Archives for 2016
Worthy 2 at Third Friday
March 20, 2016 by
Many thanks to the Santa Cruz Museum of Art and History for letting me show Worthy 2 at their Artivism event during Third Friday in March, 2016. Worthy 2 is a smaller (and less dusty) version of Worthy, my Burning Man 2015 installation. … Read the rest
Burning Man 2016 Project
April 16, 2016 by
Updated May 18, 2016: new rotor in diagram.
I really like wind-powered projects. Ten years ago I made a wind-powered graywater evaporation device, several years after that I helped Larry “Ember” Breed teach his Gray-B-Gone Evapotron construction courses. But unlike those wind-powered projects, this one doesn’t perform any practical purpose: it just displays the amount of air that has passed the art piece during the week, measured in miles.… Read the rest
Wind Load Calculations
April 18, 2016 by
Updated May 18, 2016: Use new rotor. See end of post.
Burning Man is a bit like an outdoor museum—a museum that can have highway-speed winds! Part of registering an art piece for display is determining the strength of hold downs required to ensure that the art does not tip over or blow away from the wind.… Read the rest
Design Drawings for Miles
April 19, 2016 by
Here is the current structural and mechanical design of Miles. This drawing set includes three views of the piece, an exploded view of the interior mechanism, and detailed drawings of the Geneva device, the main gear, and the worm gear. … Read the rest
Number of Teeth
April 20, 2016 by
The rotor on top of Miles spins a worm gear. I want that worm gear to rotate the rightmost digit wheel once for each mile of air that passes by. To get that desired rotation, I need to mount an ordinary gear on that digit wheel.… Read the rest
Art Deco Font
April 21, 2016 by
The details of Miles are inspired by Art Deco screens. Keeping with that theme, the digit wheels will use the Art-Deco–styled font family, ITC Anna. Below is how the digit wheels will display the distance 123.9 miles. In the illustration there are four “digit wheels” and one “fraction wheel.”… Read the rest
Shape of a Spur Gear
April 22, 2016 by
Geneva devices link adjacent digit wheels of Miles. The devices cause 9-to-0 transitions of a digit wheel to advance the wheel on its left by one position. For instance when counting from 19 to 20, the digit wheel that represents the units position advances from 9 to 0.… Read the rest
Materials for a Ten-Year Lifetime?
April 23, 2016 by
Usually I design Burning Man projects to last for the week. This choice means that wood and metal remain unpainted and that nothing is supposed to get very wet. Then if I want to save a project and return it to the playa in a future year, I need to store it out of the weather, and that takes space that I don’t have.… Read the rest
Metal Workshop
August 20, 2016 by
I’ve been working every day on the fabrication of Miles in this workshop. I think I’m going to complete the project before I need to leave for the Black Rock Desert. Unlike other years, the tools that I’m using are difficult to transport to the desert, and so if I don’t finish the project before leaving, I won’t be completing it on site.… Read the rest
Cupcake Cafe at Burning Man 2017
November 24, 2016 by
Imagine you are walking along one of the roads at Burning Man. While you may be heading toward a particular destination, you welcome distractions. As you pass The Cupcake Cafe, someone emerges with a tray. “Would you like a cupcake?” they say.… Read the rest
Cafe Infrastructure
November 24, 2016 by
Most theme camps in the Black Rock Desert are bars. Why is that? Having brought a sake bar to Burning Man, I can say that bars are easy. To create a bar camp, aside from hanging wall decorations, I just needed to bring sake and prepare to wash sake cups.… Read the rest
New Shelter?
December 8, 2016 by
I’ve been bringing the same 26-foot-diameter wooden dome to Burning Man for 12 years. While I could continue to bring it for years to come, it takes much time to assemble and take down, and its cover is not dust tight. … Read the rest
Two Freezers on a Generator?
December 9, 2016 by
The freezer will need to run 24/7, and so I’ll bring my Honda EU2000i generator and refill its gasoline tank throughout the week. To conserve gasoline, the EU2000i has an “Eco-Throttle” mode that keeps the generator in idle. The generator still outputs 115 volts, but at low capacity.… Read the rest
Architecture: Intimacy Gradient
December 27, 2016 by
I am inspired by architect Christopher Alexander’s book A Pattern Language. One of its sections, Pattern 127 Intimacy Gradient, recommends ordering the spaces of a building so that public areas are closest to the entrance and private areas are more distant.… Read the rest
