3D Printed Fibonacci Cogs
“A logarithmic spiral, equiangular spiral or growth spiral is a kind of spiral curve which often appears in nature. It is related to Fibonacci numbers, the golden ratio, and golden rectangles, and is sometimes called the golden spiral. The logarithmic spiral was first described by Descartes and later investigated by Jacob Bernoulli, who called it Spira mirabilis, “the marvelous spiral”.” – from makerbot These can be programatically generated using a script created by Dr. Laczik Bálint… and has been included on a “daily prints” list for teachers, which is a good idea as well. Reminds me of this 1930s video containing lots of different geared mechanisms… … which has been seen 2.6 million times… which I find quit amazing. There are millions of these on Youtube now… cog/mechanism videos. It’s a bit like what people used to say about The Velvet Underground… they might not have sold the most records,…
2013 : Vague Plans…
2012 ended more or less as it began… Small Town New Zealand, tinkering in the workshop, sending Golden Mean Calipers to the world… the main difference being that the calipers started out as a sideline, and are now a proper job… or at least a proper income. Had a very good November and December… so good in fact that I’ve managed to buy my own laser-cutter… so a whole lot more experimental stuff is likely to hit the screens quite soon. In the meantime, I’ve finally, (finally!) found someone sufficiently skilled and reliable, to make little wooden cases for me… my brother Dominic! He was there all the time… here he is in his back-yard, with Sacha, and two proud soon-to-be grandfathers. There’s also a duck. And Tosca, who is the best of cats… who is the worst of cats. Anyway, I also took some new photos… Lovely :) –…
Rough Ocean
Here’s a painting by Chester Chien… Which I think is absolutely fantastic – though to be fair, he paint it before I sent him the calipers :) It reminds me a bit of the famous Japanese one… The Great Wave off Kanagawa Which is an of’t-cited example of the golden mean, and an indication that it’s well and truly international… which really ought to surprise no one, because it’s also extra-human… And sometimes even extra-terrestrial. This picture is from Leonardo’s Reef… who use the golden-ratio to design fantastic aquariums. It never stops surprising me this stuff.
Photos and such
Well the dramatic crash in sales seems following the new website launch appears to have righted itself… and I’ve lurched from that crisis to another, ie: I’ve now run out of bits, even though I ordered more parts, giving myself plenty of latitude. So I spent this week trying to take proper Amazon-like photos… as documented here. Thank heavens for that. I’ve been trying to get this right for… years now. If only I’d asked the internet earlier
Empty Art
This is cool… Classical art, with all the annoying chatterbox people and flappy angels etc edited out. Bit of peace and quiet… and an opportunity to see how the basic layout sans-subjects was done. The Last Supper above, is a study in Fibonnaci. Golden Means everywhere. Mind you, my favorite one is more to do with Pi than Phi. Ceiling Cat had nothing on these guys. A Ceiling Jesus, some randoms, some cherubs and a ceiling-peacock. Speaking of Pi, check out these Aquatic Micro-Planets