New Ball Machine Started

I have now started to build a new ball machine! I'm almost done with the first lift; I'm working on the motor. I started building the lift in March 2010, but then put it aside until Cataclysm was down. But, I began the actual ball machine yesterday. This ball machine won't take up as much space as Cataclysm did, but that doesn't really mean it will be smaller. ;-) It won't have as much lifts either, but it will have more paths. It will have one, maybe two networks that go to the very top. I hope to finish it by the end of summer. I won't post any pictures now, but I might do a few updates in the future.

Inverted Double Helix Lift

This lift is one that I recreated from Cataclysm. It's different than the original double helix lift because there is a tower in the center that spins around, and the helix is on the outside. This makes it more efficient, because it can be made much higher.

Click here for the instructions! The one in the instructions isn't very tall, but it's easy to modify to make taller.

Here is a video.

Rapid Ball Juggler

Wow, two posts in one day. Anyway, here is my latest creation, the ball juggler! It's a kinetic sculpture that is built just for entertainment. Ping pong balls are thrown into a basket with a catapult. It's powered by a motor, and a rubber band makes the catapult shoot the balls. A pusher rotates, and it pushes the catapult back. There's a ball dispenser on the catapult side which loads one ball at a time into the catapult.

EDIT: The name has been changed from catapult machine to ball juggler. It just sounds better. :-)

Click here for the instructions!

Here's the video:

Cataclysm is Demolished

After a week of demolishing and counting pieces, Cataclysm is demolished. The room looks so empty now! This huge ball machine used exactly 28,538 pieces! The picture above just shows some of the pieces. There are boxes all over the place. To see more pictures of the pieces and demolition, click here to go to my contest (which is now over). Scroll down to see the pictures. Lots of the pieces don't even fit in their boxes anymore, since I bought around 3,000 more pieces while building it.

Now I'll have to think of my next project...

Cataclysm is Finished!

This post is a little late, but oh well. As the title says, I have finally finished Cataclysm after 16 months of hard work! It has 10 lifts and 6 paths. The lifts are organized into three networks, each network having two paths. This is my biggest ball machine to date, but I haven't counted the pieces yet. It stands 8 feet tall to the ceiling, and takes up a whole rug. I had to buy many pieces while building.

Here is Cataclysm's picture gallery! I'm still working on uploading more photos, but 20 is good for now. I'm already busy taking this huge ball machine down.

Video:

Lifts of Cataclysm Finished

After almost a year of construction, the lifts of Cataclysm are finally finished! I added my alternator lift (which is in a previous post), and three other lifts. That makes 10 lifts! They aren't all different or new though, but most of them have never been done before. There are three lift networks in all, each leading to the ceiling. It'll have an estimate of 12 paths (4 paths per network). I may build more paths depending on how much pieces and space I have. Now that I bought 900 green rods, I can begin on the elements.

As for other projects, I'm building something else (it's a secret), and I'm working on another collaboration with Hiyadudez.

There are no pictures here because I want to keep everything a surprise. ;-)

Alternator Lift

This is a new ball machine lift I made and worked on for a month. Here's how it works: a tower in the middle of the main tower (called the lifter) has ball grabbers on it. There are ball holders built into the front of the tower. When the lifter goes up and down, the balls are alternated from one side to the other, which is why I named it the Alternator Lift! This lift will go into Cataclysm.

Click here for instructions!

Here's the video of the lift in action: