Jump to content
Science Forums

Spinning Button On A String


Turtle

Recommended Posts

We are in fact going to make some spinners this weekend! I will send you pictures of the proceedings and the finished product.

 

I was actually pondering a similar thing last weekend. One of the kids found a broken necklace. Just the chain really. When I picked if up to look at it the thing spun in such a fashion that the two dangling ends looped around each other, increasing speed until they reached the end. Then they reversed direction, unwound, and wound up again. This repeated until it had consumed all the energy it had gotten from me picking it up. I tried shaking it every which way to make it to it again, but no luck. Finally I just took one end and swung it so that it looped around the other. It immediately transfered it energy into the other string so they were looping around each other again. Fascinating. Someday that bit of knowledge will come in handy.

 

Bill

 

___Sweet! Whether you make a special disk or just use a big button, it's a fascinating device for we children.

___I once saw a clock using a wrapping/unwrapping braided wire to drive the action; I think it is called an Ignatz movement. Will check google.

 

Ps Here is one link to Ignatz movement:

http://www.pieces-n-time.com/for_sale.htm

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Ps Here is one link to Ignatz movement:

http://www.pieces-n-time.com/for_sale.htm

Those “flying pendulum” clocks look like they’d be great fun to watch. Seem closer cousins to a tetherball than a dibble/khua. I wonder if they keep time as well as regular pendulum clocks?

 

My aspiration for a dibble/khua (not sure it’s OK to use “dibble” for the disk-on-2+-strings thing, since it’s the name for a pointy stick used to make holes to plant seeds, etc. in – think I’ll use “khua” instead) is to make a small one that runs indefinitely, using an electric or wind-up motor. I’ve been thinking about it since post #32 on 8/14/05, but still haven’t tried actually making one.

 

We wage slaves have way to little time for the important things in life :) Whenever I get a bit of free time, it’s always spent fixing something, never making something.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Those “flying pendulum” clocks look like they’d be great fun to watch. Seem closer cousins to a tetherball than a dibble/khua. I wonder if they keep time as well as regular pendulum clocks?

 

My aspiration for a dibble/khua (not sure it’s OK to use “dibble” for the disk-on-2+-strings thing, since it’s the name for a pointy stick used to make holes to plant seeds, etc. in – think I’ll use “khua” instead) is to make a small one that runs indefinitely, using an electric or wind-up motor. I’ve been thinking about it since post #32 on 8/14/05, but still haven’t tried actually making one.

 

We wage slaves have way to little time for the important things in life :) Whenever I get a bit of free time, it’s always spent fixing something, never making something.

 

___The Ignatz clocks are hyptnotizing! I learned of them when I saw one operating years ago in a shop window at an airport terminal. I darn near missed my flight!

___I like Khua also; so now is the act of operating it "khuaing"?:) I can't get the machine idea out of my head either. This sounds like a job for...uhmmm...ohhh....:)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I used to collect clocks. I had a whole wall covered with them. Now they are all packed in a box. They have been since I moved from NJ... wholly smokes, 8 years ago! I never bought any myself. I got them all as gifts for Christmas and birthdays over a few years. There were always some that were missing from the collection. I am fascinated by the ones with the multiple exposed moving parts. There used to be one in Grand Central Station in NY that had billiard balls being manipulated through all these lifts and runs and stacks and whatnot. You could watch it for hours. And then there is that ancient water powered clock in China. And clocks that use hourglasses that flip and balance. I was in a shop in Sedona AZ that had clocks with all the workings hand carved from wood (except the springs). Clocks... I love 'em.

 

Bill

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Dog and pups made a spinner! We used an old CD and some string. We are having stability issues. It winds up, unwinds, but doesn't have enough inertia to rewind. Kids had fun though! I am trying to figure out how to improve the design (short of actually reading the instructions you made!) :)

 

Bill

 

 

Use WOOD BD! not Plastic.. takes some work

 

Learning the stabilty is half the FUN! :)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Dog and pups made a spinner! We used an old CD and some string. We are having stability issues. It winds up, unwinds, but doesn't have enough inertia to rewind. Kids had fun though! I am trying to figure out how to improve the design (short of actually reading the instructions you made!) :)

 

Bill

 

___Wonderful! The stability issues pervade every aspect of these whizzers, buzzers, diables, khua, spinning disk thingys da bob. The inertia rewind cycle is highly susceptible to instability; it requires a gentle yet firm release. Too much tension during rewind & it doesn't wind up enough; too little & the string goes slack & whips causing the disk to bounce (hard to recover from sometimes).

___I think the CD will work with the right weight & length of string so keep at 'er. It will not however give off a very dynamic sound. To get a "cooler" sound, notch or castelate the edge of the disk in a few balanced spots.:)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Here are some pictures of our new toy, or as #3 calls it "the hypnotizing wheel".

 

http://spaces.msn.com/webenton68/

 

I still cannot figure out how to link to pictures!

 

Bill

 

That linked great. Well organized on multiple levels!

 

Firstly, you have picked a very interesting disk, which until I looked at your pictures of the hypnotizing wheel, I failed to imagine just how interesting. To whit, the optical properties of the disk & the rainbow diffracting effect. I withdraw my recomendation to notch the edge of at least one disk, as it may interrupt or distract from the visual effect. To the best of my professional knowledge, you all are the first human beings ever in the history of the entire world to khua an optical disk.:) :lol:

 

Nextly, I see you have incorporated 2 contrasting colors of string into the experiments; I find this helpful to count the number of twists & it, if I may borrow a little phrase, is a hypnotizing string.:D

 

Well, I do run on.:eek: ...

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Practice makes perfect. Stability issue solved! I am adding a mechanism to keep the disk from sliding on the strings and getting cockeyed. I am also adding handles so that little hands can hold on easier. #4 and I had it going for a full minute until he lost his grip. The handle should help him with that.

 

Bill

 

For the benefit of #4 ---> :lol: :eek: :D :) :D ;) :)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Practice makes perfect.

For the benefit of #4 ---> :hyper: :hyper: :eek: :hyper: :hyper: :hyper: :hyper:

___And by extension the benefit of us all.:)

___Now as all you numbers get the hang of the strings, try hooking the loop 'round the piggy that went to market (or if you have a handle, hook it behind the whole stye of piggys with the string twixt to-market piggy & stayed-home piggy). Now you may have a hand free to spin&eat, or spin&write, or spin&spin, or...:hyper: Don't forget to cipher out how many knots per hour things is whizzin' too.:) :hyper: :hyper: ...errr... I mean:

:hyper: :hyper: :hyper: :hyper: :hyper: :hyper: :hyper:

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 1 month later...
Khua spinning tomorrow at noon. Location classified. Duration classified. Listening amplified. Distribute freely.:eek2:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

:eek:

 

Location revelaed:

45deg 43min 01sec N Latitude

122deg 10min 57sec W Longitude

 

Duration revealed:

5 minutes per dibbler

 

 

 

:Waldo:

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Duration revealed:

5 minutes per dibbler

 

Its a hell of a workout! :esheriff:

 

Tougher than you might expect, and timing of set/release also an aquired skill

 

But you can feel the Universal effects of the vibrations when the reverberations return in forms of animals, winds of change, good fortunes.

 

Metaphysical;

or Chaos theory, Butterfly effect! :shrug:

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

Loading...
×
×
  • Create New...