Plans for relaxing? Nope. I am sketching out ideas for the RELAX sculpture.
These are just ideas. Once the movement of every part of the sculpture is planned, I will either make some detailed plans or just make one part at a time until it is all working.
Here are the ideas so far:
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The left vertical bar of the R and the left vertical bar of the L will be connected to each other and will spin around a vertical pivot point that is behind and a little to the side of the E. This will be a little ways behind the E so that I can run some cams or cranks off of the vertical shaft of that pivot point. I have the gears I need for this.
Note that the second drawing shows two dotted lines across the picture. These are the two main shafts that drive everything. They will be connected to each other with some large gears on one end. the motor will probably drive one of these large gears.
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The three bars of the E will move inward towards each other with the center piece sliding back into the mechanism to make room for the outer two bars to touch each other. They will then move out from each other and well above and below the initial positions. It should be a little bit of an exploding movement.
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The bottom bar of the L will move up and also spin. A crank will lift it while an arm in a slot will spin it. I have not through about how to connect the solid arm holding this to the pivot point will allow for the spinning without the piece falling off of the mechanism. Some metal with holes in it should do the trick but the final piece will be much more complicated than just metal with holes in it.
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The vertical bar of the E might fold down either inward or outward. I’m not sure yet.
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The middle bar of the A, which has no movement shown in the drawing, might move inward and down and then back again. A fixed slot that has the desired position, or a bent bar, will control the vertical position while a cam moves the piece along the path while also moving it inward. As it moves in, it follows the path moving downward for part of the movement but not for the entire movement.
I don’t have any more ideas worked out. Maybe the upside-down V shape of the A will spin around like an arrow going around the X. I’m not sure yet.
The mechanism will also have moving parts that look like pistons, cranks, and rocker arms, that all move around as a distraction and to take up more space. This will be even less planned and I’ll add stuff until the mechanism seems so complex that it cannot possible do anything.