Making Zig Zags

Now that I have the steel wire for the track (but alas no marbles yet), I thought I'd start playing with a basic element: The Zig Zags.

A pretty basic approach: Take a bit of timber, put in bolts to bend the wire around, and bend. I had planned to use normal screws I have with spacers for smoothness, but I couldn't find spacers in the hardware store. Instead I grab a pack of cheap timber screws which have no grooves in the top 1cm - perfect for what I'm after.

So a bit of drawing on the timber to get the broad sizes right, some drilling, and presto: A Zig Zag making tool. I know I can get matching track by leaving the first piece on (bent), lining up the ends of the two pieces, and bending the second track through (see the second picture).

The result: Two matching pieces of zig zag track .

If I wanted to make it rounder, I'd take a round piece of doweling (maybe a cricket stump), and nail them down instead of using the screws. These screws are 6cm apart, with a 4cm off-set for the lower onces. I'm pretty happy. Test ball (a golf ball), ran through them OK. First step done.

Now I just need the marbles to arrive so I can work on the bend.

Track Elements

I used to be an architect (technology - but buildings, although a career in Industrial Design does seem like a cool career move). So experience tells me I can/should break down the problem into it's constituent parts, and solve bit by bit. And once I've broken it down, put in place tools which will let me recreate things over and over again.

Thinking about a basic RBS I figured there are 6 track elements I want to worry about;
- Straight bits
- Curves
- Zig Zags
- Spiral (downwards)
- Loop
- Bumps (in straight lines) - Something I started playing with in the prototype set I bought.

Straight bits are easy: Don't bend the track.

Curves are interesting:
For general curves... Bending by hand seems to be the easiest and best way to do it, but maintaining a constant bend across the two sides of the track seems to be the challenge.

I guess I could rely on welding the tracks to a cross brace, but I'd rather not assume the welds will hold under stress - both because I'm not sure how good my welds are, but also I want to go for a low weld look. So my thought is to build a little tool (see the sketch on the left) - something which can keep the two tracks the right distance apart, and give me the leverage to bend it as I need it. I'm waiting for my marbles to arrive before I do this so I can get the widths right.

For tight curves... Need a round shape to bend them around. I figure there are three ways to do this;
- Find something solid to bend around (pipes for example). Problem is getting to size - what is solid enough and large for the bigger curves.
- Take something soft that gives different options, like a traffic cone, and fill with concrete. I think I have a traffic cone in the garage at my parents house (from doing Blues Brothers many years ago I think).
- Build something with concentric wood/metal disks ~ 1cm thick, with size difference in each layer being the same as the gauge of tracks. This actually strikes me as the best option, as you could miss on a cone and get the sizes wrong. Bit of a problem though: Where do I pick up the disks? I'm not sure on this one so I'll keep thinking for a while.

Zig Zags: I like pretty tight zig zag lines. I like the idea of the ball going back and forwards pretty quickly, so being abrupt is OK. Eventually I may go for softer roles, but I'll leave that for now. A tool on this is probably more important than on the curves, as being out of sync could cause real problems.

That'll do for now in terms of planning. I've picked up some steel (6m of 3mm, and 2m of 5mm for support), so I'll start seeing how things work.

Welding Course Done

I've finished my welding course. 6 classes was probably just enough to get the basics, although I think it's hard to come out proficient on three styles in that time.

My view of my own abilities;
- I am horrid ad Arc welding. No issue for what I'm doing RBS wise, and I'm unlikely to need to do any car rebuilding in the desert, but I know how. Really messy though.
- I'm mixed at MIG welding. I'm at the point where a lot of grinding is needed to get the surface looking OK afterwards. I guess that's normal, but they're just not neat welds. Probably not a big issue again.
- I get Oxy. Oddly I found brazing to be amazingly easy. Working with filler road was similarly easy, although I couldn't get a good flat line (grinding needed again). So I'm pretty happy.

Now that I know enough to be dangerous, I'll be off get to some steal and brass. I'm going to try using silver solder (and a soldering iron) on the first go, but if I had to guess I think I'll end up with a single tank Oxy type welder (I think they are actually butane). The yellow ones.

Conclusion: It's been a good learning experience. I got what I needed to move ahead with this project (and in the mean time got to use the spare weekends and my new bench to build book shelves for my daughter), and I've nailed on the styles I want to use.

NEXT STEP: Buying metals.

A How To Guide

Matt, over at RollingBallSculture.com, has started putting together a full "How To" Guide based on his rather extensive experience.

This is great - firstly because there is nothing else out there, and secondly because it's likely to be far more useful that the notes I will generate on my random wanderings through the desert of sculptural creativity.

Marbles Are Ordered

I finally got around to ordering some Marbles for my first run from www.MoonMarble.com. The selection seems OK, but their online ordering is a nightmare if you have a non-US address as it demands you select a state, which immediately invalidates the billing address for the credit card authorization. At least they deliver internationally though so I've faxed my order through and hopefully we should have something in about two weeks.

Being in Australia limits my sources of marbles unfortunately. Of real interest though is that they didn't come up in my Google Searches several weeks ago - so whilst my blog has vanished from the rankings, it has helped me find other sites.

On a welding note: I hate Arc Welding. Thankfully, it's not useful for what I'm thinking of doing. Oxy for stainless and silver solder for brass will be the go.

Tomorrow I'll start mocking up the run, providing the steel supplier near here isn't closed (the Monday before a public holiday Tuesday). If so, I'll finish up the frame which has gone on hold as I made some stuff for my daughters room.

I am Man for I have Workbench!

Yesterday I went and had a look at pre-made / kit work benches. So expensive, and so short.

Today I thought I'd have a crack at making my own, so following some directions from Make. This morning I headed down to Bunnings and picked up the necessary kit for a 160cmx50cm work bench.

First step went well putting the frame together. Only one mistake: The legs went around the wrong way. Not a major issue, but it did effect the size of the shelf later on.

I also ended up with more bench on one side than I intended. I've decided to keep it there so I can build in some storage tubes for copper/stainless steel rods and lengths of wood. My thought is to drill some very large holes in the top deck, and use PVC tubing resting on the bottom shelf, to hold it.

I'll wait till I get going and see how it works. Anyway, the whole thing worked out well. Here is a picture of the finished bench, with vice added, in situ.

Work Space

This is my work space. Its the left hand side of my garage. The wall to the right (opposit the garage door) has a wine rack in it which we don't have anywhere in the house for (and with a young child, it's probably too tempting to climb.

I've drawn up an initial list of what I need;
- A work bench. I think I'll end up with two: One metal one for welding, plus a larger general work bench.
- A vice
- A desktop Miter Saw, because I've decided to use as much wood as I can.
- Tube benders. Obviously different choices here if I use brass, or I can make my own if I use stainless steel. Still thinking on this.
- The usual things you have in a work area: Nails, Hammer, Drill Bits, Screws, Chisel, Sand paper, pliers, etc

And timber to make stuff from.

I checked out my local Big Box hardware store (Bunnings), and no luck on either 4mm brass or stainless steel as a standard item. They'll have to come from a specialist, which is no problem, and gives me time to work out what to do with a work bench: Buy or Build.

I'm 185cm tall, and I like to work standing up at a high table. Most off the shelf work benches are 70/80cm high, so I'm thinking building my own will be the order of the day. Attaching the vice is the only real unknown. So off to the internet for more research we go.

Also, I'm going to order a couple of marbles from House of Marbles, so I can get started playing with different sizes. MarbleRunMan in a comment to an earlier post recommended that I start with 1 3/8" rather than 2" (that's 42mm and 50mm for people who don't live in America, Burma or Liberia), so I'll get 4 each of 35mm, 42mm and 50mm. I also think I'll try and pick up some ball bearings in those sizes to get a feel for the difference of metal vs glass balls in the RBS.

Mock Ups

So every single RBS I've seen or seen mentioned on line is built with Stainless Steel. I'm sure there is a good reason for that, which I will learn fairly soon. But I've got an idea that I want to mock up, and I don't have any welding kit.

What I do have, however, is a soldering iron (OK, I've never used it, but I have one). So I'm thinking I'll have a go and mocking up the frame in wood, with a brass tubing run. I can work the brass fairly easy with some stock tools (I do intend to make some of my own, but I know I can pick up some basic bending tools cheaply.

Why the soldering iron? Well, because I figure I'll try "welding" the brass together the way they do on brass instruments (Trumpet, Saxophone, etc). It's non-ferrous so you can't actually weld it - but with a mix of solder and flux you can get very strong joins. So, I'm thinking I'll try it on the weekend. Providing I don't get distracted of course.

Worse case: This is a mock up of some ideas in a solid material.
Best case: I have a basic RBS a month or two faster than expected.

Of course, I don't have any marbles yet, but I'll see what I can do on the weekend about that too.

How much welding do I really need?

A thought come up as I was making dinner (I have no idea why); Do I really need to do much welding?

At first I thought I would need to be able to weld a frame, but the more I think about it the more I like the idea of a wood frame, stained a dark Red Wood or Mahagony colour. That would stop the RBS from looking too clinical, which I'm a little worried about. So that's one lot of welding not needed.

Then I thought about the track. Do I really need to weld in strengthening joins between the tracks (like the cross beams on a roller coaster)? Well I clearly need them to keep the spacing right, but could I do it another way?

I think yes, using wooden rings. Look at the sketch here. If the wire was coming through the ring where the black circles are, super glued into place, it would have the same effect as the welded cross beam but look much cooler.

It also adds a cool visual element, as the ball would go through the middle of the ring, adding something visually interesting to the RBS. Do 4-5 in a row, and you get a kind of skeleton to roll through.

You still need welding to join together the bits of track, so I continue on my welding course, but still: Maybe I can get away with an arc welder if I just need a small about of welding.

Welding Course: Night One

I started the welding course today. The course will cover Oxyacetylene, MIG and Arc welding. I got to play with the Mig welder (drool) and the Oxy welder (hmph - a little less luck there). I'll get to the Arc welder next week, but looking at it I don't think it'll be right for what I'm going to try and do.

Also, the Oxy kit seems wrong for a couple of reasons. Firstly, I'm not mad keen about playing with the gas. I don't mind having it in the garage (I think), but every time I light it up I get worried. Also, it's not an easy "on off" type welding kit. As I think about laying track it's going to be lots of set up, then 2 spot welds, stop and more set up. The Mig just seems so much easier to use for that sort of thing.

I think I've managed to get the hang of the Mig welding too, although I'm sure any experienced welders would serious critique the technique.

I did about a 8 welds all up: These are the first two and last two I did.


The course did raise the question of ventilation. My work space is going to be half of the garage, which I will sheet off for safety.

But I'm concerned that relying on an open door for ventilation just won't cut it, so I'll need to look at an extractor system. This on top of the Mig welder, and a metal table for welding on. I'll have to look around for used shop equipment and see if I can get a good used set anywhere. eBay says $500 - $1000. The instructor suggested ~$1,000, but that is a bit steep for me.