Steampunk inspired four planet orrery

13 April 2012

Happy Birthday Kevin

The next project will be an orrery of the four innermost planets; Mercury, Venus, Earth, and Mars.  This one will definitely be steampunk inspired and operational.  I want it to have an aged patina so I have deliberately used vintage pieces in its creation.  As in old "school orrerys", the Sun will be represented by a stationary  light source situated in the center and orbited by the planets.  In this case the light will be a miners vintage brass carbide  torch.  I will fit it with a battery powered bright white LED.

To make a rotating pedestal I am using an old "hurdy gurdy" hand drill that was given to me by a steampunk friend.  Although it is missing pieces and in disrepair it is exactly what I was looking for. Thanks Chris!    

  

The wonderful thing about the drill is the gearing that will allow the planets to rotate.  The awful thing about the drill is the gearing that won't allow the planets to rotate.  Allow me to explain. The head of the drill turns horizontally as the crank turns vertically by means of a crown gear and pinion gears mounted on a solid shaft/axle.

                     

Because the lantern must remain stationary there must be a shaft within a shaft so the solid axle needs to be replaced with a tube.  For this tube/axle I used a piece of threaded lamp tubing (damned if I can find the proper nomenclature) that I notched with a dremel tool and reinforced cutoff wheel.

For the center shaft that is stationary and holds the lantern, I used a piece of 1/4" all thread.  The axle is seated in the drill body so I rounded the hex nut so it would fit snugly in the seat to reduce as much play as possible due to the disparity in size of the tube and all thread shaft.

                         

I could now reassemble the gears and slide them over the center shaft.

To keep the drill/pedestal upright and to provide a plate for the lantern I am using some vintage lamp and candelabra parts.

Because the arms that support the planets will be relatively long and could hit the one cranking I will have to further modify the drill.  My plans are remove the crank and weld a 1/4" drive socket to that point.  A  long extension with a faucet knob attached will snap into the socket when needed, allowing one to safely operate the orrery.

Steampunk inspired orrery as aCelestial art sculpture

2 April 2012

The latest from the atelier.  Time waits for no man (nor woman) with this steampunk inspired solar orrery.  It is mounted on a four inch wooden square with each of the twelve zodiac signs cast in brass meticulously embedded.  Each planet sits atop its own clock works gear and powered by a battery operated quartz movement orbits the sun once an hour.

               

   

Let's set a planet on its ear...an orrery of Uranus.

As a follow-up to the Jupiter orrery the next planet I will tackle is Uranus.  The idea is pretty much the same as before material wise.  The planet will be a six inch steel gazing ball mounted on an as yet to be determined pedestal which in turn sits atop a wooden base with an inlayed gear.  There are also twenty-seven moons of varying shapes and sizes to be supported by wire arms.  Ahh yes, an explanation of the title.  Uranus also sports a number of rings though much less spectacular then those of Saturn but unique in their own rite because they surround the planet from top to bottom in stead of horizontally as they do on the other planets. I am toying with the idea of using thin lexan with thin rings of "grit" affixed to the surface.  The ball should be centered and the ring would provide support. Pictures will follow along with a step by step documentary of the build.

29 February 2012

Since this was an "extra" day I don't suppose it can really be counted as a waste.  That being said, it surely was not especially productive.  I rode around three counties looking for a six inch stainless steel gazing ball with absolutely no luck.  In the end I just bit the bullet and ordered one on line.  I did, however pick up a four inch ball for a later project maybe Mercury. I am a bit leery of the glass balls but, I bounced one of the wife's across the front sidewalk this morning with no appreciable damage so they may not be as fragile as I thought and my trepidation may be unfounded.  Either way, the cost is pretty much the same but the glass seems more abundant/available. I found a gear I would  very much like to use for the base but it weighs a ton. Forget UPS, we might have to use Burlington Northern for shipping. I am still tossing ideas around for the rings.  Another consideration that hadn't occurred to me  previously is that the moons are also arranged up and down and in most cases in line with, if not part of the rings themselves.  This will make for a very tall and narrow  orrery.  I may be able to provide some amelioration by using an extremely short base.  Time will tell. Since the planet is multiple shades of light blue I am thinking an oxidized (rusty ) red color or patinated copper on the base and rings will provide a pleasing compliment. Like Seymore in Little Shop of Horrors, my stomach is yelling FEED ME!  I will call it a day.

06 March 2012

The ball arrived yesterday so now I have the basics.  I will start with a wood base add a gear that might have provided rotation.  Atop the gear I have a piece of vintage lamp pedestal which in turn is topped with another smaller gear and capped with an arm from a vintage brass sconce.  The arm will support the ball and an eight inch brass macrame ring.  Everything will be held together by a length of  quarter inch all thread.

This is the concept.  It will of course be refined throughout the build but is pretty much how I envision the sculpture.  Although the are a number of rings surrounding Uranus  The Epsilon ring is the brightest and pretty much divides the "inner" and "outer" moons. If I used the twelve inch ring, the ball will be much too far from the center of the pedestal when centered in the ring.  It also would make the planet much larger the the previous sculpture of Jupiter.  Finally it would still only be representative of the multiple rings which would be entirely too busy if present.  With all that being said I feel one ring will provide the visual confirmation that rings exist.

The next consideration is how to affix the moons.  On any other orrery they would radiate from the pedestal. Uranus, however being the one always present in a crowd, has to march to its own drummer. I am weighing the idea of having them radiate from filaments soldered into the ball itself. I just don't want to end up with a "fuzzy" ball.  At any rate there is plenty of time to cogitate and I am sure a suitable solution will come to surface.

11 March 2012

The pedestal/mount turned out better than I had hoped and I am completely satisfied, pictures to follow.  I drilled the frame and inserted a set screw to adjust/maintain the angle of the ring and it works great.  To install the ring I split it to pass through the hole drilled for it and then drilled a "moon" off center to slip over the ring and form a joint where I had separated it.  I think I will install several more moons of varying sizes the same way since they all are pretty much in the same orbital path.  Next step is to paint the planet.  I gave it a good coat of transparent blue yesterday and now I need to spin it to add some vapor clouds.  I would like to be able to affix it this afternoon so I can start working on the remaining moons.                    

20 March 2012     

Allrighty then, I have done a bunch of little finish work and am really happy with how this project is going

Looking from the front waiting for its moons 

                              Side view showing the blue fill in the base highlighting the planet itself.

 Looking at it from the other side.  I am quite satisfied with the color striations.

                   The moons lined up ready to install.  I suppose I better figure out how I will do that.

28 March 2012

Uranus lives.  I think it is complete and I am happy.  All twenty-six moons of varying shapes and sizes are on and I feel it is a good representation.  I will probably never be enthusiastic about the wire filaments because they will always stand out to me.  I tried acrylic but it is much to fragile and heavy monofiliment line is a bit less obtrusive but it sags. I guess that is why they used wire in the first place.  I just can't get this levitation thing down.

     

I think they go well together and are a good start to a complete solar system

13 April 2012

In keeping with its unique personality, Uranus arrived at its destination in somewhat less than optimal condition. 

It is now back at the atelier  being stripped and getting ready for a fresh coat (or more) of paint before retracing its steps back to its permanent home.