charlieb wrote:

Lobby Dosser wrote:

I like stuff that moves. When I was a child, tops were favorite toys.
Then gyroscopes. Then in my first 'real' art class, a mobile. I
particularly like stuff that moves without human intervention, like
mobiles and wind chimes and something like your rocking box, if it is
light enough to be set in motion by the breeze from a passing person.

Can it start moving without your help?

Yes - but I live in earthquake country. I imagine that a
machinist could make a piece whose balance was so precisely
positioned that the piece could be set in motion by the breeze of
someone walking by it. But wood being wood - probably not. It's
not homogenous and not dimensionally stabile enough. But in a
room with hardwood floors, especially once with a little "bounce"
that might do it.

I'm playing with a pendulum idea using a ball jointed finial for a
turned lidded box. The box would use the low primary stability
high secondary stability idea. As the box tilts and wobbles, the
finial would remain upright.

Interesting idea. Hope you share when finished.


0
| finial on ball joint
|
( 0 )
/ | \
+ X + x = counter weight
| |
| |
+ +
\ /
+-+

This ball swivel idea has possibilities.

charlie b