Dihemispheric Chronaether Agitator

Only a few days left before the show and I while I’m constantly coming up with new ideas and additions I’m resisting the urge to keep tinkering so I can get it all slick and finished looking for Friday. I’m still not sure if I’m going to paint it. My […]

When I built the Triaparator I got more questions about how I did the etching then how I designed and built the irises — well here is how I made them:   The general idea behind etching is that you cover the metal to be etched by the acid with […]

Here are what will likely be the final tray etchings. These will be 3.5′ in diameter and the yellow circles will be where brass end nuts are used to attach them to the tray itself. These were designed in Illustrator and then I’ll print them onto glossy photo paper. The […]

The initial design for the brass etching for the tray were a bit more complicated then what I think I am actualy going to go with. I think I am going to make them three or four (likely three) 3.5″ circles with a circuit board style etching on them. I’m […]

Because the spirals are mounted with their narrow end at the hub I needed a way to support the large end of the spiral at the end of the rod. I decided to make these supports out of straight lines to contrast a bit with the spirals and circles on […]

Making the brass spirals was a fun challenge. I could have freehand cut them with a plasma cutter but I’m not really steady enough to have them come out with nice even edges. I could have drawing one on the computer and transfered it wood and used it as a […]

Last night I banged out another little widget for the hemispheres. I’m still unsure how I’m going to a affix these to the copper bowls. I’m also not sure if I’ll put both of these on the same bowl or one on each.      

    Here are some of the small parts that I machined with the very fine help of my pal Nathanial at Radiorobot. These square parts will be used to make the alignment brackets on the underside of the tray. The round parts will be used as stoppers for the […]

Here are some shots of another day of fabricating some of the major components. First is the main vertical component of the base which is a ~20″ tapering piece of 5/16″ plate, cut to a taper and then bent about 90° of a ~24″ radius. First the taper is laid […]

The plan is to cover the top of the tray with etched brass work. Below is a sketch of the brass peices that will be cut and then etched. The holes in the brass will accommodate some of the brass rod which will drop down the tray and fill in […]

My buddy Dick Venerbeck of KSW is going to be hooking me up with a small, vintage steam engine to power the DCA. Here are two snapshots he just sent me of one of the two possible candidates he’s got.

Here is the first, primitive mock-up of the DCA hemisphere. This is the real copper bowl, however, the banding and brass spiral are scrap pieces. Before I committed to this design idea I wanted to make sure it would look as good in real life as it did in the […]

Jankey hack additions: antenna, dish, loose wires, broken switches, cooper wire attaching brass spirals to outter collars. Pipe stand — run copper tubes out the back, between them and the main band, in the space bellow the tray, use them to compose the tray. Three pipes fanning out from back, […]

Here’s my first crack at the base. I’ve had a lot of ideas about how to mount the main assembly and loved none of them — including this one. This base is successful because: It’s simple, elegant and strong It supports the assembly from the back and allows it to […]

Well the gears haven’t gotten here yet but I’ve pulled their specs from the web and whipped some up. Shown here is the nearly finished core assembly. The three gears will be aligned and stabilized by the two concentic rings that also serve as the tray for the objects. I’m […]