The whole point of building this tipping mechanism was to drive a ball through a maze. Now I had to actually build the maze. The first thing I had to do was to sketch it out by hand on graph paper. I had to account for the thickness of the boards, the width of the ball, and the path of the maze. The path I decided was intended to start easy, and get harder later in the maze. The goal was to build a learning curve into the maze path. I figured most people will require some time learning to use teamwork to solve the maze.
I then was able to layout the maze on the two pieces of white melamine. I used rulers and straight edges to transfer my hand drawn plans onto the boards. I made sure to keep lengths to round number measurements where at all possible, so the walls would be easier to cut and assemble. The boards were cut from 2.5″ x 3/4″ stock. I only needed the walls to be slightly taller than the balls radius. Continue reading “Building a giant Labyrinth game: Part 4 – Final”
One of the most important tools a welder can have at his disposal is a decent welding table. In general you should have the biggest, flattest, sturdiest table you can muster. Of course, shop size can be a limiting factor. I decided to invest in a 4′x4′ table on wheels. We don’t do too much welding in our shop, so I don’t require too big of a table. I wanted the wheels so we can easily roll it around. Almost all of our workspaces are on wheels, so it’s pretty simple to change the layout of our workshop to make room for big projects, or roll everything out to clean. I drew up a quick napkin sketch of what I wanted the table to look like. I designed in a shelf for easy storage.
I started with a 4′x4′x1/2″ plate of steel, and some 4″ square tubing for legs. I measured out how long the legs needed to be (making sure to account for the casters!) and cut ‘em down to size. I also cut out all of the pieces I’d need for the nice sturdy shelf underneath. I like to cut, clean, and deburr all of the metal before I start welding. It just makes it easier to do all of those filthy jobs once, so you can get to the fun welding! I tack welded the legs in place, taking care to get the legs square with the table top. It’s much easier to build your table upside down at first. Continue reading “Welding up a Welding Table”
This is Part 3 of a series. You can start with Part 1 and Part 2.
After welding up the basic frame of the Labyrinth game, I took the entire thing outside and gave it a quick coat of primer, so it wouldn’t rust. I knew this project was going to take a while, and I didn’t want the rust to get out of hand while I took my time. Sorry for not snagging a photo of the process. Painting is usually messy enough that I don’t like to get my fingerprints on the camera.
The next thing I did was create the pivot points for the see-saws. I knew which size gears I needed to use and drew up a frame that would fit around that. To brace it, I ran a piece of tube back down to the frame of the labyrinth. Each pivot point/see-saw mount is attached by only three bolts, making it easy to disassemble for storage or travel. The entire contraption is going to be big, but I might as well make it as easy as possible. When the see-saw goes back and forth, the sprocket will be pushing and pulling a chain. That chain will be turning a sprocket on a driveshaft down below, so the power can be sent to the middle of the labyrinth. Continue reading “Building a giant Labyrinth game: Part 3″
With all of the pieces cut, drilled, and welded to make the square frames of the labyrinth, it was time to start aligning the bearings that everything pivots on.
I attached a pair of 1″ ID flange mount bearings to both sides of the holes. I left the bolts loose so I could let the exact position float a bit. Getting bearings aligned is a bit of an art, and it’s easier to wait until the last minute before tightening things down.
I finally finished a large project. During the process I was intending to blog about the progress. Instead, I took photos and just let them build up. I’ve got enough photos that it makes sense to break them up into a few different posts. I hope you’ll bear with me.
The goal was to build a large version of the classic wooden Labyrinth game. It’s always been a popular game, and it’s been copied many times, including digital versions for your iProduct.
The first thing I had to do was to sketch out how the frames are going to work. The design requires an outer frame that is stable and hold everything up. Inside of that is a square frame that can only rotate in one direction. And finally inside of that is the final frame that holds the board that can rotate in the other direction. Because of the way the weight has to transfer through the frames, I realized that it had to be a rather stiff material, so I chose some 2″ x 3″ tube steel. Continue reading “Building a giant Labyrinth game: Part 1″
Bob Potts has just put out another fantastic video of his amazing art. Here is two of his pieces from 2012 and 2013: “Ascension” and “Synchronous Cycle”.
A friend came across a project known as a Flame Speaker. The similarities to a Rubens Tube resonated with me and I was immediately intrigued. Some of the best information we could find about it where documented in a 1960s Popular Electronics magazine. Apparently hobbyists were making these things in their basements around the country, but for some reason the popularity waned and we were having trouble finding many modern implementations. I suppose it’s just a parlor trick anyway.
Well, we did a little brainstorming and came across a fun art project for the magical process. But first we needed to hit the lab and see if we can make something actually work. After a few iterations of testing, we arrived at this version:
Don’t worry, I’ll have more information about what our setup looked like before too long.
I just recently bought a new (to me) Plasma Cutter, so I thought I’d give it a whirl. It’s always best to practice with a project in mind so I set out to makes some holes in steel that I can fill with copper and practice some metal inlay techniques. Along the way I decided to film the process and make another Youtube video for my channel. Enjoy!
In our conference area at work we had a rather interesting table. It was a huge poster of James Dean sitting on top of a piece of wobbly antique furniture. It was time to upgrade the desk to something more usable and fitting of serious meetings. Clients don’t like to sign expensive contracts on a wobbly table. It surely sends a message of sloppy workmanship and an attitude of “eh, good enough” that will give someone a little bit of subconscious uncertainty about our company.
The idea was to utilize some existing counter top pieces from IKEA. They were relatively cheap, easy to finish, and I could focus on an interesting frame to hold them up. I started with some 1 1/2″ steel tubing from the local metal place. I drew up a plan on a napkin and started cutting, cleaning, and prepping the steel for welding. I drilled holes in the frame so I could easily bolt the wood down to keep everything sturdy. For each bolt I put a small hole on the top and a large hole on the bottom of the square, so I could use a drill gun to tighten the bolt. It was much easier to measure and drill everything before I welded things together. It’s extremely difficult to steady a table frame on the drill press!
We took A Moveable Feast on a ride through Los Angeles for CicLAvia. I decided to document this ride with a time-lapse camera. I’ll let the video tell the story:
The goal was to build a large version of the classic wooden Labyrinth game. It’s always been a popular game, and it’s been copied many times, including digital versions for your iProduct.
