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The Machine

The Machine · Elements

Chime chandelier

Design stage

Updated 2026-10-18

A ball cannon surrounded by hanging tube chimes. Each chime is a note, so aiming picks the note.

Ring layout. The cannon spinning in a ring of chimes.
Fig. 1Ring layout. The cannon spinning in a ring of chimes.
Turret layout. The cannon on a pan-and-tilt turret, aiming at a ring of tube chimes.
Fig. 2Turret layout. The cannon on a pan-and-tilt turret, aiming at a ring of tube chimes.

Built around one ball cannon, which fires a tethered wooden ball at a tube, reels it back and re-cocks itself. The tubes hang around it like a chandelier.

Two layouts

  • Turret. The cannon sits on a pan-and-tilt turret, firing roughly level, surrounded by a ring of hanging tube chimes. Two steppers with belts turn it, as in the open-source OpenTurret design.
  • Ring. The cannon sits on a central post inside a ring of tube chimes hung on cords from an overhead ring. Hang the tubes so their bottoms are level and fire at one height just above them; then the cannon only spins, with no tilt axis. Continuous spinning needs a slip ring, or a controller and battery riding on the rotating platform.

Aiming at the chimes

  • Each chime is a note, so aiming picks the note.
  • Aim at the lower part of a tube. The tube is a tall target, so the ball’s drop over the shot only shifts where it lands; side-to-side aim is what matters.
  • After the hit the ball drops below the tube’s bottom end, so reeling pulls it back underneath without snagging, and the funnel at the muzzle catches it from below.
  • Targets don’t move, so each chime gets a stored aim: calibrate pan and tilt once per chime, then recall it.
  • The turret re-aims while the cannon reloads. Melodies are slow, one note per reload, and the turret visibly swinging between notes is part of the piece.
  • In the ring layout, put the tubes in scale order: neighboring notes are small turns, leaps are big swings the audience can follow. Firing while turning, timed to the angle, plays arpeggios as the barrel sweeps past.
  • Space the chimes so a struck tube can swing without hitting its neighbors, unless that clash is wanted.
  • Keep the string just long enough to reach the farthest chime: less slack to tangle, and it doubles as a safety leash.

References

  • OpenTurret. Open-source pan-tilt turret on two NEMA 17 steppers with belts and TMC2209 drivers, partly 3D printed; build documentation not yet published. Model for the ball cannon’s turret.
  • Slip rings. Rotary electrical joints for passing power onto a spinning part.

Parts

KindPart
PrintedTurret yoke and turntableTurret layout.
BoughtTwo NEMA 17 steppers with beltsTurret layout, after OpenTurret.