Archive for the 'Circus and Silk' Category

Girls and Cube

Niss Again

Paige Handstand at the Love Potion Circus Show

Niss Juggling at the Love Potion Circus Show

Love Potion Circus Show – Cube Act

Love Potion Circus Show

I needed somewhere better t hang my cube when I wasn’t using it. So, I made a cube hanger!

I used the plasma cutter to cut some pieces of 3/16′ish steel plate (from the scrap yard):

Cut out:

I TIG welded on some 1.5″ pipe at a 45 angle:

Cleaned it up, and powder coated it flat black:

Bolted it to my beam (it is super strong!):

And hang the cube! It is a little close to the wall, but out of the way. It is kind of fun to sit in it, so I’ll probably whip up another one more in the center of the room to hang for parties and stuff.

Lyra that I made. Cromoly steel, 1″ x (I forget the tubing thickness and should measure it for reference). I bent it with my hossfeld bender; the top turned out a little flat, darn it! I’m still getting the hang of using the bender.

I’m still working on learning the cyr wheel. I haven’t spent quite enough time to really get the hang of it, but I’m starting to get a better feel for the basic “spin”.

Here’s a video from yesterday:

The best part is when I whack the edges of my carport!

A few weeks before Burning Man, I made another Aerial Cube. This time I used 1.5″ tubing, and it turned out better than the first one.

The previous cube was 1″ tubing, which was a little to harsh on the body when you leaned on it. This cube feels much “softer” and people are less prone to getting bruised on it.

Literally minutes after I was done with it, Taylor and Kat hopped on it and started playing around.

I brought it to Burning Man for Circus Boot Camp, and it was also a big hit — people loved playing on it.

Here’s a quick synopsis of how I made it:

* Cut off a 45′s with the metal horizontal bandsaw on one end:

* Rotate the tube 180 to cut the other 45 and use a stop on the other side to cut the pieces all to the same length. I think I roughly used 28″ (but I have to double check).

8 pieces were cut to this length. I ground the corners so I could get some good welds, and set them up with some 90 degree rulers to get it all straight:

I mig welded the square, and made another square. It was then a matter of connecting the two squares. I calculated the length for the tubing, and went about 1/4″ longer:

I then hand ground off a shape to make a slight fish mouth for it to fit better and then welded it all together (well, first it was tacked, and then welded for reals):

After one square was on, I then fish mouthed the other side and welded on the second half on top (second half not shown, but you should get the idea):

Cost for the cube: about $80 in mild steel.