This is one of the Rolling Ball Sculptures I built and put up for sale rather than making as a commission. I’ve used circles for frames before, and for this one I rolled a bunch of them with my ring roller and arranged them with the largest circles at the bottom, getting progressively smaller toward the top.

This RBS has three tracks. The tall coil and loop d’ loop tracks are connected through a ball-exchanging teeter-totter. The ball from the loop gets caught in the teeter-totter and waits. When the ball from the tall coil rolls over it, the waiting ball is released into the loops — while the ball that triggered it continues into the coil. The two tracks keep feeding each other this way as the sculpture runs.

The third track has one of my favorite elements on this piece: a large flat plate mounted on a pivot. One end is connected to the chain-lift sprocket, so as the sprocket turns, the plate slowly tilts up and down. The balls roll back and forth across the plate, sometimes finding the exit right away and sometimes taking their time. I think this was the first tilting plate I built, although I’ve used the idea on a couple of other Rolling Ball Sculptures since.

The chain lift has a speed control, so you can speed it up or slow it down depending on how much action you want. Changing the lift speed also changes the movement of the tilting plate.

100% stainless steel, TIG welded.