Chain lift
for your rolling ball sculpture.


What makes your Kinematic sculpture, kinematic? A motor of course. Kinetic art is
art that moves. Kinematic art - is art that moves with the use of a motor. On rolling ball
sculptures, well, mine at least, I only use the motor for lifting the marbles back to 
the top, automatically. RBS is very cool to watch, but it gets tiresome to always
have to lift the marbles yourself. And besides, what do you look at? Your hand
returning the marbles back to the top, or the marbles on the track and elements?
It gets confusing...the motor and lift eliminates this problem so you can
sit back and just enjoy from wherever you want.  


Actually making the lift is a different story...
I am not going to give you step by step instructions,
but photos are worth a thousand words and I can at least
point you in the right direction.  
In these pictures I will show how I assembled
my chain lift.
I used these basic items:

AC Motor 5rpm
.25 pitch - Sprocket
.25 pitch - Ladder Chain
(I use ladder chain because
ALL the links come apart)
1/4" id Bronze bearing
1/4" id Thrust bearing


This is the sprocket that I am
using. It had a center hole of 5/16"
the same as the motor shaft.
But this sprocket needs to free-
wheel so I had to add the bronze
bearing in the center. I drilled the
hole 1/64th under 3/8" (the OD of
the bronze bearing) cut the bearing
in half, faced it with a lathe, and
pressed it into the center.

 



Then it is installed at the top of the
sculpture. There is another thrust
bearing on the other side of the sprocket
so that there will be no friction while
it is in operation. My aim is that it will
never need to be replaced. The center
shaft is 1/4".





This is how the AC motor will
be attached to the bottom of
the frame. I have not attached
it permanently yet, because I am
still fitting it into place. The 
holds it in place while I find the
best spot. I added a set screw
the the sprocket so it will not
slip on the motor shaft. 

 




This top shot shows the set
screw and that I have the
sprocket set out as far as it
will go so there will be room for
the ball pickups to go by. The
motor is mounted into the
aluminum plate. The screws are
counter-bored so the head of
the screw does not show.


Here is a close up of the ladder
chain itself. This is stainless
steel chain, and will never
rust. It is a small diameter
and not easy to weld to,
but with practice I was able
to get some great welds.
Search for ladder chain below. To make
the chain fit the sprocket, make sure
that the pitch matches. That is the
important measurement in matching
chain and sprockets together.






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