Quick safety note for anyone wanting to replicate: (thanks to everyone who commented about this) USE PERSONAL PROTECTIVE EQUIPMENT! I did not set a good example in this video. But please do use them: gloves, respirator, eye protection, well ventilated area, or whatever you need to work safely. These solvents are toxic/carcinogenic/harmful.
You've truly inspired me here! I'm the head of a school science department and we just opened a beautiful new building covered with windows. We have acrylics, bearings, magnets, and 3D printers, and I am likely going to build a dynamic, chaotic, interactive sculpture much as you did here! I will definitely check out your files and adapt some of your ideas, and if I am successful, I will send videos your way. Thank you for making this!
Oh man I wish I could do this. Just lost the job offer of my dreams designing school curriculum for years 10, 11 and 12 doing drafting and engineering due to me still being highschool age 😭 unfortunately they didn't take me seriously, even though I provided genuinely amazing learning tools. Currently just seething that my pin up board colour coded, 3d printed hydraulic systems diagram kit has been stolen, and is literally being used in a school because it was so goo, but I still didn't get the job. One day I'll get there! And hopefully one day i can do cool things at a school with 3d printing and engineering to make kids learning experiences better.
If you're still in high schools and you make designs good enough to be stolen, you'll be fine in life. Just keep making good decisions and invest in yourself and the right people! 💪✨ Also it's wonderful you aspire to be in education!
@JensMakerAdventures not in highschool lol. Graduated last year, completed a w year course in 14 weeks, was given a refund afterwards because they didn't think I should pay the whole price for the 2 years. In year 11 I got a job designing air diffusion products, like grilles, bulkheads and dampers. Problem is, I make 20 bucks AUD an hour, or like 14 USD, and not 1 of the 100+ places I've applied and interviewed at those year have taken me seriously. Like, is designing, certifying, and putting into production, and entire line of anti-suicide aircon grilles for mental hospitals, and prison cells, that are completely silent, tamper proof, and invisible to airflow, seriously not count towards experience? Guess I should try and pick drafting up again when I'm in my mid to late 30s. Hopefully I get taken seriously next time 😭
That's beautiful! A tip: make the holes for the magnets oval, not round. The smaller radius should be smaller than the bearing; the larger radius should be larger than the bearing. The circumference of the oval should not be less than the circumference of the magnet. Then, when you insert the magnet, you will deform the oval into a circle, which gives the required clamping force to keep the magnet in place. But the hole in the material does not have to get larger, so it won't crack.
I love kinetic sculptures, and something like this has been haunting my brain for years. Thanks for bringing it into the real world. I'm thinking of other versions of this idea. Using a sheet of plexiglass, or plywood for mounting the pendulums. Maybe painting it and the pendulums with contrasting colors. Consider a different kind of bering like ceramic. Best wishes for your continued success ☮
Maybe I missed it, but when you remove the grease from the bearings you should replace it with another thinner lubricant, otherwise you are running your bearings unlubricated which isn't good.
Thanks for the advice. I think you're right, at some point I think moisture in the air might take its toll on the bearings. I decided to go and see what happens, maybe it will not be that bad and maybe I need to learn about lubrication. What made me decide to postpone is that I can evaluate if I like the sculpture as is, without spilling oils or possibly increasing the friction in the bearings and see them in optimal performance. I might do it differently if I make a new version
From experience with fidget spinners, graphite works the best but is noisy. The bearings will make a whirring noise, but maybe that's ok for you. I landed on bike chain lube for silent spinning.
@@JensMakerAdventures You might try silicone spray. I don't know if it would work, but it's definitely a lot thinner than grease. Setting up one with a motor that just spins it, perhaps from geared teeth added on to the outside half circle part, and leave it spinning for many hours might give you a good idea of if the process works for what you need or not.
@@JensMakerAdventures I would recommend lacquer thinner for removing the grease, and something light like sewing machine oil to prevent rust. Cool stuff 👍
That's so cool, well done! Wondering if a horizontal brace might stop the verticals warping just enough for the tips to touch? And also screwed in at the bottom for more stability? I'm waiting for a printer myself, this may be the first bit thing I try!
One of the problems you have to watch out for when using bearings is that if you force them into a hole that's too small they can actual compress slightly. Then the amount of friction increases.
So cool - thanks for sharing!!! I had some luck making some low friction ball bearings from cheap low quality parts, maybe that's interesting for you. I bought metal and rubber/plastic covered bearings that I removed the covers from, after that I covered everything in dishwashing soap+ water inside a plastic container that fits into my ultrasound cleaner tank. Then I placed it into the ultrasound cleaner tank and filled it up with hot water and ran it for half an hour. During the 30 min I used a pencil to fish out single bearings and roll it around to make sure everything gets contact with the soapy water. Next step is to quickly rinse the bearings under hot water while rolling it , if the grease is still sticky and fills up the space between the balls, a toothbrush and more soap is needed. After that was done, I dried the parts and the plastic container, put the ball bearings into the container, filled it with cleaning alcohol and covered the container to prevent quick evaporation . The container now gets 15-30 minutes in the ultrasound cleaner as well and the tank is again filled with hot water. At this point there was no lubricant left and after the alcohol evaporated, I added a thin mineral oil based lubricant that's typically used for hair trimmers or sewing machines... prevent corrosion and improves the mechanical reliability for a while.
Wow! Impressive project and very satisfying results. Reminds me of the screensavers of yesteryear where you could sit and watch a screen endlessly. But in real life! Love that you kept on iterating, at first on the idea and later on the specific design. Makes me feel part of your process.
@@JensMakerAdventures When reproducing this, should I take the horizontal flexibility of the mounting frame into account or is the stickyness not a big issue?
Instant fan and subscriber. 😎👍 I believe I have a perfect use case for this kinetic sculpture design. If I build this, I'll reach out. Thank you for sharing and for the raw inspiration! 🤝
Very cool. You can also find cheap window gadgets that use a solar panel and a magnet to oscillate all day (such as woodpeckers or lucky cats), I wonder if you could use the internals to power the sculpture automatically!
That would be amazing. I think the less power you have the more the friction and quality of the bearings becomes critical though. But something like this would be sweet :)
Nice work. Simply mesmerizing. I think it would be beneficial to add at least one more element to the table. So, might I suggest getting your hands on some metronomes. The design allows them to sync with each other.And this might help you achieve some sort of immutability for a more natural flow.
@@JensMakerAdventures These detectors are pretty sensitive to how well you are grounded. Just standing in rubber soled shoes, slippers etc. or just the wrong flooring material can cause issues.
That's a really cool idea! I experimented with them however the ones I used had ferrometal in them so the magnets were attracted to them no matter what. I might just experiment with other electromagnets or making my own in the future. I also already bought the enamel wire😊
@@JensMakerAdventuresif you make the coil of wire big enough, you can use an air core, and so there will be ZERO residual magnetic field, when the electromagnet is turned off 😉
It would have to be one on the top row, since the impulse can only travel downwards. But that would be very satisfying, just having it on chill mode in the background
Since the fidget spinner craze died you can buy them by the lot for cheap. They generally use decent bearings. I bought some and it was cheaper than buying just the bearings.
I did just this and built a synthesizer with them ;-) ua-cam.com/video/xIgIhpeJyNA/v-deo.html However a lot of them had rust on them and weren't in too good of a state, the quality differs a lot per fidget spinner.
Skateboard enthusiast here I don't know much about actual bearing materials and uses, but i always use graphite in my bearings and they roll smooth as butter
As a cleaner, try using Acetone. Excellent for removing grease residue. As a lubricant after cleaning with Acetone, use Tri-Flow. It’s a wet Teflon lubricant in a spray can. Perfect for this application.
awesome! i want to do something like this too. i was thinking of having a low rpm dc motor drive the center one so it is perpetual. i would also love to hook up encoders to the other ones so that i could see the signal of their rotation on the computer
YES! Making it mechatronic was my first plan too. However things became complicated and I really liked the way it was without electronics. Do post back here if you make your own version! :)
This is awesome! Props for also using FreeCAD. Version 1.0 should be out soon. What do you think could be improved in FreeCAD? Subscribed to your channel.
That's a fun question! And thanks for your sub. Yes, I'm looking forward to V1.0. Already tried the RC2 and it seems like a nice upgrade. Especially the topo naming problem. First of all I think it's amazing that the FreeCAD project even exists. It's an excellent option. However there are a lot of things that could use some love. Things like getting clear error messages, intuitiveness, cleaning up the model view (if you do a big project with booleans etc. it's near impossible to manage) and making sure the features that are implemented have clear descriptions of all their functions, prerequisites, options and that there's fleshed out documentation. Also, I keep finding a lot of bugs, but many are already reported or just so out there I imagine the whole community is aware. Again I love this project and I am looking forward to where it will go. Huge props to the developers and community!
Good idea!! If I make a newer version I will definitely do this, already bought some enamel wire to make coils, but figured the sculpture was already nice enough to share
@@JensMakerAdventures Perhaps a mechanical wind up kitchen timer. Or for an infinite version, maybe a strong electric clock mechanism with a magnet attached to the second hand. Attached so that it can slide up and down on the hand, for adjusting the position.
Yes, PLA likes cooling, not heating. Also, if you're struggling with inserts breaking the print, PETG is incredible for that. It has so much flexibility and interlayer strength, I've seen it morph around an insert where any other print I would have expected layer separation for sure. It's just so... plastic. Honestly I am sold on it as a material for any structural part.
You know, I think that's a good suggestion! If the material properties were equal, would you prefer PLA given it's mostly made from non fossil sources?
@@JensMakerAdventures In principle, yes, it is more sustainable. If you want to use PLA, PLA+ is another option. It's much more robust, but still can't hold a candle to PETG in my opinion. You could also look into Thomas Sanlanderer's work on annealling PLA prints to increase inter-layer strength. Also though, in practice the lifecycle of PLA isn't completely clean, so you have to ask whether more discarded prints can be justified by the lower impact of the material itself. It's unfortunately a difficult calculation that we don't necessarily have the information to fully parse out without significant investigation. However, if you'll forgive me soapboxing a little bit, I'm not a fan of focusing on individual carbon footprint. It is a time-tested deflection tactic by the fossil fuel industry. The entire point of the "carbon footprint" campaign was for this purpose, and it was largely successful. Similar tactics have been used in the past to deflect all kinds of environmental issues on to ordinary people, like waste dumping in the 70s and 80s, or microplastics today. It exploits our immediacy bias to make us spend our energies on lifestyle changes and policing one another instead of organising action against the huge industries that railroad us into a destructive path regardless of our individual choices. It's a question of going for the root of the problem or the branches. All the individual consumption in the world won't make a significant difference if we don't stop the companies. They are the ones that make the consumption choices hard. If we were able to bring them to heel or abolish them entirely, we might be more empowered to make collective consumption choices that aren't mediated by entities that routinely hasten the apocalypse for slightly better return margins.
Also another option might be to get a metal insert the same size as the magnets and melt the hole out with a soldering iron, then remove it so you can insert the magnets in the hole. Then the ring surrounding the insert is also melted together, meaning it should be much stronger than the original layers. You obviously can't do this with the magnets because you'll demagnetise them, hence my suggestion about a hot insert. If you're quick, you could also utilise the softened hot plastic to accommodate the magnets without heating them up too much.
Interesting points. I think you are right about where the change should come from. Though what I notice is that governments should make businesses be more green, however we elect those governments. I vote for an environmental focused party but many people don't, because they can't or won't see the crisis in front of us and what it will cost long term. And then little happens, so I try to make small changes if I can make them easily 🤷 I have to say that it's sometimes difficult to watch where politics are going. I sometimes doubt if people vote for what they need, rather than want 😳 I should add that I'm certainly also a very imperfect person in a privileged position, so all should be taken with grains of salt
Hey Lowxy! Haha yes, a lot of swearing 😂 Thanks for the kind words and yes, now that you say it they really do look like umbrellas! Talk soon on the discord 😊
Tri flow is what you're looking for. It's an extremely light oil that leaves a teflon coating. This is the same product used in industrial gravity conveyor applications when a metal object needs to effeciently slide down a metal track. Beautiful work! I may build a scaled down version to sit on the shelf!
Build it! That would be awesome! Yes, an oil might be the way to go. Not sure it would salvage these ultra cheap crappy bearings, but next time I will try that!
6:36 Your first batch is shielded on both sides (zz) and stainless steel (w). The second set is open but the material isn't specified in what can be seen of the title.
I've had luck cleaning bearings with hand soap and a toothbrush. It's a bit labor intensive but very cheap and the soap seems to help protect the steel from rusting, if I understand correctly.
With hand soap and a toothbrush, wow. I would not have imagined that method. I don't think these bearings are rust resistant, wouldn't residual water be a problem with this method?
@JensMakerAdventures I use a lot of soap and a little water, then I don't rinse off the soap. According to my Google research, soap and water is a fairly high alkaline solution and I think it helps prevent rust. People have been using lye to protect steel and remove rust for a very long time and soap is made from lye.
@JensMakerAdventures yes if your looking for lower resistance, I made a bearing fidget spinner years ago, a large diameter bearing with a smaller one inside untill you get down to a 4mm OD bearing in the middle, and when spun it's the 2 smallest that spin the most and the big outer one that stops first, it has too much surface friction and pressure on the balls.
pretty cool but pleas wear gloves, eye protection and be in a well ventilated aread when using solvents ! :) as for the bearings, you should look at skateboard ceramic bearings, they are made to be very good.
I will make a pinned comment about personal protection equiment, because you are completely right. Ceramic bearings should be amazing, I bought one to test with. But their prices.... :/
Those are great! I had one to try out and it was very good, however free spinning it was as good as ungreased metal bearings. But ceramic bearings are really expensive right? I wanted the sculpture to be affordable for others to build as well.
@JensMakerAdventures yeah the ceramic ones are likely more expensive. Btw there's two kinds of ceramic bearings. There's the all ceramic ones and the hybrid ceramic ones whereby only the balls are ceramic and the rings are metal. As a cheaper alternative clean the metal ones really well, dry them and lubricate them with fine graphite powder.
Als je bearings besteld moet je goed letten op de naam van de bearings, het is meestal 3 cijfers en een letter. In jouw geval had je de tweede keer de bearings zonder letter besteld, dus een compleet ander product
Bedankt voor je advies. Wat je zegt klopt, alleen is het op Aliexpress echt een jungle en zijn niet alle producten gelabeld zoals je zou hopen. Volgende keer zou ik duurdere lagers gebruiken van een degelijke leverancier, haha
If you kinda just stare into the abyss while its moving.. you get a nice optical illusion where it leaves white circular trails. Like the segment ~ 7:00
I'm suppressed you didn't use acetone to remove the grease. I also suggest SKF bearings as they should be more predictable. All that aside, Very nice work. I really like this one.
Thanks for the kind words. I could have tried acetone though it's less accessible than the technical fluids I tried. Maybe that'd done the trick. Thanks for the suggestion about SKF, I might try their product. I wanted to keep the prices accessible but maybe I shouldn't have even bothered with the ultra cheap bearings, in retrospect
@@JensMakerAdventures Any hardware store or drugstore/cosmetics store should have it. Look for nail polish remover if you can't find it in a hardware store.
@@JensMakerAdventures I have to eat my words a little as it tried it myself with a quality bearing and it failed measurably. acetone seamed to give me the same response as you. So I tried other bearings with everything from alcohol to window cleaner. they all acted the same when they dried. I put light oil on them to give them a thin lubricant but i don't know. So I asked a coworker and he suggested low friction skateboard bearings. I know those would probably be more expensive yet. Bests of luck, I'll look forward to seeing what you come up with.
May I recommend you use Knipex Pliers to install your bearings. The key function is the parallel jaw movement. The slip joint pliers you were using in your video is guaranteed for a crooked bearing installation. Part number 86 05 250 is a 10 inch 250 mm length with a jaw capacity of 1 3/4”. Other sizes available.
Excellent recommendation, thank you. I only used the slip joint pliers for the prototyping, but later I pushed the bearings in using the table (press fit). I'm sure the pliers you suggest would do a better job and for more demanding projects I will keep this in mind!
In my mind I’d either go with something like 608 bearings because they are available everywhere at every price point - you could iterate fast with different batches, OR switch to bushings (I personally would try this first). You could try 3d printing your own in different materials or buy some self lubricating tubes of material you could cut to size. If that worked out, it would be cheaper and easier to
If I'd do it again Id also go with the standard size. But I wanted to go the cheap way and get the small ones and them I stuck with them 🤷 I think making my own bearings will not performant enough for this application, same with bushings I'd say.
They're bigger than what you're using, but I would suggest skateboard wheel bearings. Even the cheap ones are decent quality. Also look at lube for them.
Couldn't you in theory use ceramic bearings if you didn't want to wash them in gasoline. And also they look astatically a lot more pleasing. But I guess they would also be a lot more expensive?
Get a can of WD-40 and use the spray to clean the grease out of your bearings. It’s much safer and works much better than gasoline (which does not lubricate). Wear gloves with the spray since the liquid can cause your skin to lose moisture. With the straw for targeted, focused spray, it will blow the grease out of the bearing and give it a thin lubricant that helps the bearing run smooth and fast.
I don't know about you, but the X1C yells at me every time I start a print with PLA or PETG to open the door or lift the lid. You run the risk of heat creep otherwise - the filament in the cold end or the extruder becomes so soft that it can't be pushed properly. I've never had good luck with Aliexpress bearings. They're always gritty.
I've never noticed the message but it could be right there. Mostly I start prints remotely. Thanks for chiming in, I felt like the 2nd batch also was gritty. I guess you shouldn't order cheap bearings haha 😅
Thanks, you are very right. I tried a few gloves and the stuff seeped right through. If I'd do the project again Id get better personal protection right from the start.
I would think that after de-greasing the bearings, you could apply some wd40 as a light lubricant and then use a 3d printed adapter with on end in the drill and the other end inserted into the bearing so you can spin it it at high speed whilst holding the outer ring of the bearing still.
I think lubricating with light lubricant might work. Why would you wanlt to use the power tool at high speed? To even out imperfections or spread lube?
The grease causes the bearings to stop very quickly, it is more useful for high torque applications. The lids on the bearings also cause more friction, they are only useful to keep dirt out which is not necessary for this application
@JensMakerAdventures well, isn't your whole concept based on the fact that when two same-pole magnets (on separate adjacent 'shapes') meet, they repel.... Whilst watching your vid I noticed that a lot of their curved bottom edges (without a magnet) passed by an adjacent magnet.... And so, surely if the curved end had a magnet it would have to repel, this making it spin for longer 👍
@@stuffoflardohfortheloveof I think the amount of energy in the system or the amount of friction will not change. But the impacts will occur more often and these take energy out of the system. Therefore I think the spinners would actually spin for a shorter amount of time.
Your bearings need some lubrication no matter what. The problem could very well be the oil weight, or viscosity. Try cleaning and then relubricating with a very light weight oil.
You could very well be right. Also given the risk of corrosion. What is a thing though, is that the performance of these bearings was iffy even in factory delivered state. Some of them are perfect without lube and some terrible. I think if I'd used a good brand it might have been a different story.
I have the same bosh sensor tools and it's a total waste of money 😅. I used it once and it beeped everywhere all the time and gave me the greeen light in nonsensical spots.
Hahaha 😂 thanks for the confirmation. This was actually the best reviewed tool in the under €60 price class. But it works only sometimes on some walls unfortunately 😳 when it does work it is amazingly useful though
8:40 Stud finders are very susceptible to wireless interference, you need to turn off your Wi-Fi router and even move your mobile phone or other wireless devices out of the room, you may find that you also need to earth yourself by pressing one hand gently against the wall.
I tried grabbing a metal cabinet with no success. Maybe turning off the router would work, but then all the routers from my neighbors are still there. It surely doesn't seem like the product is meeting the promise
That Bosch Truvo is indeed a useless piece of garbage. I bought it at Gamma tried it out, and returned it the same day as it just didn't do a proper job.
I must admit, it doesn't always not work. I've used it succesfully in a number of projects, but the frustrating thing is that you cannot count on it at all. I bought mine at Gamma too, haha.
Great question! There are 3D printed bearing, but they're not as performant as a ball bearing. They're actually magnificent and precise little contraptions.
Good question! Unbalanced they would not automatically reset to have the magnet pointing upwards. So I deliberately chose this amount of 'unbalancedness' :)
"Beep, beep. My project is important and difficult and the minor failures really get me off the rails, so I need to cuss, while making it and also include it in the video. While I annoyingly censor it with beeps instead of mute to make it stand out even more. I don't expect things to not work out right away, when experimenting."
Thanks for your feedback. I also get annoyed with some creators and overt swearing. I get it. However it is also a tool for communicating my emotion and process and in this case frustration plus a bit of comedy. Can imagine it's not your taste. Anyway I do hope to see you back on the channel at some point! 😃
Quick safety note for anyone wanting to replicate: (thanks to everyone who commented about this)
USE PERSONAL PROTECTIVE EQUIPMENT! I did not set a good example in this video. But please do use them: gloves, respirator, eye protection, well ventilated area, or whatever you need to work safely. These solvents are toxic/carcinogenic/harmful.
You've truly inspired me here! I'm the head of a school science department and we just opened a beautiful new building covered with windows. We have acrylics, bearings, magnets, and 3D printers, and I am likely going to build a dynamic, chaotic, interactive sculpture much as you did here! I will definitely check out your files and adapt some of your ideas, and if I am successful, I will send videos your way. Thank you for making this!
Hi there! That's awesome to hear ✨😀 I would love to see what you have made!
Oh man I wish I could do this. Just lost the job offer of my dreams designing school curriculum for years 10, 11 and 12 doing drafting and engineering due to me still being highschool age 😭 unfortunately they didn't take me seriously, even though I provided genuinely amazing learning tools. Currently just seething that my pin up board colour coded, 3d printed hydraulic systems diagram kit has been stolen, and is literally being used in a school because it was so goo, but I still didn't get the job. One day I'll get there! And hopefully one day i can do cool things at a school with 3d printing and engineering to make kids learning experiences better.
If you're still in high schools and you make designs good enough to be stolen, you'll be fine in life. Just keep making good decisions and invest in yourself and the right people! 💪✨ Also it's wonderful you aspire to be in education!
@JensMakerAdventures not in highschool lol. Graduated last year, completed a w year course in 14 weeks, was given a refund afterwards because they didn't think I should pay the whole price for the 2 years. In year 11 I got a job designing air diffusion products, like grilles, bulkheads and dampers. Problem is, I make 20 bucks AUD an hour, or like 14 USD, and not 1 of the 100+ places I've applied and interviewed at those year have taken me seriously. Like, is designing, certifying, and putting into production, and entire line of anti-suicide aircon grilles for mental hospitals, and prison cells, that are completely silent, tamper proof, and invisible to airflow, seriously not count towards experience? Guess I should try and pick drafting up again when I'm in my mid to late 30s. Hopefully I get taken seriously next time 😭
You should sue the thief if you know who it is , should be pretty easy to show the date of your files being earlier than theirs @@poorwhiteman6634
That's beautiful!
A tip: make the holes for the magnets oval, not round. The smaller radius should be smaller than the bearing; the larger radius should be larger than the bearing. The circumference of the oval should not be less than the circumference of the magnet. Then, when you insert the magnet, you will deform the oval into a circle, which gives the required clamping force to keep the magnet in place. But the hole in the material does not have to get larger, so it won't crack.
Hey Gijs, this is a wonderful design tip!! I will definitely try this out on my next clamp fit! Thanks a bunch!
Or "crush-ribs"
That was a really clever idea! But the math was surprisingly tricky.
I love kinetic sculptures, and something like this has been haunting my brain for years.
Thanks for bringing it into the real world.
I'm thinking of other versions of this idea. Using a sheet of plexiglass, or plywood for mounting the pendulums. Maybe painting it and the pendulums with contrasting colors.
Consider a different kind of bering like ceramic.
Best wishes for your continued success ☮
Thanks for your kind comment. I'd love to see your vision come to live, update us when you built it! 😀✨
Maybe I missed it, but when you remove the grease from the bearings you should replace it with another thinner lubricant, otherwise you are running your bearings unlubricated which isn't good.
Thanks for the advice. I think you're right, at some point I think moisture in the air might take its toll on the bearings. I decided to go and see what happens, maybe it will not be that bad and maybe I need to learn about lubrication. What made me decide to postpone is that I can evaluate if I like the sculpture as is, without spilling oils or possibly increasing the friction in the bearings and see them in optimal performance. I might do it differently if I make a new version
From experience with fidget spinners, graphite works the best but is noisy. The bearings will make a whirring noise, but maybe that's ok for you. I landed on bike chain lube for silent spinning.
@@JensMakerAdventures You might try silicone spray. I don't know if it would work, but it's definitely a lot thinner than grease. Setting up one with a motor that just spins it, perhaps from geared teeth added on to the outside half circle part, and leave it spinning for many hours might give you a good idea of if the process works for what you need or not.
I suggest a Teflon-based bike chain lubricant. It is a convinient small tube and extremely thin. Mine is a Tri-flow brand
@@JensMakerAdventures I would recommend lacquer thinner for removing the grease, and something light like sewing machine oil to prevent rust.
Cool stuff 👍
Try ceramic bearings
Thanks for the advice! I might try those next time.
That's so cool, well done! Wondering if a horizontal brace might stop the verticals warping just enough for the tips to touch? And also screwed in at the bottom for more stability? I'm waiting for a printer myself, this may be the first bit thing I try!
Thanks a lot! Yes, I think your suggestions would work perfectly!
@@JensMakerAdventures just had a thought for the next version too; UV filament...
@@bugjuicer Cool idea!!
you should go for ceramic hybrid bearings
Thanks for the suggestion, will keep that in mind
One of the problems you have to watch out for when using bearings is that if you force them into a hole that's too small they can actual compress slightly. Then the amount of friction increases.
Thanks for the advice, I will remember that!
Wow, your comment section here is really really nice, smart and involved. Great to read.
Yes! It is really nice!!!
Nice art!
I think you need some SKF sponsorship mate
Thank you! Yes! Something like that would be perfect 😲
So cool - thanks for sharing!!!
I had some luck making some low friction ball bearings from cheap low quality parts, maybe that's interesting for you.
I bought metal and rubber/plastic covered bearings that I removed the covers from, after that I covered everything in dishwashing soap+ water inside a plastic container that fits into my ultrasound cleaner tank. Then I placed it into the ultrasound cleaner tank and filled it up with hot water and ran it for half an hour. During the 30 min I used a pencil to fish out single bearings and roll it around to make sure everything gets contact with the soapy water.
Next step is to quickly rinse the bearings under hot water while rolling it , if the grease is still sticky and fills up the space between the balls, a toothbrush and more soap is needed.
After that was done, I dried the parts and the plastic container, put the ball bearings into the container, filled it with cleaning alcohol and covered the container to prevent quick evaporation . The container now gets 15-30 minutes in the ultrasound cleaner as well and the tank is again filled with hot water.
At this point there was no lubricant left and after the alcohol evaporated, I added a thin mineral oil based lubricant that's typically used for hair trimmers or sewing machines... prevent corrosion and improves the mechanical reliability for a while.
Haha your process is such a journey. Thanks for sharing.
Wow! Impressive project and very satisfying results. Reminds me of the screensavers of yesteryear where you could sit and watch a screen endlessly. But in real life!
Love that you kept on iterating, at first on the idea and later on the specific design. Makes me feel part of your process.
Thanks again for this super thoughtful comment, Herman! 🤗
@@JensMakerAdventures When reproducing this, should I take the horizontal flexibility of the mounting frame into account or is the stickyness not a big issue?
@@hermankopinga I'm not sure if I understand the question really.... 😅
awesome! i love the simplicity of the mechanism
Thank you! 😃
This design feels right at home in a 1950s modern home
I looked up what that is and you're completely right 😁
Instant fan and subscriber. 😎👍
I believe I have a perfect use case for this kinetic sculpture design. If I build this, I'll reach out.
Thank you for sharing and for the raw inspiration! 🤝
Wow! Thank you so much for your donation and kind words!! You made my day, good sir! 😊
That’s really cool man. Well done.
Thank you!
This is extremely cool. Makes me want to work on a kinetic sculpture with no electronics. I love this.
Thanks for your wonderful comment!
Wow! Awesome project, i like how quiet it is compared to other kinetic sculptures
Underrated channel; subbed!
Thank you! You just made my day with this comment 😃
Very cool. You can also find cheap window gadgets that use a solar panel and a magnet to oscillate all day (such as woodpeckers or lucky cats), I wonder if you could use the internals to power the sculpture automatically!
That would be amazing. I think the less power you have the more the friction and quality of the bearings becomes critical though. But something like this would be sweet :)
How about having one powered one that rotates? Would that pass energy to the whole system and still remain chaotic?
Great idea! I think then it'd need a motor on every column and it would work!
@@JensMakerAdventures One motor, then just gear the top ones at subtly different ratios to one another, so they won't look in-sync.
@@Roobotics That is cool, but I think you'd have a complicated challenge in getting the couplings to be flexible
Nice work. Simply mesmerizing. I think it would be beneficial to add at least one more element to the table. So, might I suggest getting your hands on some metronomes. The design allows them to sync with each other.And this might help you achieve some sort of immutability for a more natural flow.
Thank you!! 😀 Ah yes, some actuator would be great for this, I too have been thinking about it. Thanks for your suggestion about the metronome.
It's kinda like a magnetic neural network. very good stuff indeed.
Thank you! And that's a wonderful analogy!
That is a stud finder. It will find anything in the wall. Wires, studs, and insulation everything.
Well for this model the blinking indicates a power line, per the manual 😅
@@JensMakerAdventures These detectors are pretty sensitive to how well you are grounded. Just standing in rubber soled shoes, slippers etc. or just the wrong flooring material can cause issues.
@@crangos Interesting. I was standing on a carpet. Though holding a big metal cabinet did not help.
Maybe add hidden electromagnets to keep it turning
That's a really cool idea! I experimented with them however the ones I used had ferrometal in them so the magnets were attracted to them no matter what. I might just experiment with other electromagnets or making my own in the future. I also already bought the enamel wire😊
@@JensMakerAdventuresif you make the coil of wire big enough, you can use an air core, and so there will be ZERO residual magnetic field, when the electromagnet is turned off 😉
@@the_eminent_Joshua_E_Hrouda This would be very sweet and I might try experimenting with this if I build a new version! Thanks for your input! 💪🛠👌
I would be curious to see what happens if a single one in the bunch is motorized.
It would have to be one on the top row, since the impulse can only travel downwards. But that would be very satisfying, just having it on chill mode in the background
Since the fidget spinner craze died you can buy them by the lot for cheap. They generally use decent bearings. I bought some and it was cheaper than buying just the bearings.
I did just this and built a synthesizer with them ;-) ua-cam.com/video/xIgIhpeJyNA/v-deo.html However a lot of them had rust on them and weren't in too good of a state, the quality differs a lot per fidget spinner.
wow that is so amazing, thank you sharing
Thanks a lot!! 😃
Skateboard enthusiast here
I don't know much about actual bearing materials and uses, but i always use graphite in my bearings and they roll smooth as butter
Thanks for the advice!
I would suggest you to use plastic ball bearings with glass balls. They don't need lubrication and spin freely very long.
Are those affordable?
@JensMakerAdventures around $4.5 for 10 pieces for cheapest sizes 10, 16 and 22 mm outer diameter
@@izobrr Sounds good, I'd love to experiment with them. Do you have a link?
As a cleaner, try using Acetone. Excellent for removing grease residue.
As a lubricant after cleaning with Acetone, use Tri-Flow. It’s a wet Teflon lubricant in a spray can. Perfect for this application.
Sounds good! This may very well be the way.
awesome! i want to do something like this too. i was thinking of having a low rpm dc motor drive the center one so it is perpetual. i would also love to hook up encoders to the other ones so that i could see the signal of their rotation on the computer
YES! Making it mechatronic was my first plan too. However things became complicated and I really liked the way it was without electronics. Do post back here if you make your own version! :)
This is awesome! Props for also using FreeCAD. Version 1.0 should be out soon. What do you think could be improved in FreeCAD? Subscribed to your channel.
That's a fun question! And thanks for your sub. Yes, I'm looking forward to V1.0. Already tried the RC2 and it seems like a nice upgrade. Especially the topo naming problem.
First of all I think it's amazing that the FreeCAD project even exists. It's an excellent option. However there are a lot of things that could use some love. Things like getting clear error messages, intuitiveness, cleaning up the model view (if you do a big project with booleans etc. it's near impossible to manage) and making sure the features that are implemented have clear descriptions of all their functions, prerequisites, options and that there's fleshed out documentation. Also, I keep finding a lot of bugs, but many are already reported or just so out there I imagine the whole community is aware. Again I love this project and I am looking forward to where it will go. Huge props to the developers and community!
Wow 🎉❤
Thanks!!
Add pusher - so it never runs out of juice.
magnetic, or electromagnetic
Good idea!! If I make a newer version I will definitely do this, already bought some enamel wire to make coils, but figured the sculpture was already nice enough to share
@@JensMakerAdventures Perhaps a mechanical wind up kitchen timer. Or for an infinite version, maybe a strong electric clock mechanism with a magnet attached to the second hand. Attached so that it can slide up and down on the hand, for adjusting the position.
@@Mavrik9000 Those are some really cool ideas!!
Yes, PLA likes cooling, not heating. Also, if you're struggling with inserts breaking the print, PETG is incredible for that. It has so much flexibility and interlayer strength, I've seen it morph around an insert where any other print I would have expected layer separation for sure. It's just so... plastic.
Honestly I am sold on it as a material for any structural part.
You know, I think that's a good suggestion! If the material properties were equal, would you prefer PLA given it's mostly made from non fossil sources?
@@JensMakerAdventures In principle, yes, it is more sustainable. If you want to use PLA, PLA+ is another option. It's much more robust, but still can't hold a candle to PETG in my opinion. You could also look into Thomas Sanlanderer's work on annealling PLA prints to increase inter-layer strength. Also though, in practice the lifecycle of PLA isn't completely clean, so you have to ask whether more discarded prints can be justified by the lower impact of the material itself. It's unfortunately a difficult calculation that we don't necessarily have the information to fully parse out without significant investigation.
However, if you'll forgive me soapboxing a little bit, I'm not a fan of focusing on individual carbon footprint. It is a time-tested deflection tactic by the fossil fuel industry. The entire point of the "carbon footprint" campaign was for this purpose, and it was largely successful. Similar tactics have been used in the past to deflect all kinds of environmental issues on to ordinary people, like waste dumping in the 70s and 80s, or microplastics today.
It exploits our immediacy bias to make us spend our energies on lifestyle changes and policing one another instead of organising action against the huge industries that railroad us into a destructive path regardless of our individual choices. It's a question of going for the root of the problem or the branches. All the individual consumption in the world won't make a significant difference if we don't stop the companies. They are the ones that make the consumption choices hard. If we were able to bring them to heel or abolish them entirely, we might be more empowered to make collective consumption choices that aren't mediated by entities that routinely hasten the apocalypse for slightly better return margins.
Also another option might be to get a metal insert the same size as the magnets and melt the hole out with a soldering iron, then remove it so you can insert the magnets in the hole. Then the ring surrounding the insert is also melted together, meaning it should be much stronger than the original layers.
You obviously can't do this with the magnets because you'll demagnetise them, hence my suggestion about a hot insert. If you're quick, you could also utilise the softened hot plastic to accommodate the magnets without heating them up too much.
Hahaha this is a creative solution 😁
Interesting points. I think you are right about where the change should come from. Though what I notice is that governments should make businesses be more green, however we elect those governments. I vote for an environmental focused party but many people don't, because they can't or won't see the crisis in front of us and what it will cost long term. And then little happens, so I try to make small changes if I can make them easily 🤷 I have to say that it's sometimes difficult to watch where politics are going. I sometimes doubt if people vote for what they need, rather than want 😳 I should add that I'm certainly also a very imperfect person in a privileged position, so all should be taken with grains of salt
so much swearing hahaha. very beautiful sculpture tho and on top i think it kinda looks like umbrellas. itss soooo cool
Hey Lowxy! Haha yes, a lot of swearing 😂 Thanks for the kind words and yes, now that you say it they really do look like umbrellas! Talk soon on the discord 😊
Tri flow is what you're looking for. It's an extremely light oil that leaves a teflon coating. This is the same product used in industrial gravity conveyor applications when a metal object needs to effeciently slide down a metal track. Beautiful work! I may build a scaled down version to sit on the shelf!
Build it! That would be awesome! Yes, an oil might be the way to go. Not sure it would salvage these ultra cheap crappy bearings, but next time I will try that!
6:36 Your first batch is shielded on both sides (zz) and stainless steel (w). The second set is open but the material isn't specified in what can be seen of the title.
Wonderful, having those codes! However I think the first batch did not have shields. But Aliexpress is kind of the wild west of buying parts, haha.
@@JensMakerAdventures I suggest asking an AI like perplexity for a complete list of bearing codes. Super useful.
@@marsrevolutionary That's a clever way of using an AI! I'll keep that in mind.
I've had luck cleaning bearings with hand soap and a toothbrush. It's a bit labor intensive but very cheap and the soap seems to help protect the steel from rusting, if I understand correctly.
With hand soap and a toothbrush, wow. I would not have imagined that method. I don't think these bearings are rust resistant, wouldn't residual water be a problem with this method?
@JensMakerAdventures I use a lot of soap and a little water, then I don't rinse off the soap. According to my Google research, soap and water is a fairly high alkaline solution and I think it helps prevent rust. People have been using lye to protect steel and remove rust for a very long time and soap is made from lye.
@@jacobopstad5483 Wow, I'm amazed. Thanks for explaining!
The smaller the bearing the lower the friction drag
So if you get more small bearings it would oerform better than one large one? 🤔
@JensMakerAdventures yes if your looking for lower resistance, I made a bearing fidget spinner years ago, a large diameter bearing with a smaller one inside untill you get down to a 4mm OD bearing in the middle, and when spun it's the 2 smallest that spin the most and the big outer one that stops first, it has too much surface friction and pressure on the balls.
@@foosty6 That's super interesting. Thanks for sharing this info :)
Imagine if the shapes where spirals .. trippy
That would be cool too 😲
pretty cool but pleas wear gloves, eye protection and be in a well ventilated aread when using solvents ! :)
as for the bearings, you should look at skateboard ceramic bearings, they are made to be very good.
I will make a pinned comment about personal protection equiment, because you are completely right. Ceramic bearings should be amazing, I bought one to test with. But their prices.... :/
You need ceramic bearings for this.
Those are great! I had one to try out and it was very good, however free spinning it was as good as ungreased metal bearings. But ceramic bearings are really expensive right? I wanted the sculpture to be affordable for others to build as well.
@JensMakerAdventures yeah the ceramic ones are likely more expensive. Btw there's two kinds of ceramic bearings. There's the all ceramic ones and the hybrid ceramic ones whereby only the balls are ceramic and the rings are metal. As a cheaper alternative clean the metal ones really well, dry them and lubricate them with fine graphite powder.
Als je bearings besteld moet je goed letten op de naam van de bearings, het is meestal 3 cijfers en een letter. In jouw geval had je de tweede keer de bearings zonder letter besteld, dus een compleet ander product
Bedankt voor je advies. Wat je zegt klopt, alleen is het op Aliexpress echt een jungle en zijn niet alle producten gelabeld zoals je zou hopen. Volgende keer zou ik duurdere lagers gebruiken van een degelijke leverancier, haha
lekker bezig! heel nice
Bedankt!! 😃
3d print the race, and add loose balls. If you add a thread you could adjust the preload.
What is 'the race'? What do you mean by the preload?
If you kinda just stare into the abyss while its moving.. you get a nice optical illusion where it leaves white circular trails. Like the segment ~ 7:00
😂 "stare into the abyss" I love that
I'm suppressed you didn't use acetone to remove the grease. I also suggest SKF bearings as they should be more predictable.
All that aside, Very nice work. I really like this one.
Thanks for the kind words. I could have tried acetone though it's less accessible than the technical fluids I tried. Maybe that'd done the trick. Thanks for the suggestion about SKF, I might try their product. I wanted to keep the prices accessible but maybe I shouldn't have even bothered with the ultra cheap bearings, in retrospect
@@JensMakerAdventures That's very fair. Keep up the great videos!
@@dantesmith3664Thanks for the kind words! 😃
@@JensMakerAdventures Any hardware store or drugstore/cosmetics store should have it. Look for nail polish remover if you can't find it in a hardware store.
@@JensMakerAdventures
I have to eat my words a little as it tried it myself with a quality bearing and it failed measurably. acetone seamed to give me the same response as you. So I tried other bearings with everything from alcohol to window cleaner. they all acted the same when they dried. I put light oil on them to give them a thin lubricant but i don't know. So I asked a coworker and he suggested low friction skateboard bearings. I know those would probably be more expensive yet.
Bests of luck, I'll look forward to seeing what you come up with.
FreeCAD ♥
Yes! 💪 took some pain to learn but it's O.K. now
That is excellent !
May I recommend you use Knipex Pliers to install your bearings. The key function is the parallel jaw movement. The slip joint pliers you were using in your video is guaranteed for a crooked bearing installation.
Part number 86 05 250 is a 10 inch 250 mm length with a jaw capacity of 1 3/4”. Other sizes available.
Excellent recommendation, thank you. I only used the slip joint pliers for the prototyping, but later I pushed the bearings in using the table (press fit). I'm sure the pliers you suggest would do a better job and for more demanding projects I will keep this in mind!
Abec 9 ceramic skateboard bearings would be perfect, but you gotta lube the bearings after you clean them otherwise whats the point
Some roll better without lube I think. Fidget spinners are not lubed and some run very well, right?
In my mind I’d either go with something like 608 bearings because they are available everywhere at every price point - you could iterate fast with different batches, OR switch to bushings (I personally would try this first). You could try 3d printing your own in different materials or buy some self lubricating tubes of material you could cut to size. If that worked out, it would be cheaper and easier to
If I'd do it again Id also go with the standard size. But I wanted to go the cheap way and get the small ones and them I stuck with them 🤷 I think making my own bearings will not performant enough for this application, same with bushings I'd say.
Once I picked up spitfire cheapshots, and they were not lubricated to begin with. This might help to bypass the washing in gasoline step
That's nice! However here they are 10x the price I paid per bearing 🤔
They're bigger than what you're using, but I would suggest skateboard wheel bearings. Even the cheap ones are decent quality. Also look at lube for them.
Great suggestion, if I would start again I would use 1 large bearing instead of 2 small ones. And try different lubes.
Couldn't you in theory use ceramic bearings if you didn't want to wash them in gasoline. And also they look astatically a lot more pleasing. But I guess they would also be a lot more expensive?
Yes!! You are right! 😉 I went for the affordable price so the design is a bit more accessible
Get a can of WD-40 and use the spray to clean the grease out of your bearings. It’s much safer and works much better than gasoline (which does not lubricate). Wear gloves with the spray since the liquid can cause your skin to lose moisture. With the straw for targeted, focused spray, it will blow the grease out of the bearing and give it a thin lubricant that helps the bearing run smooth and fast.
Interesting suggestion. I'll try this next time I want to do something like this with bearings, thanks!
I don't know about you, but the X1C yells at me every time I start a print with PLA or PETG to open the door or lift the lid. You run the risk of heat creep otherwise - the filament in the cold end or the extruder becomes so soft that it can't be pushed properly.
I've never had good luck with Aliexpress bearings. They're always gritty.
I've never noticed the message but it could be right there. Mostly I start prints remotely. Thanks for chiming in, I felt like the 2nd batch also was gritty. I guess you shouldn't order cheap bearings haha 😅
wear some gloves while messing around with benzine, there are multiple carcinogens in it, cool design :D
Thanks, you are very right. I tried a few gloves and the stuff seeped right through. If I'd do the project again Id get better personal protection right from the start.
For absolute non sticky - I would say use ceramic bearings
Good one! Though not that affordable 😫
I would think that after de-greasing the bearings, you could apply some wd40 as a light lubricant and then use a 3d printed adapter with on end in the drill and the other end inserted into the bearing so you can spin it it at high speed whilst holding the outer ring of the bearing still.
I think lubricating with light lubricant might work. Why would you wanlt to use the power tool at high speed? To even out imperfections or spread lube?
@@JensMakerAdventures it would ware the bearings in and take off any spots of hardened grease.
@@enkidu9989 Ahh great suggestion then, thanks!
3:05 Bambu is getting corona tested. Remember to stick it high enough and then twist!
Hahahahaha, this made me laugh out loud 😂
Just get closed bearings, like skateboard bearings and don’t worry about decreasing them.
The grease causes the bearings to stop very quickly, it is more useful for high torque applications. The lids on the bearings also cause more friction, they are only useful to keep dirt out which is not necessary for this application
Wouldn't a 2nd magnet on the bottom of each curve cause each one spin for much longer?
Can you explain how this would make them spin longer?
@JensMakerAdventures well, isn't your whole concept based on the fact that when two same-pole magnets (on separate adjacent 'shapes') meet, they repel.... Whilst watching your vid I noticed that a lot of their curved bottom edges (without a magnet) passed by an adjacent magnet.... And so, surely if the curved end had a magnet it would have to repel, this making it spin for longer 👍
@@stuffoflardohfortheloveof I think the amount of energy in the system or the amount of friction will not change. But the impacts will occur more often and these take energy out of the system. Therefore I think the spinners would actually spin for a shorter amount of time.
Your bearings need some lubrication no matter what. The problem could very well be the oil weight, or viscosity. Try cleaning and then relubricating with a very light weight oil.
You could very well be right. Also given the risk of corrosion. What is a thing though, is that the performance of these bearings was iffy even in factory delivered state. Some of them are perfect without lube and some terrible. I think if I'd used a good brand it might have been a different story.
I have the same bosh sensor tools and it's a total waste of money 😅. I used it once and it beeped everywhere all the time and gave me the greeen light in nonsensical spots.
Hahaha 😂 thanks for the confirmation. This was actually the best reviewed tool in the under €60 price class. But it works only sometimes on some walls unfortunately 😳 when it does work it is amazingly useful though
8:40 Stud finders are very susceptible to wireless interference, you need to turn off your Wi-Fi router and even move your mobile phone or other wireless devices out of the room, you may find that you also need to earth yourself by pressing one hand gently against the wall.
I tried grabbing a metal cabinet with no success. Maybe turning off the router would work, but then all the routers from my neighbors are still there. It surely doesn't seem like the product is meeting the promise
That Bosch Truvo is indeed a useless piece of garbage. I bought it at Gamma tried it out, and returned it the same day as it just didn't do a proper job.
I must admit, it doesn't always not work. I've used it succesfully in a number of projects, but the frustrating thing is that you cannot count on it at all. I bought mine at Gamma too, haha.
Why can't you print something that works like a ball bering but not ball bering?
Great question! There are 3D printed bearing, but they're not as performant as a ball bearing. They're actually magnificent and precise little contraptions.
Why are they Not balanced?
Good question! Unbalanced they would not automatically reset to have the magnet pointing upwards. So I deliberately chose this amount of 'unbalancedness' :)
Why don't you want the bearings to be lubricated? Why clean it all out?
The problem was the grease. They would not freewheel or keep rolling freely at all with the original grease so the sculpture would not work
@@JensMakerAdventures ah, I understand. I guess you get what you pay for!
Might be fun to put emojis on them so you can't see the mechanism
Hahaha the kinetic sculpture of emoji. I like it 😁
don't let martin from wintergatan see this
Haha, why??
@JensMakerAdventures he's gonna spend another 10 years trying to make the marble machine look like this
Hahahaha
4:30 - the product is shit but you are also using it incorrectly. It is NOT JUST "put it against the wall and whatever...."
Hahaha 😂 any tips? I read somewhere hold something which is grounded but that room has no grounding so couldn't try that.
FreeCAD? Ewwww
Hahahaha 😂 what do you recommend?
Stop using cheap chinese bearings!
You are right! I'd do it differently if I knew what I know now.
"Beep, beep. My project is important and difficult and the minor failures really get me off the rails, so I need to cuss, while making it and also include it in the video. While I annoyingly censor it with beeps instead of mute to make it stand out even more. I don't expect things to not work out right away, when experimenting."
Beep, beep. Thanks for the feedback.
@@JensMakerAdventures Love your response to the troll ♥
I liked the idea and subscribed, but too many swearing for no reason. So unsubscribe (yes, I'm this gentle).
Thanks for your feedback. I also get annoyed with some creators and overt swearing. I get it. However it is also a tool for communicating my emotion and process and in this case frustration plus a bit of comedy. Can imagine it's not your taste. Anyway I do hope to see you back on the channel at some point! 😃
@@JensMakerAdventures good content. Best of luck with channel and making!
I thought it mad the process more relatable for me.
@@TheScreamingFrog916 Thanks for chiming in! 😊