Making Ball Sculpture/Kugelbahn

Jul 31, 2004 2 Replies

I'd like a little advice on narrowing down the choice of a welder, please. I'd like to make some of the rolling ball sculptures and some other smallish sculptures. It will be fairly light weight, indoor kind of stuff. There will be no massive multi-ton "industrial" sculpture. For the ball sculptures, this is close to what I'm thinking of:

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Here is a nicely-done little sculpture like what I'm thinking of:
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Some of the sculptures might have some heavier elements, like the supports for this rolling ball sculpture:
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I plan on using O/A to weld the heavier stuff, but I'm really curious as to what would be a good machine to weld the "wire" cage that the balls roll in.



I'd think that a basic 110V mig welder would be ideal for this, or am I missing something? I have a 220V outlet, so I might get a 220V welder, but probaly not because of the extra cost. Or, am I making this more complex than it needs to be, and brazing would be better?



Any one built somthing similar? I plan on using welding rod to get started with the ball-races, but I'm sure I'll move on regular ~ 1/8" steel rod. I plan on making a set of discs, or maybe a set cones, that I can use to bend the races. I figure that and a peg board should work to bend just about any raceway I'd want.



I have a decent metal/wood shop... metal lathe, drill press, etc... If anyone would like a little more info, I have the basics of a site up at:

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Right now there's not too much up, just a bit about some of the tools, but I'll be adding more.



Thanks in advance,



Jeff Polaski



Hi:

You might try

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It is a stupendous resource for RBS.

Stephen

Thanks, they are a great resource! For example, one thing that might be of use to the welding/metalworking crowd was a suggestion (by Eddie Boes) for bending wire smoothly--use a traffic cone filled with concrete! I've re-posted a fragment of the original message, below

(The link to his cone description was no longer working, but you can visit his site at:

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Today I picked up a cone and a 90 lb. bag of cement from the local Home Depot and started... It looks like it'll work perfectly, so any one else that has similar wire bending needs might give it a try! If any one's interested I'll keep the groups updated in a few days, after I've actually bent some wire.

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