an estimated 150-200 feet of track before starting their journey back to the top again (also about 45 seconds). The ball release mechanism at the top uses the spring from a writing pen and "ticks" as it brushes again the steel support rods (hence the name TickTock). The larger sections, like the bottom 1/3 of the sculpture, are made from one single run of galvanized wire, with no breaks.

Category:

Entertainment

Tags:

• RBS
• Rolling
• Ball
• Sculpture
• Run
• Marble
• Helical
• Lift
• Wire
• Art
• Vertical
• Wood
• Handmade
• Eliptical
• Kinetic
• Automated
• Tracks
• Galvanized
• Copper
• Coil
• Soldered
• Electric
• Motorized
• Steel
• Flange
• Bearing
• Thrust

[1stEditionFan]

Thanks! It was really a lot of fun to build. Hope to do more but life seems to keep getting in the way...

[1stEditionFan]

I apparently don't know my X's from my Y's...the total is 500-600 feet. Thanks for the comment.

[ruedigersyt]

Sweet! Certainly gives many hints how things can be done. How many feet of wire did you use in total? Track length times two + X where X is for structural stability and some certainly got trashed along the way -- So how big was X ?

[1stEditionFan]

Hi, thanks for the comments. Yeah, there's definitely 1000 different ways to create an RBS. It's more of an artistic statement than anything else once it's done. I didn't keep real good track of the wire used, but based on the wire cost, I'd say I used around 500-600 feet, including the structural supports. The track probably took about 300-400 feet of that (150'-200' x 2), so probably about 150-200 feet for the structural supports, track supports, spiral, and waste. So X=150-200 feet.

[goohber1]

i like how the marbles look like little planet Jupiters or something

[BlueYoshiJack]

Wow thats one cool set!

[originalusernamefail]

Job well done there mate, that's pretty unique.

[1jtwister]

you should invite some people over... have em bring their cats ;)

[mijnvideokanaal]

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