Gibbon Design

Creative Misuse (click the play button)

2010-04-05T22:10:00.001-07:00

Slinky Treadmill v2 at Maker Faire

2009-05-31T20:44:00.000-07:00

I made another Slinky Treadmill for the Maker Faire.

Finished Piling Pivot Exhibit

2009-03-14T09:43:00.000-07:00

The exhibit was installed at Fort Mason (San Francisco) in December 2008. Here's a video of a school group in March 2009. Notice the barnacles on the piling.

Time by Su-Chen Hung

2009-02-15T23:03:00.000-08:00

This is the pendulum in the National Taiwan Museum of Fine Art.
Installation: Time by Su-Chen Hung
October 2008
I hope to have a video soon.

Finished Pendulum

2008-08-19T19:22:00.000-07:00

This is the final 14' pendulum with a 500W light bulb at the bottom causing shadows to move as the pendulum went back and forth. I used a very light 1" x 2" x 1/16" wall aluminum tube for the stalk. It allowed the pendulum to swing faster and was stiff enough that the magnet push didn't make the stalk vibrate.

Pier Piling Pivot

2008-07-20T17:52:00.000-07:00

Here's the first test of a motor driven Pier Piling. It's designed to lift the piling out of the water so people can see the things growing on it up close. JJ (160 lbs) hung from the end of the piling and it still lifted.

Perpetual Pendulum

2008-07-20T17:34:00.000-07:00

The pendulum below is the prototype for a 14' magnet-driven pendulum for artist Su-Chen Hung. The proximity sensor on the right turns on the electromagnet at the bottom of the pendulum swing, attracting the pendulum on its downward swing. The time delay relay shuts off the magnet so it doesn't attract the pendulum on its upward swing.

Shaded Pole Motor

2008-03-06T20:45:00.000-08:00

I made this simple shaded pole motor in the Pendulum workshop. The motor is sitting on a 12V transformer that powers the coil on the left. The coil creates an alternating magnetic field in the steel cylinders above and below the spinning disk. The disk is spinning because of the "D" shaped piece of copper embedded in the lower steel cylinder. The magnetic field induces an electric current in the copper "D". This current creates an opposing magnetic field that is slightly out of sync with the other magnetic field. These two fields are creating opposing eddy currents in the copper disk. Since their timing is out of sync, they alternately push and pull the disk in one direction. Notice that the disk changes direction when the "D" is flipped to the other side of the steel cylinder. Can anyone think of an easier way of explaining this?