Yesterday I found myself pretty inspired by a couple of links that a fellow follower of the blog named Marc left in the comments for Day 192 / One Man’s Junk. I asked for ideas of what I should do with the stuff I found in the alleyway behind my office and he led me to two really interesting ideas.
I found myself pretty attracted to the first link in particular, this one. It’s a table called a Harmonograph. Using three pendulums swinging with weights geometric patterns are formed on a drawing surface located at the top of one of the pendulums. It’s hard to describe but check out this video to quickly see the device in action.
Marc’s idea was to use the record player I found in the alleyway as the drawing surface, which would add one more element of movement to the whole device, the spinning of the drawing surface. Who knows how this would effect the geometric patterns but I bet it would be cool.
I checked into the record player to see if I could get the motor running and found out that it needed 117volts to run. Not a very safe voltage for tinkering. So I will have to change out the motor altogether and get something with a -17 to +17 voltage. That way I can use one of those model train set variable power supplies to control the speed of the spinning.
I was led to another page which demonstrated a drawing device called a Pintograph. A smaller, simpler version of the Harmonograph. Both of these devices are really interesting to me and I plan on building them both as well. They sort of remind me a bit of my Processing sketches from earlier days except in a very analog way.
All of this information has almost nothing to do with my creative thing for today except for the fact that I was led to it by Marc’s links. I can’t remember exactly the way I got there but I saw this video for a device called the Bearing Glocken.
Basically, a timed pulse releases ball bearings onto tuned metal bars and the natural momentum of the ball bearing leads it to hit four notes before ending up in a catch at the end. I thought this seemed like a pretty cool device to create for myself.
The website touts the fact that these ball bearings were made specifically for them with the top of the line precision technology to create almost perfect spheres but I would be willing to experiment with some imperfect ball bearings. Who knows how perfect they really need to be and how much of it is meant for publicity of the ball bearing company.
I’m still trying to figure out how to best release my ball bearings because rather then a timed computer do it I think it would be fun to do it manually. It could be fun to challenge four of my friends to perform a song each using their own manual trigger. So, I googled the term “DIY glockenspiel” and found a site selling some plans. And that, in a very roundabout way, leads me to last nights creative thing.
Last night I cut the bars to my glockenspiel device. Something in the back of my head tells me that I should have gone with Xylophone rather than glockenspiel because the bars are not very wide. The wider the better when it comes to chaotic falling ball bearings. Anyways, I may be in over my head or I may be on the verge of something awesome. Either way we shall see.
By the way if your interested in cutting your own glockenspiel tines I have the lengths shown in the picture above. All you have to do is get a 1/8 thick, 3/4 wide Aluminum Flat Bar from your local hardware store and cut it into the various lengths noted above.
Comments
5 responses to “Day 194 / DIY Glockenspiel And More”
I’m glad the links did you well. You’re blog is pretty inspirational to begin with. Still smoking? 1 a day is ambitious, but I imagine it has gotten easier.
Here is some more inspiration for your current project.
http://blog.makezine.com/archive/2008/02/absolut_machines_amazing_1.html
You have a lot of people following you. It may be a larger scale than 1 a day, but have you considered a project that requires input from the community at large? Say for example , request a 6 x 6 cardboard tile to be sent in by 6 weeks from now.. The collection of tiles either has a determined project to be incorporated. Or, it is a challenge to you to use the collected material once you’ve received whatever it is you’ve received.
Also, I was curious about organization. Do you have a list of projects? Like a backlog, Or did you? Did you have a road map at one point when you had a glut of ideas?
P.S. one last gem. I’ve been feeling dumb since I saw this:
http://01mathery.tumblr.com/post/1063167105
This would be a cool Exhibit to witness.
so that’s aluminum and not wood? the lighting is deceiving. how are you going to mount the tines? this is a really great project, can’t wait to see how everything goes.
Thanks for the comments guys. @rabbitears, I’m thinking of using legos for constructing the small towers that will hold the bars. Legos seems like a good call because I can calibrate the height a little by adding and removing blocks. I’m really flying by the seat of my pants with this idea and I am completely expecting to fail at first.
@marc, Thanks for the complement. That last link you have with the two designers is very humbling. They are pretty dang clever with their ideas.
Regarding the idea of me working on projects with input from others I certainly welcome the input. I’m really up for anything. I will either impress or disappoint and both things I have learned to be cool with. I’m attracted to the idea of something being collaborative where it’s not just myself taking on a challenge and rather something others can take a more tangible part in. Perhaps, some object that is designed by everyone who wants to leave a mark. A friend of mine is doing something where she sends small canvases to her friends and then everybody paints there own small thing and then she assembles them together to create one final work of art. I don’t know just an idea. I’ll have to give the idea more thought. Something musical and collaborative is also a nice idea.
I’m interested in your tile idea as well. I’d be up to learning more details because the idea is not yet completely clear in my head.
Regarding how I come up with stuff and whether or not I have a list. I really do fly by the seat of my pants most nights. The ideas that I have stored in my head are usually projects that I have to set aside enough time to show something significant from it. If I’m in a situation where I have no clue what I’m going to do then I will usually assess how much time I have to do it and then decide from there. There have been many days where I find that I have no time at all and I need to come up with something on the spot. These usually turn out either slightly disappointing or extremely satisfying.
For the most part though I believe I have found a bit of a tempo too things and I sort of see where I’m going. Many of the things I have done already are stepping stones to new variations and ideas. Processing, which I need to get back to soon, is something that might open up a lot of avenues for me. Filmmaking and animation are other things I’m interested in doing more of. I’ve been getting into gears and I think I’d like to get good at making my own out of wood. Perhaps make my own clock. I’m all over the place. With this harmonograph and ball bearing glockenspiel I am truly out in left-field. Perhaps more with the ball bearing glock than with the record player harmonograph (which, by the way, is a great idea and I’m really looking forward to how the drawings come out. Thanks for that.)
Anyways, this is the longest comment ever. I hope I answered your questions. Oh yeah, and it’s been at least two months but maybe even three since my last smoke. I was supposed to quit the gum this weekend but unfortunately that hasn’t really happened for me yet. Oh well. I’m not giving in or giving up.
Thanks!
I’m very ewxcited to see the result of what you make of this instrument