I was asked to make an unusual project. A Christmas Tree! Chris contacted me to make him a tall RBS with tabs on the uprights to hold Christmas lights. We went through some different ideas before settling on 4ft high X 3ft wide. Of course, the bottom had to be a circle and at first we had 3 upright supports, but 4 seemed to be much better. The more uprights we added and the more of a circle shape we could obtain. But! The more upright supports and the less acceess I would have to reach in and manipulate the tracks to build them. The one thing the Chris wanted was the helical lift rising up in the center of the tree. Making the circles for the bottom of the tree are, up to this point, the largest rings I have made. Since I get my steel in 12ft pieces, 3ft was just about the limit of what I can make with just one piece of stainless steel. The hardest part of building the tracks on this Rolling Ball Sculpture Christmas Tree was at the very top where the track begins out of the lift. With the supports so close to where the ball exits there was very little room to work. On this RBS is the very first curved tipping arm I have ever built. This RBS looks great without lights, see the pic below, and even better with lights on it as it glows multicolor in the dark.

The pics below show this RBS in its final home. What a view!

100% stainless steel, TIG welded.