This small tabletop Rolling Ball Sculpture has three tracks squeezed into a pretty tight frame. It’s only 25" high x 18" wide x 12" deep, so there isn’t much room to work with. Building small can actually be harder because I’m constantly bending and adjusting tracks while trying to keep everything inside the frame.

The loop d’ loop is turned sideways to make it fit. There’s also a small hanging rod on the loop track that serves a very specific purpose. The ball takes a small dip and a sharp turn before dropping down the ramp into the loops. That turn leaves the ball spinning in the wrong direction, so the hanging rod knocks off some speed and gives the ball time to straighten itself out before entering the loops. Sometimes you have to make little adjustments like this just to make the ball behave.

The tall skinny coil stretches almost the entire height of the RBS. The ball gains speed all the way down before shooting up a steep ramp, stopping, and then reversing direction back into the collector plate.

The long track has a spiral, lots of twisty and curvy track, a ball-collecting tipping arm, wavy track, another tipping arm to separate the balls, and two sections of horizontal zig-zag.

All three tracks eventually meet in the flat collector plate at the bottom and merge back into one track for the chain lift. I love these smaller projects. They’re challenging, but it’s fun figuring out how much RBS I can squeeze into such a small package.

100% stainless steel, TIG welded.