10 Weeks
Fall 2023
Bass Rod
Cast Silicon Bronze
Threaded metal balls
Bronze bushings
Stainless Shaft Collars
Stainless Shaft
Turning
Sand Casting
Slip rolling
Kinematic Design
Interaction Design
CAD
Pattern Making
The idea started from a video by CPG grey:
I thought, what would happen if there was no wall, and the blocks were on a loop. The number of collisions should be infinite!
Sadly, we don't live in a frictionless world, so I wasn't able to achieve an infinite number of collisions.
I began with a few simple sketches:
I prototyped different sizes for the dome, and balls. tried the idea of having a circular track but that was hard to play with.
I went to CAD and designed the dome and the gate and runner for casting.
And then for sand casting I 3D printed the pattern and sanded it to 500 grit sand paper before ramming up sand and casting.
To make the brass pins I started by turning down the diameter, cut a 10-24 thread on the ends of pins, then drilled and reamed a hole to press fit the bronze bushings.
After pressing in the bushings, it was time to turn the pins into shape. I wanted to add a soft radius to the pins.
I started by grinding my own lathe tools.
Half way there!
Next up was sanding and finishing the dome,
before drilling and reaming a hole to press fit the shaft in place.
For the pins, the crucial step:
Slip rolling them into shape, to perfectly line up!
All parts made!