Reading Time: 2 minutes I’m moving to Oakland this week. I’m also working with a startup that’s building a marketplace for travelers to connect with “localites”, experts in the area they are visiting. To get a feel for the value of a locality, I put together an itinerary that I would take my friends on to get a feel … Read more
Reading Time: < 1 minute The scrolling ticker substrate is a ring suspended from the top of the hyperboloid tower. The ring will be made up of 3 6″ x 16 ft. sections of 1/8″ Masonite. Each section is made up of four pieces of 6″ x 8 ft. Masonite lapped together and secured by sets of 4 small bots … Read more
Reading Time: < 1 minute Midway up the structure, we need to have a platform to support the power systems. This platform can also stiffen the structure serving transfer tension and compression forces around the helix. I wanted it to be able to support several hundred lbs. of weight that a person and a generator might add up to. At … Read more
Reading Time: 2 minutes Our first design for the structure called for 2″ diameter bamboo poles arranged in a helix pattern to form a 14 ft. hyperboloid tower. Each pole was going to be made up of two 8ft. pieces of bamboo cane coupled by using a two-foot 1″ round dowel inserted parallel through the middle of the cane. … Read more