An Observant Viewer

"Dear Clayton,

I enjoyed your "Evil Twin" video and watching the people's reactions. It reminds me of a time, while I was covering electricity with my physics students, the students wanted to see if a Layden jar could hold its charge over the weekend. So we charged one up, set it in the back of the classroom with a sign that read "Experiment in progress, do NOT touch". As luck would have it, my next were a group of freshmen and one boy saw the sign and, as is typical with curious minds and disregard to instructions, he touched it. There was a flash of light, a yelp, and he jumped back quite some distance with a tingling arm for part of the day. I think it would be neat to set your "Evil Twin" at some location (ie. on a counter at some store) with a sign that reads, "Do NOT touch the lever" and film people's reactions.

Also, while watching your video, I noticed a couple of things. I was interested in how you have your workshop setup. Any chance you could give us a "tour" of where you work your magic on your blog?

I also noticed some of the things hanging on your walls. Do you have a collection of David Roy's kinetic art pieces? There is one thing hanging on your wall that I haven't seen before. In the video from about 10 seconds to about 1 minute, and at the very end, there is a large dark circular wheel (with white segments arrayed around it) in the lower right (beside a clock and under 2 pieces that look similar to David Roy's designs). Is that a clock or a kinetic art piece? Any chance you could showcase that?

I'm really enjoying following your blog. I've been taking an computer design class this past week and have shown everyone in my class your website. I have a guy in my class, who just purchased a 5-axis CNC machine who has been generating some interesting designs...he's taken a strong interest in your website.

Keep up the good work. Next week, I may actually have some time to get in my basement and get some things done. :-)

Have a great day!
Dwight"

Aloha Dwight, you have a good eye. I was introduced to David Roy's work back in the 1970's, and have had some email communications with him. He is an absolute mechanical genius.

I try very hard not to step on David's toes which is why you only see a couple of my own unique kinetic scuplture plans offered on my site. He's a great guy and I wouldn't want to infringe upon his territory.

I do not follow his work because I don't want my designs to be influenced by what he has produced, but coming up with something that David has not already created is very close to impossible. I've designed a few mechanisms I thought were unique and then showed them to friends, only to get in response "That looks like David Roys (_______Insert name here___)". Dang!

The kinetic sculpture you see spinning on my wall next to the Simplicity Variant is called Zinnia. I thought it was unique until I showed it to my clockster buddies, and they were correct, the drive mechanism is not the same, but the display wheels could be nearly direct copies of one of David's sculptures (Dang!) - so I do not offer plans.

I do, however, have plans for the kinetic sculpture in the lower right, just below the one that looks like a giant monstera plant. The monstera plant sculpture is a variant of one of David's sent to me by a dear friend. It has a wonderful floating movement, but I don't have it running because it hits the sculpture below - bad planning on my part).

The kinetic sculpture below the monstera is an Original Clayton Boyer design - with a lot of help from Forrest who designed that particular display wheel.

That sculpture is simply waiting for its 'glamour' photos before being posted to my site. I call that sculpture the Space Time Continuum.

My STC has been running in that spot now for about six or seven months. It's actually running right now! It does not run a full day, but must be rewound about every 8 to 10 hours with the display wheel configuration I have on it right now. I wind it just before I go to bed and it's still running in the morning when I enter my shop, so I wind it again. The rewind is super simple; just pull down on the counterweight cord. It takes about two seconds.

The display wheel you see in the video is actually the optional display wheel that Forrest designed, but that wheel will be available in dxf format because it's so large. The display wheel that actually comes on the original STC is a beautifully weird design - from which the mechanism got its name.

The plans are complete for the Space Time Continuum, and if you'd like to order plans contact me again about it and I'll give you instructions on how to get the STC plans. This might be a fun CNC project because the large gear and three options for the display wheel are available in dxf format, PLUS it is a super simple and gratifying build. Like I said, mine has been running six or seven months, and I love watching its motion, and listening to its unique release mechanism. This mechanism does not tick each second like a regular clock but is released and impulses about every twenty seconds! Fun!

Enjoy.  Clayton

P.S.  from Lisa:  Dwight, we'll work on a blog post "tour" around Clayton's workspace soon.