Caged Pulse Jets is an interactive, kinetic sound sculpture. The caged birds are five spinning pulse jet engines of various sizes that create a range of percussive and droning tones. Through a completely interactive interface, the public can create sound compositions ranging from the symphonic to the cacophonous while they are held captive by the fiery jets spinning by their own thrust.

July 29, 2010

Commutators & Wiring & Forging!


We are in the final assembly stages with the components that are the most complicated. The commutators do deserve a standing ovation, as they are super fabulously built and designed by Christian Ristow- they are single port gas and single conductor electric and spin beautifully on two bearings. We are building the arms that hold the jets out into the cage and it's getting crowded within the cage. Meanwhile, Steve Storz has been applying his mad scientist wiring to the project and the console is almost all wired and ready to interface with the jets as well as the public. The console looks very inviting and gadgety! On the team recently is blacksmith Jim Stoner, who has been cranking out some amazing forged work, for embellishing the cage, which will get added in the next few days. I have a fantastic crew going here and am confident that we can start testing very very soon!



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July 23, 2010

Working Days, Working Nights


Time does fly! I had some crazy ambition that the project would be DONE by now, but hey, we are close, but not quite there yet. We have had a good turnout of help and we are in the last stretch to get the cage done and the jets mounted. Most of the components had to be ordered so there has been plenty of time spent tracking missing or late packages. We have set a deadline to test the sculpture, and everyone on the crew is working hard to meet that. The fabulously made commutators are done, thanks to Christian, and are ready to get mounted on the jet arms. Steve is working hard to get the console wired for interfacing with the jets and the public- not an easy task! I finally found 300' of affordable propane hose with appropriate JIC fittings, which should arrive next week, and then we are ready to test!
Personally I am falling in and out of good use as my 30 LBS front pack is wearing me down in the shop- baby is heavy!
And on another note, there is now a kickstarter support page for the project to help us get over the budget crunch- Hopefully our goal of $1000 will get us there! Any donation is very appreciated, small as well as big!