some of the Harmonograph videos on youtube

possted by: eventhorizon53, 11 January 2008
"built this harmonograph, in part for the Art Faculty show at the college where I teach photography. I wanted it to be made primarily of wood, so I hollowed out redwood blocks that I filled with lead for the weights."

post comments by eventhorizon53:
- The 2 main Pendulums have varying weights and Radi ans swing perpendicular to one another, which creates varying frequencies which are transfered to the pen by arms. The pen rest on paper that is on a table on a third pendulum which rest on a gimble allowning it to rotate adding a third frequency to the resulting Lissajous diagram. The paper is held in place by a small amount of rubber cement on the corners of the table.
- Sure, the bearings are sealed roller bearings that I bought on Ebay. 5/8 of an inch diameter and 3/16 hole. The gimble I made by cutting donut out of the table and used a drill press to get the two holes perfectly in line



posted by johnmoriarty, 21 September 2007
"This is a Harmonograph that was made for the teamYES* exhibition; Experiments in the Field of Fun, in Monster Truck Gallery, Dublin."



posted by: K1Models, 12 November 2007
Automatic drawing machine using pendulums. Prototype version for proof of concept



posted by: mandobaron, 02 June 2006

Theo Jansen

Theo Jansen is a Dutch artist who since 1990 has been building walking kinetic sculptures that he calls a new form of life. His "Strandbeests" walk the coastline of Holland, feeding on wind and fleeing from water.












The initial generations were bulky and rudimentary they have evolved to adapt and react to their environment on the beaches. “Over time, these skeletons have become increasingly better at surviving the elements such as storms and water and eventually I want to put these animals out in herds on the beaches, so they will live their own lives.” Theo’s more sophisticated creations are able to detect once they have entered the water and walk away from it, and one species will even anchor itself to the earth if it senses a storm approaching.












They are intricately constructed of wood, plastic tubes – electrical conduit a purpose design electrical piping systems used for protecting and routing electrical wiring. “I make skeletons that are able to walk on the wind, so they don’t have to eat.” The creatues have stomachs consisting of recycled plastic bottles that store air, captured by gossamer (light, delicate) wings that flap and pump air a high pressure to us in the absence of wind, these to power the many spindly legs.



www.ted.com
Theo Jansen: the art of creating creatures
March 2007

AMAZING!

Harmonograph - wikipedia

A harmonograph is a mechanical apparatus that employs pendulums to create a geometric image. The drawings created typically are Lissajous curves, or related drawings of greater complexity. The devices, which began to appear in the mid-19th century and peaked in popularity in the 1890s, cannot be conclusively attributed to a single person, although Hugh Blackburn, a professor of mathematics at the University of Glasgow, is commonly believed to be the official inventor.[1]

A simple, so-called 'lateral' harmonograph uses two pendulums to control the movement of a pen relative to a drawing surface. One pendulum moves the pen back and forth along one axis and the other pendulum moves the drawing surface back and forth along a perpendicular axis. By varying the frequency of the pendulums relative to one another (and phase) different patterns are created. Even a simple harmonograph as described can create ellipses, spirals, figure eights and other Lissajous figures.

More complex harmonographs incorporate three or more pendulums or linked pendulums together (for example hanging one pendulum off another), or involve rotary motion in which one or more pendulums is mounted on gimbals to allow movement in any direction.

Red Rolling Skit in the Snow

I put some red acrylic into tin with three holes drilled
I trailed it around for a while in the snow, filmed by Chloe

(I wiped the paint off the roof afterwards - no damage done)

After making a trail, I started to repeatedly go over one area - the same motion as if I was sweeping but having the reverse affect splattering red paint all across the ground.


















I then wanted to clear some of that paint which was outside our door to disguise my trail, I placed it in the road in a line down the middle - contrast of the white and red snow against the mulsh, would be interesting to do this down a large section of road

Then I used up the last of the snow in the pot I had used for mixing the paint and used this as a mould.


















I started to clean out the tin outside in our garden with water and carried on spreading the red- as, I was doing it I thought it would of been more visually striking, if i filled in the lower part all in red

second version of attachment

The previous attachment worked alright, but although I strengthened the metal by putting bends in it is still to flimsy and the fixed two points of connecting to my bike mean that it doesn't turn the corner to well. So I looked around my Dads yard for a bit and found a straight sqaure box piece of steel, which again I have ajusted so that both attachments can fit on. (and more when I've made them)

After coming up with various ways of creating a pivit, we found this to attach to the back of my rack. I then cut the metal down using the hand held grinder with a thin Kerf cutting blade and sanded down the edges, drilled the hole and bent it in the vice to the right angle.














Dad suggested that we bend the rod in the Hydrolic Press which we did a bit tested it and bent it a bit more













Frame for Tin Attachement - attachment that I can put around the tins, made from alluminium, so was easy to bend and cut. Pot rivited joint. Again attached with bolt, spring washer and butterfly screw.















Tin Attachement


















Rake Attachement

Attachment, Tin Roller and Rake

I cut an old bicycle tyre down














measured the width of the tyre and dived the rest of the width on the tin to drill 3 lines of holes on, I used this strap to get a rough straight line, I then pot riveted the tyre to the can














found the center of the bottem and the lid of the tin with this set square (very useful)














cut some threaded rod to length and placed two bolts locked these off and a washer at both the bottom and the top of the tin inside














I then drilled a hole to fit a bung in the lid and hammered the lid on, fixing a washer and bolt tight to the tin














Test outside putting dry sand into the tin worked well, sand came out as a pretty much constant line. Attachment followed the movement of the bike pretty well, bit cumbersome round the corners














placed four bolts on the threaded rod either side of the tin so that the attachment doesn't get caught














- Attachment, attaches to the side of my bike rack as it can quickly be attached andd detached with the butterfly screws














- can also be folded down by unscrewing the black tube which keeps the two rods either side parallel
- bends in metal to try and keep it more rigid














I made the attachement so I could utilise it for other extensions.
I found an old cast aluminium rake, I bent the metal at the end of the attachment and drilled holes through this and the rake to attach it with four bolts and butterfly screws