Spring Driven
Kinetic Art

Limited Edition of 95
Size: 48”h x 38”w x 8”d
Power Source: negator spring
Approximate Run Time: 10 hours

Quandary ©2009
Price: $1695.00

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 Quandary design blog post  

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It seems that my current common design theme is try, try again. I started work on this sculpture well over a year ago. I wanted to build a Variation-type sculpture but with four satellite wheels instead of six. Working with four wheels allowed me to have more overlap between the wheels and create completely new patterns. This worked well in my test animations and early prototype.

My first quandary was that I could create two different and interesting patterns using the same satellite wheels placed in different positions. I couldn't decide which pattern I preferred. Eventually I realized that I was the only one with this problem. Everyone else had a definite preference.

My second quandary was the mechanism. The first one I designed was too complex to operate and moved the sculpture in too regular a motion. I tried several approaches but nothing was right. Finally, I decided to try what I call a "fall back" type of mechanism where the motion proceeds in one direction until it runs out of momentum and then "falls" back and gets another push forward. Much to my surprise this was the answer. The extra rocking motion this mechanism introduced to the satellite wheels gave the sculpture the "life" that I had been looking for. It was also far simpler to make and operate and even ran longer than my original mechanism. 

For more detail with animations see this Quandary blog post.