This weekend we put together the sphere.  Nathan, Julie, Robert, Chris, Mike, Megan, Nate, Vaughn, and Erin B got together under the hot sun in a big grassy field and assembled the 23′ geodesic sphere.

We started at the top.

Which happened to be on

the ground.

Donate $50 or more and get a Nexus Hoodie!

Hit the paypal button and donate at least $50 (the more the merrier!)

The new Nexus hoodie design

Click on the images below for PyroSphere info and updates

Donate $50 or more and get a Nexus Hoodie!

Hit the paypal button and donate at least $50 (the more the merrier!)

The new Nexus hoodie design

Click here to view the embedded video.

Plumbing:

The sphere is able to be divided into 10 identical diamond shapes, each of which contains 9 flame valves. Each of these “diamonds” will have its own propane tank, plumbing, and electrical; and all of the diamonds will be plumbed and wired identically. So our first task is to design and build one diamond. Once that one is complete, we’ll build 9 more just like it.

Programming:

Steve has completely rewritten the code so we can change patterns, speed up or slow down any pattern and more!

Here’s a short video:

Donate $50 or more and get a Nexus Hoodie!

Hit the paypal button and donate at least $50 (the more the merrier!)

The new Nexus hoodie design

Today was a productive day for the Nexus crew. It all started with big poles.Many, many big poles. 1300 linear feet of 1.5" steel conduit were manhandled mercilessly.

A few hours later, 280 of these bad boys were cut to size.

Then we had lunch.

After lunch, we threw the poles into trucks and brought 'em on down to 'Ye Olde Nexus Metal Shoppe.

It took some custom jigs to assure consistent craftsmanship on each and every pole. Chris made the jig for the holes, and Aaron modified a jig for the press.

Robert fine tunes the press jig

Here’s a video of the press in action.

Now we just need to do that 559 more times…….

……to be continued.

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nexus waterslide@ the banwell ranch

Special Blends of Sunshine Beats by:

Boreta   Mozaic   Stridah  Ooah

Lil John  Alia   Cool Hand Luke   Taina

With special guest Mr. Projectile in a

lawnchair

Saturday, July 1st! The Nexus Water Slide Party will be blowing your shorts off from noon till 8pm. $10 donations benefit the Nexus Theme Camp ‘06.

Below is the music video to Erin Banwell’s track “Explode!”, off his album “Life is Like a River…”  featuring The Fire Tornado. Enjoy.

The drive mechanism was built with recycled materials. An old dryer motor, a bicycle rim (minus the spokes), and an automotive serpentine belt.

The 2009 Nexus Fire Art installation at Burning Man consisted of 5 seperate flame effects. Four of these were equipped with 3/4 inch solenoid valves and 125 gallon accumulator tanks, and were capable of producing 15 to 20 ft bursts of flame. The fifth flame effect, “Big Boy” (video below), was equipped with a 2 inch solenoid valve and 125 gallon accumulator tank, and was capable of producing 25 to 40 ft bursts of flame! All five flame effects were controlled by a keyfob remote control. With full batteries in the remote, we had a range of about 400 ft!

We developed a circuit that could be used to make a flame effect go to music , but unfortunately the audio cable we ran from the DJ booth was bad, and by the time we realized the problem, all cables were already buried in hundreds of feet of ditches, so we were not able to use this sweet effect on the playa. Here’s a video of one of the test runs:

Created, designed and constructed by:

Erin Banwell

Nathan Crane

Josh Silverstien

Trampoline Dodgeball World Championship  2009