Möbius Mk II

[Gareth J]

After I was helpfully reminded that my previous "Möbius" was actually an infinity symbol, I got to wondering how I could make one.

Much pondering later and a LOT of workshop action, I'm done (more or less)

Still need to decide about mounting it. Thinking a thick steel base to maintain the illusion of "weight" with the thing propped about 1" off it but open to suggestions.

I'll post up a few build up pics later in case anyone's curious. Was hoping to give the feel it was hewn from a solid chunk of steel. Clearly it wasn't

 

[julianthegypsy]

Really nice. I'd like to see it "floating".

 

[Parm]

Impressive!! And yes another vote on floating

 

[Gareth J]

Cheers guys. Yes, "floating" would be nice, I'll have to experiment with the height off the base but it will have to be minimal to hide it as the profile is only 5" square. I toyed with the idea of having it hung from a heavy chain but that's another load of expense I could do without and I don't think it would look so good.

First step; 16x square plates. I got them guillotined 5"x5" the last time I went to the steel stockists. I had originally planned for 4x4 but changed my mind just before we started punching. 4" looked too skinny.

drilled holes in the centre and made a corner notcher to punch 1/4 circle holes in all the corners.

Make a circle out of bar:

Space the plates around the circle, each 5^ (ish) more tilted than the last to complete a full 90^ in one revolution.


Put more bar around the thing using the notched corners as guides

That last section to go on overlapped by literally 1cm. I estimated the length of bar I'd need based on a 4" square sculpture and thought a full 20' length would be plenty!

When it got to this stage, I was sorely tempted to chop out the majority of the innerds and leave it. It looks cool enough.


Had to carry on really though. Cardboard mockup.

Now, I was intrigued as to what this shape would be in 2d, I tried for a while to figure out what path it would follow, even looked online to see if anyone had "flattened" a box section mobius but no. I failed.

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Bonkers eh?! Imagine trying to twist that up to make the 3D object with no insides.

Filling in, the plasma cutter was invaluable for this, could afford to rough cut, tack it on then fairly accurately chop back most of the waste before tiding up with a flap disc. Part of the reason for this project was to get me more plasma time, I would not have approached it without.


About a billionty spot welds later.. Honestly, it's such a confusing thing to work on I kept getting lost around the circle. The edge must be, well, 20' long minus 3'.

 

[Gareth J]

Getting there..

The joins were tough and the two sections where the curve changes direction. The steel didn't really want to do it.

Much improvised slide hammering and gentle panel beating later it approached acceptable.

Masses of flap disc weld dressing and we're up at the pics in the beginning. I like the brushed steel finish but need to figure out what is going to happen to it. If it's destined to live outdoors, it will need some protection. In this part of the country 1mm sheet steel doesn't last long. Would be cool to let it rot out and see the skeleton again though! I like it enough to keep it but it would be good to sell it ideally to recoup a bit of my plasma expense so if you know anyone who wants such a thing...

 

[oddbob]

I saw this as much bigger than it is from the first photos you posted. So, being a more manageable size, I'd be inclined to hang it from the thinest strongest wire I could find. Perhaps piano wire.

 

[julianthegypsy]

I saw this as much bigger than it is from the first photos you posted. So, being a more manageable size, I'd be inclined to hang it from the thinest strongest wire I could find. Perhaps piano wire.

Yes, I thought it was about six feet, like a henry moore sculpture! Goan, build a huge one, you know you want to!

 

[Maker]

Wow, that's amazing how you got it to be such a smooth, flowing curve. I agree, it looked loads bigger in the first picture.

Why did the chicken cross the mobius strip?

To get to the same side.

 

[Gareth J]

Ah, I forgot the all important cup for scale! A bigger one? Well bigger is generally better when it comes to these things. Never say never, but no.

My reservation about hanging it from something very thin would be that it would instantly tell you it weighs fec all (5-10kg). I'd have to go with something that would at least be able to hold the weight if it were solid steel (150kg ish) which is still a fairly thin cable, 2mm diameter would be capable.

 

[Maker]

I think you should make another one going through it, like a chain.

 

[Kayos]

I think you should make another one going through it, like a chain.

Make loads then just hang it up like that

 

[chunkolini]

Most impressive, well done there.

 

[Wendelspanswick]

Is there a mathmatical formula for constructing a flattened box section möbius strip? Would love to see it just to see how woeful my mathmatical knowledge is.

And my iPhone automatically adds an umlaut to the o in möbius which is cool.

Why did the chicken cross the mobius strip?

To get to the same side.

Maker! Where is your umlaut?

 

[Gareth J]

Is there a mathmatical formula for constructing a flattened box section möbius strip? Would love to see it just to see how woeful my mathmatical knowledge is.

And my iPhone automatically adds an umlaut to the o in möbius which is cool

Yea, android too.

I googled for ages to try to find a similar formula, not to help make it just for curiosity. I couldn't find one. I'm not sure one that prescribes that bit of paper I laid out exists as it has two edges and would need two formulae to match, same with a true Möbius made from an infinitly thin, half twisted strip. Something should be out there to describe the edge of the completed shape, it's gonna be a handful though!

 

[Anguz]

i like that a lot..... would like one in brushed stainless ;-)

 

[fixerupper]

Genius mobius...jeff

 

[Wallace]

Fantastic. I think the grinding marks in the first photo make it look bigger.

 

[Maker]

You probably won't find any formulas because it only has one boundary so it would be hard to define. Also,like you said, a real Möbius strip is infinitely thin so technically what you've made is some kind of torus. Maybe you could call it a Möbius torus.

 

[Fintray]

That's really impressive and like the other guys I thought it was much larger than it is.

 

[Gareth J]

i like that a lot..... would like one in brushed sss ;-)

I'd like to say I'd love to make you one. Trouble is, I now know how time consuming a job it is! I agree though, stainless would be awesome; outdoors & shiny!

Fantastic. I think the grinding marks in the first photo make it look bigger.

Yea, it seems everyone thinks this, obviously moss isn't enough to go on to get a sense of scale.

You probably won't find any formulas because it only has one boundary so it would be hard to define. Also,like you said, a real Möbius strip is infinitely thin so technically what you've made is some kind of torus. Maybe you could call it a Möbius torus.

There is a name for a square based, 1/4 turn Möbius torus thing but I can't remember where I read it