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Did I say I was finished with this? I think I did…the other day. Maybe? Silly me. I can never stop improving something. In this photo there’s one improvement that’s readily viewable, and that’s the little leg there at the lower right corner. You can even see I haven’t soldered it in place yet. I removed the simple spiraled curl that had previously been the terminus of the whole shebang, and I added a ramp to that last spiral and had it curve around to the lower right there. Nice, eh? Makes it a lot easier for little kids to get at the marbles and put them back up top for another trip.
Next up is to have dad help me make a nice wood base for it.
Amazing work on the RBS! Can I ask where you get the 10 guage copper wire? I’ve been looking all over the place and can’t find any. Also, how do you get the wire so straight? Thanks!
Andrew, thanks so much for stopping in and commenting! I appreciate the compliments as well as the questions.
The 10 gauge wire I was able to get at my local hardware store. It has orange sheathing on it compared to the standard 12-gauge, which is yellow, at least where I shop. It’s just that regular old 3-wire Romex, and I strip all the insulation off of it.
I straighten the wire by just about any method I can come up with, depending on the particular situation. The spirals are all would around either PVC tubing as coils first, or I might use a funnel or perhaps a flower pot. Flower pots work well for forming larger, single curves. With some practice it’s not too difficult to get the wire wrapped around a pot or pipe and straighten it at the same time.
I take care of small, sharp bends with a pair of pliers usually. For larger bends on shorter pieces of wire I will work out the most obvious problems by hand, and then I occasionally have to place it on the flattest part of my work bench and tap out the remaining areas with a hammer. It works surprisingly well and doesn’t take too awful long.
Any other questions, feel free to ask away. Do you have any photos of your own work? I’d love to see them if so.