On 16 Aug 2004 13:07:07 -0700, (Stephen) wrote:

Hi:

You might try http://groups.yahoo.com/group/rollingballsculptures/

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

I thought of making jigs, buying mechanical slip rolls, or
getting a large collection of round objects. The probelm
was, they all became more of a headace in cost or the
time it took time to apply the bends. My solution was
to find an object that was perfectly round and had a
varying radius from tip to bottom. What was this? A
simple traffic cone. I turned it bottom side up and
filled it with concrete. When dried, I attached it to a
base, and stood it upright. There you go, the perfect
wire bending tool. With it, I can bend wire track with
a diameter of about 5 inches to a track with a
diameter of about 2 feet.

(The link to his cone description was no longer working, but you can
visit his site at: http://www.eddiesmind.com/.)

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.