Designs Become Real- Cutting the Sonosphere Support Arcs

Our last blog post featured Louisa's design for the new Sonosphere support arcs that comprise the main support structures. This post is to show what the individual pieces look like after they've been cut out of 1/8" thick steel sheet metal. The arcs were designed by Louisa in Adobe Illustrator, then converted into CnC files by Ballard Water Jet, who also did the metal cutting for us. The pieces were then welded together by Rusty Oliver at Hazard Factory in Seattle, Wa.

There are 4 large 'arcs' holding up the Sonosphere cymatic platform- Those arcs are semi-circles when assembled, but it reality it's actually 8 separate pieces bolted together. This is for transportation reasons and also because the finish on these is going to be shiny CHROME and the chrome baths are small as they usually are made to accommodate small items or a classic car bumper at the longest. The 8 pieces are built kind of like a truss- each has 4 sides like a box that adds to the strength of the structure, which is being built to hold up to 2 tons. A huge thank you to Rusty Oliver for helping us perfect our engineering on this.

In the next photo, the arcs are being assembled an welded and the truss aspect of the design can begin to be seen. Rusty is holding the pieces together with wood so he can weld them. All of the decorative cutouts in the metal ar going to be covered with a frosted acrylic material and backlit by sound-sensitive LEDs. Also, all of the wires for the whole Sonosphere will be routed through these arcs. They are the Bones and the nerves of the machine, so to speak. It is taking a LOT of time, money and dedication to build this next version. We are so excited, and also we have to be patient as we slowly move toward our goal. If you feel called and would like to contribute to the Sonosphere project financially, and help speed this whole thing up- we are gratefully accepting private grants/donations. Those who choose to do so will be credited on our website, in our final building, and also receive a membership to the Sonosphere, or the Sonosphere Retreat proportional to the amount donated. Please contact us if you are called to do so.