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In case you've found yourself wondering what it might be like if an oddly satisfying looping GIF came to exist in the real world, I am here to answer that question for you.
I designed a looping ball machine, complete with a scissor lift mechanism, a 3D printed chain and sprocket, and a full gear train. All this to complete the mission of moving a segment of track just in time to allow a ball safe passage.
After adding a feedback sensor and some arduino based code, the system is timed to perfectly grab the ball, creating a satisfying loop that will go forever.
00:35 Design Process
03:01 Build Process
05:00 Iterating
05:51 Frying Electronics
07:30 Final Results
Artist Renderings Featured:
/ wannerstedt
/ arbenl1berateme
If you would like to support the creation of more projects like these, check out my patreon- / engineezy
Much of this project was printed on my Bambulab X1 Carbon which I HIGHLY recommend (seriously, nothing beats it) Here’s my affiliate link: shrsl.com/2a5d5-2yn7-1cwx9
My website has some fun stuff that you can 3D print if you have a 3D printer:
engineezy.com
For an uninterrupted run of the sculpture, check out this video:
• Oddly Satisfying GIF i...
Challenge: Can you do an almost perpetual motion design, that uses just a small solar panel to work? In order to work durring day without a battery.
Oooh good challenge! I'm going to think about it!
i.ebayimg.com/images/g/DfgAAOSwSHpimBzz/s-l1600.jpg
Add a rechargeable battery to the mix and a solar panel strong enough to charge the battery at the same time the panel powers the mechanism. Then you don't need to worry about it stopping even in temporary darkness.
@@ianbelletti6241A capacitor fits that description perfectly, and is cheaper, simpler, faster, safer and more efficient than a battery with a charge controller.
@@totally_not_a_bot you don't always need a charge controller. It depends on battery type. On top of that, some lithium batteries come with built in charge controllers. Just look at the AA rechargeable lithium batteries.
If you are considering a v2, I would love to see a version where a ball is moved by rocking the entire frame (thus removing the lever to lift the ball). It would be difficult, but the software could employ a PID controller to get smooth motion.
Ooh thats a very cool idea! Might have to use that in a future project
Attach the camera to the tilting frame and a smooth background so you don't see the motion.
Honestly, I feel like the little drop before the ball gets picked up adds to the illusion. It looks like even that has been animated. I love it!
Thank you!!
Very nice! Another fantastic little contraption.
Appreciate it 😀
@@Engineezythe whole timing issue may just be motor speed. It would be a little more mesmerizing if you could perfect the motor speed instead of varying it. The first attempt appears that you have the rotation set too low.
i didnt know you were here!
hi jkbrickworks
Great video, and the end result is mesmerizing. I would love to see an episode 2 on this “real life satisfying GIF” idea at some point in the future where you try to get everything perfectly smooth and synchronized, with a new unique design
Definitely going to be making more of these! And they will be perfect 🙌
I had my perpetual doubts until I saw that the ball is lifted back up, and boy did you deliver. It’s mesmerizing. Great video.
Thank you 🙏
Awesome project, absolutely love desk display things like this. And that beat. Now needs a few other similar machines with other sounds, to make a mesmerizing orchestra
Ooh the machine orchestra is an amazing concept
Quick, interesting and calming build! Great work again by industrial designer Jay!
Appreciate it 🙏🙏 ID Jay says thanks ☺️
Love the rythme to it, sounds very satisfying on top of the visuals!
Glad you like it!
We need a long form video of just this thing running... it's so mesmerizing!
kzhead.info/sun/gaeGprCfi4ZolX0/bejne.htmlsi=_RK2VmOFvHfihfsT 🙌🙌
Oooooh ! So nice and cool project! Good job ! I am happy that you're able to waste your time a way I can't so I can still enjoy your creative creations without having to / being able to build them. 👍👌🏻
3:15 Jay goes heavy metal!!! Yeah, look at those sparks!
great work! these balltrack animations are always an inspiration....also works with rollercoaster tracks
Thank you! It would be cool with roller coaster tracks as well!
I like it. It has a good beat. All mechanical systems should have a good beat to let you know they're working right.
Very true!
Cool, man!
Thank you sir!
Nice video and the results looks great! Very satisfying to watch it in action!
Thank you!! Agreed :)
Delightful! Nice job sticking with it and putting in the work to get to awesome!
Appreciate it!!
Bro, you are an inspiration. And seeing how you have gone through almost every comment and given a reply is so cool, I have a lot of respect for you. It would be cool If for a future project you can make a cool contraption that your subs make with you. Like you make a simple template and they design a unique mechanism off of it, build it, test it, and send it to you to add to the others.
Love that idea! Definitely going to have to slot that in to a future project. Appreciate it 👊
It felt unreal, exactly why you made it. Congratulations!!!
Mission accomplished!
Really cool! Great concept, and I can't wait to see you do more of these! 👍
Lots of concepts in the works!
Nice. I like how you showed the iterative process of tweaking things to get it to work. As always, i enjoy your work. Decided to subscribe to your Patreon.
Thank you! Really appreciate the sub!
Cool! I love those satisfying 3D animations too! This may be just part of your process that you leave out, but do you ever run a physics simulation on your machines before you build/print them? I'm a 3D animator myself and use Maxon Cinema 4D which has a physics engine that's pretty easy to use. I'm sure Blender does too. It made me think on this one that if you simulated it accurately enough, you could tweak the dimensions, slopes, etc until the ball lined up with the paddle arm at the end without the sensor and motor speed change.
I definitely need to spend more time with physics engines! Generally speaking my computer is not powerful enough to hand them haha, gonna need to fix that and improve in this area
Love your attention to detail there, the speed change in the rotation made a huge difference in the smoothness
Thanks for appreciating! Definitely a big part of my process
@@Engineezy yeah, I noticed from the other projects, the perfectionism in me appreciates your extra effort haha
Jay, 👏 You know what I am going to say. You never cease to amaze!
Thanks John!!!
Mesmerized and satisfied viewer. The scissors and cam work do well!!
Appreciate it!!
Arben’s ball designs are so satisfying yet so simple
Super well done! And you clap out of excitement! Many people do.
Thank you 👏🤭
Dude that's DAMN creative! Amazing content as always 👍
Thank you!! Appreciate it 🙏
That was super satisfying and really therapeutic hearing it tick along
Really cool! I had some sort of art block in blender but not anymore lol
Let's go!!
I love the sound even more! Mesmerizing!
Happy accident 🙌
Nice NB You can't expect something to tke longer than expected !!
That's crazy man. Thanks for sharing this with us.
Thanks for watching 👊👊
the mechanical sound is sooooooooooooooooooooooo satisfying
Very nice. Almost perfect. From the top it looks great but from the side there is a tiny bit adjustment needed. Thanks for sharing 👍🏼
You deserve so many more subscribers! Your channel is awesome and you don't inject a bunch of hypothetical science 🙏
Nicely imagined, designed, and engineered.
Thank you!!
This really was great! Thank you,
Appreciate it! 🙏🙏
In 1968 I went to the World's Fair (Hemisphere '68) in San Antonio, TX. In one of the display areas, they had a machine that just fascinated me. It was a very simple machine consisting of a box mounted in a wall with a glass front. On the base of the box toward the front were two polished metal pads about 3" in diameter. Directly between the two pads was a shaft about 4" tall with a rotating hoop on top of it. Directly behind the two metal pads and about 6" above the base of the box were two holes in the back wall. About every second or two, a metal ball just big enough to fit through the hole would fall out of the hole on the right, drop down and land on the metal pad on the right. The surface of the metal pad had a compound angle that would bounce the ball and change its direction toward the spinning hoop. As the ball reached the hoop, its rotation would just align with the ball to allow it to pass through, ark down and hit the second pad where the direction was again changed and the ball bounced up and through the hole in the back on the left side of the box. Repeat indefinitely. A bunch of us probably watched this display for over an hour. Since that was 55 years ago, my recollection of the sizes might be off, but I will never forget how much fun it was watching this thing. We may have gentled "tapped" on the glass a few times to see if we could make the ball miss the hoop, but I think it was engineered with that possibility in mind because we did not break anything and it never "dropped the ball".
That sounds really cool! Definitely sparks some ideas!
Very relaxing! I love it! 👏
Agreed! Thanks 😀
This is actually really mesmerizing lol
The sound it makes only adds to the experience
Happy accidents 🙌
I like the clapping, embrace it! Each KZheadr has their signature quirks that fans come to love.
🙏🙏👏👏
Your machine has something those GIFs can't have: Satisfying mechanical noises.
*Natural ones too! 🙏🙏
Looks great, awesome job😎👍
Thanks Richard!
Totally mesmerising!
😵💫😵💫
Love it!
Thank you!!
Very nice! Mesmerizing!
Glad you think so!
Thank you for making the music have the same BPM as the machine. Itched my musical brain
👊👊🙏🙏🙏
how do you not have 1 million subscribers already?? your videos are amazing!!
Thank you!! Step by step
Really cool to see your process as a professional engineer!
Thanks! Trying to get better at sharing it!
SMH. Nothing short than amazing! Lots of fun to see what's mechanically in your head and the process coming out into the ether. Keep these videos coming. (clap) They're inspirational in a weird sort of way!
Appreciate it Jack!
I think it could be improved by having the scissor lift go back down slower so that it gets in position just as the ball meets the gap. That should be possible with just a different shape of cam.
very cool. top view is the most smooth i think
Great stuff
Thank you!!!
You should be apart of every engineering and artist repertoire, genius
🙏🙏🙏
Oh my God that looks amazing
🙏🙏
Great work!
Appreciate it!
That’s great, thanks for the video 👍
Thanks for watching!!
i love that you seem to have accidentally learned to do clap syncs via osmosis from watching other creators' youtube videos without realizing what their purpose was
🤣🤣
That’s so mesmerizing
🚗🚙🚌🚐🚕
Great first go. I'm looking forward to something more difficult.
Thanks! More to come!
Damn, that’s nice. the sound of the ball when it hits the lower rails is really sharp, reminds me of ice skates.
Ooh yess! I can totally hear that
WOOOOWWW we want more like this...❤❤❤❤
More to come 😀
The little drop at the end works because it adds to the rhythm of the machine.
I’ll take it 😂
honestly the sound itself sent me into hypnosis
Agreed!
The mechanism makes a good beat
Al though your videos are a little short, they are fun to watch!
It sounds lovely
It was a happy little accident!
It’d be so cool to see a bunch of these satisfying renders turned real at some kind of event like maker faire or open sauce
That was so satisfying🥰
🙌🙌🙌👊👊👊
Great engineering. Try filming in 60 or 120fps and playing it back at 0.5x or 0.25x speed, and remove all sound. Bet it will be more .GIF like.
Definitely worth a shot
such cool mechanics!
Agreed!!
Nicely done.
Thank you!
Fantastic!
Thank you!!
Hah! Nailed the satisfying gif aesthetic. Awesome work
Thank you!! Mission accomplished 🙌
My cat couldn't take his eyes off the TV when it was up & running Very Cool!
😂😂😂
love this! would be interesting to see if you could change the speed using a variable speed gear on the paddle
That would be cool! Thanks!
So dang cool!
Thank you!!
I love the design, would like to become an engineer when I finished school, and your very inspiering. I was wondering if you could make the speed of the ball pusher variabel by using a shell gear. I think it would make the design that mutch more satisfying. Really hope you read this.
Thank you! That’s an interesting thought, might have to put it to use on a future project!
Very cool! Couple things to really bring it home would be to adjust the timing of the bridge piece so it arrives in both places JUST as it is needed instead of being in place a moment before it is needed, and then eliminating that stutter entirely for the ball lift. Maybe make that part a continuous rubber belt that uses friction to grab the ball instead of a hard swinging arm? Really great regardless though, keep it up! Would love to see other types of these satisfying machines made in real life.
I respect the ten hun shirt! Love to see creators supporting creators!
Also are the cinematic shots of the completed machine in low fps? The effect it gave was sick!
It was a little lower fps! Happy you think its cool, wasnt too sure about it
Also TenHun is a legend
Nice little beat it makes too.
Happy little accident!
I'm never disappointed when I stop in here. Absolutely love what you do. Your prints always look awesome... way better than mine. Could you make a video just on your printing / post processing?
Thanks Matt! Theres not much process to my prints, the machines do a great job and the cameras dont pick up the imperfections on the white filament that well. Thanks for stopping in 🙏
I was wondering if thats some magic fillament. You cant even see the wall lines.
You inspire me
I am building an inverted pendulum at the moment and I would love to see a fully built version made by you. Also its kinda challenging I would say. Maybe a interesting challenge for you?
I’ve actually always wanted to do it but haven’t gotten around to it yet, may have to put it on the project list!
yezzz. great build!
Thank you!! 👊👊
Great project
Thanks Eric!
Well Done!!
Thank you!
@jbvcreative This project is amazing, I love the engineering involved with making your project work. One thing I would have loved to see in this video and would love to see in future ones is the how’s and the why’s of the project and not just the what’s of the project. For example at one point you said “I made some adjustments and things are looking way better.” I’m over here asking what exactly were those changes, how did you go about making those changes, and why did you do it like that and not some alternative way? I think also teaching your audience about how your mechanisms work, for example how you designed your gears and why gear ratios are so important, or about your code, or if there were any problems and how you solved those problems within your program. This would increase the length of your videos, increasing watch time (improving your metrics), and I believe that this would bring in more viewers (and subscribers). Thank you for reading my comment and I look forward to seeing future content from you.
I appreciate it and appreciate the feedback! Im always trying to balance the information with a good video flow, but I will definitely try to add some more info into future vids. Cheers!
Very satisfying.
Amazing
Thats a cool concept!!
Wow, it looks very good 7:40, well done 😀👍🏼
Thank you!!
BEAUTIFUL
Thank you! 😊
It's beautiful.
Thank you!
Jay: "Don't you just love it when a plan comes together?" Hannibal: "I love it when a plan comes together."
😈😈
@@Engineezy 🪖🪖🪖🪖
Shoutout to Morley for interviewing you. I love your videos!!
Seriously! Shout out to Morley 🙌
A very easy change that would be cool would be to change the cam shape a bit so that the bridge arrives at the lower track at the exact time the ball does.
Fun! Love your stuff Perhaps you may solve the small ball drop issue by inserting a small ball bearing in the center of the 3D printed ball then mount a magnet on either side of the upper acrylic casing (towards the middle-top of the arch). That way the ball would have some help against gravity while waiting for the arm to catch up and push it along.
Thank you! Thats a very interesting thought! You’re definitely on to something there
6:09 noooo! You let out the ghost in the circuits! You never want to let out the ghosts!