Wings in Steel and Glass - mechanical sculpture by Shasa Bolton

Check out the latest piece by Shasa Bolton!

See more sculpture by Shasa Bolton on this web site.

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Claud - motorized metal fish made of salvaged parts

Check out the latest from Chris Cole -- a motorized fish made of salvaged bicycles, auto parts, salvaged steel, and reclaimed purple heart wood.

See more kinetic sculptures by Chis Cole on his web site.

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Instructional video for artists and makers about working with bailing wire

Artist Aaron Kramer knows how to make things. He also knows how to use a huge assortment of materials. When asked about making cold connections with wire, he decided to produce this very instructive long-form video (about 10 minutes) on the topic.

From the artist:

I really haven't seen anything worthwhile on the internet so here is my take on the subject. I put together this little 9.5 minute introduction with a running commentary to impart a little of what I know. I feel a trained jeweler or metalsmith may have a different take on this so this is what you get from a self taught artist type.

Well done! I know I learned a lot.

Here is where you can see artwork by Aaron Kramer.

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How to make a tiny machine screw for an antique French clock

I've been doing a bit of posting about practical matters in the world of clock repair on my other site clockfix.com. In one of my recent blog posts there, I documented how to make a very small steel machine screw for a French clock I was working on. Here's the result:

A colleague who has far more experience in this field made two good suggestions. The first was to anneal the metal before turning it down and threading it. This will make the dies last a lot longer. The second, was to part the piece using a jeweler's saw rather than a file. The blades are cheap, and the file will last a lot longer too. He then hardens, tempers, and finishes the screw as the final steps. Good advice; all of that makes perfect sense.

Here's where you can see my post on how to make a tiny machine screw for an antique French clock.

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Book: Hardening, Tempering and Heat Treatment

I love this entire little Workshop Practice series of books. If you work with metal or want to, here's one worth getting: Hardening, Tempering and Heat Treatment

From the book description:

A comprehensive exposition of the structure of steels and the effects of different heat treatments, particularly in respect of tools. It includes solid fuel, gas and electric furnaces, case hardening, tempering and other practical information. Features accurate colour temperature charts.

It gets great reviews from quite a few people on Amazon. Here is where you can order Hardening, Tempering and Heat Treatment (Workshop Practice). Be sure to check out the entire line of in the Workshop Practice Series. There are books on every possible aspect of metal and shopw work, tools, and techniques. I wish they sold them as a complete set!

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Learn to make rolling ball kinetic sculptures with artist Tom Harold

Artist Tom Harold noticed that many people in online forums had the same questions about getting started building rolling ball sculptures out of steel.

Seeing that no videos existed to directly address these questions, he put together the starter video shown here. This video is part one of a series that may end up being about three or four videos in length. This one focuses mostly on welding 1/8 inch steel rod. Great stuff!

You cans see more of Tom Harold's kinetic sculpture on his web site.

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Spring-powered stainless steel and bronze toy car with walnut box

Located in Eindhoven, designer Wouter Scheublin created this gorgeous stainless steel and bronze toy car.

We don't know much more about it other than it comes in an equally beautiful walnut box, is powered by a spring, and was made in a limited edition of 20. I don't know if any are available, or how much they cost, but his contact information is located on his web site.

If you like this, you might also be interested in the Kikkerland zeCar, which is readily available.

Unlike Scheublin's car, the zeCar is powered by a stainless steel flywheel which is connected to the wheels via a series of gears. A gentle push spins the flywheel and supplies the zeCar with the energy it needs to move. You can choose to have the traction be the front, or the rear wheels. You can also slide it upside-down on the flywheel and two free spinning wheels. Zecar is not a race car. It has lots of torque, and so can move up gentle inclines, but it moves rather slowly. It sells for a very reasonable $13 USD.

[ Thanks Adam! ]

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Opportunity - a welded steel rolling-ball sculpture by Tom Harold

Here is a new rolling ball sculpture from artist Tom Harold titled Opportunity. I really like the tone-emitting ball drops!

From the video description:

It measures 52.5" x 33" x 11" and is made entirely of welded steel, clear coated to prevent rust. It features a motor-driven chain lift effortlessly supplying marbles to the topmost track that then divides into two tracks via a tipper-style track splitter. Once on their way, the marbles encounter a number of entertaining devices including a chime, four tone-emitting ball drops, three 360-degree loops, two spirals, wavy track, a four-ball collector, and a coil plus elements made from tubing, welded rings and over 51 feet of track with dips, curves and bends.

To check out additional kinetic art by Tom Harold on his web site or inquire commissioning a piece of fascinating by the artist.

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Precise beauty: the engineered kinetic art of Anne Lilly

Here is a kinetic sculpture by artist Anne Lilly. Like most of her work, the piece is made of machined stainless steel. Though the pieces are finely crafted and sleek, they are not motorized; they require the viewer set the piece into motion via a gentle touch.

From the artist's web site:

Kinetic sculptor Anne Lilly uses carefully engineered motion to shift and manipulate our perception of time and space. Her highly ordered and precisely constructed interactive sculptures move in strikingly organic, fluid and mesmeric ways. Employing opposing modalities -- analytical and intuitive, rational and emotional -- Lilly's sculptures elicit new connections between the physical space outside ourselves and our own private, psychological domain.

See more engineered kinetic sculpture by Anne Lilly on her web site.

[ Thanks to Junkculture! ]

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Beautifully crafted mechanized Viking longship gone Steampunk

Feast your eyes on the meticulous craftsmanship invested into this kinetic sculpture titled Steampunk Voyager. The piece -- made of copper, brass, and polished steel -- appears to represent a mechanized Viking longboat. There are lots of juicy mechanical elements including hinges, rivets, flywheels, chain drives, pulleys, crankshafts, linkages, and a flyball governor. I don't think it is actually steam powered, but no matter; it is just gorgeous!

[ Thanks Christoph! ]

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Laminar water jet powered clock in stainless steel

Did you see the novel water-driven pendulum clock a while back? The creator, Nigel Loller, has a new clock -- this one that is powered by a laminar jet of water that shoots over the the top of the mechanism. Very clever and very dramatic. This clock makes use of a tidy pin wheel escapement.

From the YouTube description of the clock:

Water clock, made from polished 316 stainless steel and acetal. The power for this clock comes from a laminar flow water jet which 'arrives' in collector with an overflow bypass tube and is then directed onto the right hand side of the escapement pin wheel. The foam band around the escapement wheel holds the bypass corrected weight of water (30 grams) to allow the clock to run easily, but not to supply so much power that the escapement is 'hammered'. The shape of the clock is arranged to catch any splashes, to support the lam-jet, and to fit the pump and 10Ltr of water all while having to look beautiful!

Indeed! This is a very impressive bit of engineering. The clock took three weeks to construct.

See more water-driven wonders by Nigel Loller on his YouTube channel.

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Unique water-powered pendulum clock

Sure, pendulum clocks have been around for hundreds of years. Water clocks have been around for thousands of years. But this -- a water driven pendulum clock -- is quite unique as far as I know. This timepiece invention is the work of Nigel Loller.

The Pendulum itself is driven by the weight of the flowing water landing in the T-shaped tube which is divided by a baffle. As the pendulum swings, the water is forced to flow into one side causing the pendulum assembly to tip that way. Having shifted, the water then flows into the opposite side, causing it to become the heavier side. The resulting alternating movement powers the clock by via a ratchet and pawl mechanism.

This clever arrangement allows for a very simple gear train (as far as clocks go, anyway). Here's how Mr. Loller describes it:

The Clock 'ticks' at 46 beats per minute and therefore the escapement wheel has 46 teeth...from there on it is simple to gear the minutes and hours. Apart from the obvious water power (small pond pump in base), the other unique thing is the drive from the escapement (not a true escapement as it only drives the clock and isn't regulating the drive from the pendulum in any way) to the minute (60 tooth) wheel is by effectively a one tooth gear, having a single peg which only engages once per revolution and does away with one complete 60 to 1 gear train.

The white parts are machined from acetal plastic and the metal ones are stainless steel. The most amazing thing of all is that this is his first attempt at building a clock! Kudos!

To learn more about the history of timekeeping, check out the engaging book titled Time's Pendulum: From Sundials to Atomic Clocks, the Fascinating History of Timekeeping and How Our Discoveries Changed the World.

[ Thanks New Gottland! ]

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Kinetic Sculpture at the BMW Museum, Munich

You may have seen this one, but if not: behold the kinetic ingenuity and elegance on display at the BMW museum in Germany.

From the sculpture description:

714 metal spheres, hanging from thin steel wires attached to individually-controlled stepper motors and covering the area of six square meters, animate a seven minute long mechatronic narrative. In the beginning, moving chaotically, then evolving to several competing forms that eventually resolve to the finished object, the kinetic sculpture creates an artistic visualisation of the process of form-finding in different variations.

You can see more photos of the Kinetische Skulptur at http://www.artcom.de web site.

[ Thanks Dave! ]

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Articulated metal figure in bronze and steel

Shown here is the beautiful human figure titled "Artform No. 1" by artist Mark Ho. The initial model -- bronze and stainless steel, like the one shown here -- was 6 years in the making!

The figure is fully articulated, stands 17 inches high, weighs in at 16 lbs, and is made up of over 500 parts. This is a limited edition run of 25. Each Artform No. 1 figure comes with a clever magnetic base which can be activated and de-activated, allowing you to pose and "freeze" the sculpture into any shape the human form is capable of.

See more animations and photographs of this amazing metal figure at ZOHO ARTFORMS web site.

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5 ft tall wall-mounted rolling ball sculpture - 3 tracks

Check out this large wall-mounted rolling ball track with three distinct courses for the balls to travel. Excellent work!

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