Ben Cowden
Mechanical Sculpture
Primary Site: twentysevengears.com
Etsy Store: Twentysevengears
Click below to see my updates to these sites:
Photos
Posts
Here is a brief slideshow of how I built the Post-Imperial Shaker. The frame of the machine is built simply of 2x2 angle-iron, with 3/4” dia. supports for the axles. I used shaft collars welded to the supports to house the bushings and bearings where the axles rotate. The key mechanism here is the “crank slider”, a sort of piston which allows a rod connected to a crank (on the flywheel) to pivot and slide, creating an elliptical path where the shakers are.
This is channel 7’s report on the Open Make: Tools show at the Exploratorium on March 17th. A hilarious moment around 1:01 with me explaining in a nutshell why I build a machine to lick lollipops…
http://abclocal.go.com/kgo/story?section=news%2Fassignment_7&id=8630367
Check out my Lollipop Licker on the Discovery Channel’s Daily Planet! I love the unabashed innuendo towards the end; I think the hosts even made themselves a bit uncomfortable!
http://watch.discoverychannel.ca/#clip647018
New parts, fresh from the waterjet shop! I’m excited for this new batch of work. For reference, the large ring gear is about two feet across.
The finished “pancake bird cage”. I’ll need four of these for my upcoming piece.
Making a flat birdcage for a new piece. I started with bent bailing wire and a diagram drawn on the table. Add 16 spring clamps and blocks, and things are starting to look like a wire ferris wheel.
Show coming up on Nov. 4th (First Friday) at new gallery space right next to West Oakland Bart! Come by if you can make it!
Just learned that I was nominated as “Best Artist” in this year’s East Bay Express Best of the East Bay poll. My name is one letter off, which hopefully accounts for the late discovery (the issue came out July 20th). Anyway, thank you to my nominator, “Justeatit”!
Setting up work at Traver Gallery, Seattle. Space is beautiful, I wish I could be here for the reception.
Popular mechanics in Russia did an article about me! It’s great except I can’t read a word of it…
This is a part for a sculpture I am working on. It will be crank-operated with some fun bits at the ends of the pistons.
Audio
Updates
-
Making the "Post-Imperial Shaker" - Here is a brief slideshow of how I built the Post-Imperial Shaker. The frame of the machine is built simply of 2x2 angle-iron, with 3/4” dia. supports for the axles. I used shaft collars welded to the supports to...12 months ago
-
A rough video of my current project: a cocktail shaking machine. I'll post more about the machine and the event it is being made for soon. http://youtu.be/YsHcbIwR7mo13 months ago
-
"Eating My Cake..." on the Daily Planet! Check out my Lollipop Licker on the Discovery Channel’s Daily Planet! I love the unabashed innuendo towards the end; I think the hosts even made themselves a bit...13 months ago
-
Another new video completed! This one titled "Gathering"23 months ago
Updates
-
Making the "Post-Imperial Shaker" - Here is a brief slideshow of how I built the Post-Imperial Shaker. The... http://t.co/TXg8Ntjg
-
Here is an image http://t.co/0Y2D2QiF
-
A rough video of my current project: a cocktail shaking machine. I'll post more about the machine and the event... http://t.co/R86XrUy0
-
Open Make on Channel 7, with Me and Lollipops! - This is channel 7’s report on the Open Make: Tools show at... http://t.co/F03B45vL
-
I uploaded a @YouTube video http://t.co/vOqB3Ym3 Occasional Marbles
-
I uploaded a @YouTube video http://t.co/b4v5eMw1 A Pleated Horizon
-
I uploaded a @YouTube video http://t.co/LEl0Elga Adjustable desk lamp, rough studio shot
-
I uploaded a @YouTube video http://t.co/gUKqmF56 Rubber ducky race TEST.
-
Another new video completed! This one titled "Gathering" http://fb.me/143dIn3XE
-
Here is video from our building open house event! My six seconds of fame start at 3:12. http://fb.me/whsZvLuI
-
I drew up this diagram of "A Small Force" a few months ago, and it just occured to me it would be nice to share... http://fb.me/X0knyLDB
-
Come to my show next week at Float Gallery in Oakland if you can! http://fb.me/MBXyPcgs
-
Our show at 5 Claude Lane Gallery is on Yelp!... http://fb.me/Drlmqibi
-
YAY! Make:Online covered my piece at Maker Faire: http://bit.ly/cevzqd
-
The finished blower, in all its yellow and magenta glory... http://bit.ly/cvS6mj
-
Reassembing slide-whistle blower. In ORANGE. http://bit.ly/deqtLC
-
My super yellow blower for slide-whistle machine http://bit.ly/b84fBK
-
Rough shop video of Slide Whistle blower with Charlie at the helm. Conclusion: kids will love it, neighbors will... http://bit.ly/bZveNq
-
Trying out the double-crank-random-teeter-totter http://bit.ly/dz8Gzh
Posts
My latest piece, “Wayward Calliope”, debued at Maker Faire last weekend, where it could be heard making funny and sometimes eery noises in Expo Hall.
Make: Magazine covered the piece on their blog, where you can see a picture of Mark Frauenfelder and a video of my friend Kevin Curry cranking away: http://blog.makezine.com/archive/2010/05/ben_cowdens_wayward_calliope.html
My cocktail-mixing machine, The Corpse Reviver, made a couple appearances recently, first at Barbot 2010, then at a fundraiser party for the Neverwas Haul at the Shipyard.
For the record, the Corpse Reviver is a fully mechanical device that pours, mixes, and chills a cocktail. The cocktail it makes is also called a Corpse Reviver (#2, to be precise), whose ingredients are: equal parts Gin, Lillet, Lemon Juice, and Triple Sec, plus a dash of pastis if it is handy. It is seriously tasty, even when it is not made by a machine.
See what people had to say about the Corpse Reviver on Wired Blog’s coverage, or even at the Huffington Post (?!). Let me know if you would like to know where The Corpse Reviver will turn up next!
Photo Credit: Flickr/Unplug
What began as a simple how-to article about making gears has turned into a major project article for Make Magazine and at last is published in volume 21. The project is candleholder with three gears and parallel action arms which move the candles up and down at different rates. In many ways, it is similar to my first candleholder, but this one is made from aluminum plate and uses tea lights or small floating candles. The design and the variable gearing also make it a more playful device.
On the project page here, I have posted all the images from the construction process (many more than in the published article) as well as some additional charts and diagrams which can supplement the material in the article. Hopefully these materials can help out with some of the more tricky parts of the project. If you have any questions, want a CAD file, or would like to share photos of you project, send me an email!
