snark aside, if I had $68 I'd totally make one but since I don't:
the reason yours didn't work is all the paint and shit you put on the outside, making all that stuff snag. You need to keep the outside of the ball super smooth and slick. Then, for the head, a) why did you use that horrible rough foam? Floral foam would've done better just as cheaply, but I would've taken half of a ping-pong ball or something. Also, try taking a little ball-bearing ring from (something that uses one, idk, I've seen them independent of their gadgets) and use that to keep the head rolling smoothly on the surface. Also super ideal is if you put a super strong magnet in both pieces and then had them not actually touching anything (it looks like you're using buckyballs? touching everything). Just enough to keep the head in place, while allowing it to move freely.
@HELLOALICE First off, I think they know it was the paint... 2:49. Please stop talking and build one yourself. There's no way it could be better than this one.
@Moose Good effort sir! I see where you were going with that idea. I think reducing the smoothness of the sphero did not work in your favor. What do you think was the biggest issue? Did the internals need more ballast weight at the bottom? Stronger magnets? Better tolerance?
How it was made: The head consisted of thick styrofoam I took out of a box that held a tv, with a nickel-sized "Super Magnet" from Home Depot superglued on. The body was a Sphero 2.0 and a piece that consisted of a small bit of a Dilbert pen as a spacer, another Super Magnet, and a large googly eye on top as a buffer between the magnet and the inner surface of the ball, all superglued together.
Things I learned: 1) Sand the inner seam. I sanded the seam on the outside after I cut it in half and again after I glued it, but never considered the edge on the inside. The top of the ball where the magnet was would get caught in places, and cause it to stop and then fling the head off as it rolled away. 2) Paint it better. It worked like a charm (kinda) before I painted it; there was the issue mentioned above, but beyond that it was okay. I painted after gluing it because I thought that would make it look better and hide the seam. Instead, it fell in the grass and got covered in fingerprints and crap and my goodness did it ever go downhill from there. I also only had an hour or so to let it dry, so it got super tacky and sticky. The Makezine guy used black paint, then white paint, and then a layer of enamel. I just made an awful mess and tried to cover it up with plastic. Perhaps when it fully dries I can sand it smooth again... 3) The foam wasn't actually terrible, except for how it looked. Ping pong balls were too small, but the foam would never paint well and I couldn't find anything else to use in my rushed walmart trip.
@Moose "Perhaps when it fully dries I can sand it smooth again..." here's a tip: to make sure it stays as round as possible when you sand it, line the mouth of a mason jar (or some other perfectly round thing that's somewhat smaller in diameter than the ball) with 400 grit sandpaper and "roll" the ball in the mouth of the jar. The high spots will make themselves known first so you can attack them by hand. When you think you're close, remove the sandpaper, get in a somewhat darkened area, and anywhere you can see light between the jar opening and the ball is where it needs work. Nice job BTW!
That wasn't a @matthew soundtrack, was it? Between that and the absence of his voice, the video felt like a thing that wasn't a meh thing. Not that it was bad. Just foreign-feeling.
Chad (of Glen & Chad fame) made today's video. I'm glad you recognize my voice enough to miss it! But not as glad as I was to slack off all day yesterday drinking margaritas in a lawn chair while other Meh-ites got the video done.
Things I learned from the process: Sand. Paint. Sand. Sand again. It needs to be super smooth, to allow for... The head needs to be on felt, or something really smooth. It needs to travel easily across the smooth orb.
To echo what @moose said, I think the big mistake made was not getting a better sand on the inner seam. The painting and decorating all would have been able to be better if we hadn't come across the issue created from having a not-perfectly-smooth inner seam.
I do feel like if we did it again we could probably get it exactly right. Seems like big talk, but we really did identify a number of our own issues that we could work through on a second try.
Higher quality foam. Better sanding. Smoother cut. Better sanding. Higher quality paint. Better sanding...you get it.
@ChadP@moose You guys should do interesting/freaky mods on more of the products you sell - especially the boring ones - (speaker docks, flashlights, Onkyo Receivers, etc) - and post video of it for us because this was really interesting and engaging. Not quite interesting and engaging enough to get me to spend $68 and buy one for myself, but you definitely get points for creativity.
I think it's awesome that y'all did this and I have a Sphero from a previous day's deal (and it is super cool), but WHY FOR HOLY FUCK'S SAKE WOULD I TRY SOMETHING THAT WILL ALMOST INEVITABLY RUIN MY BEAUTIFUL LITTLE ROY ORBISON!!!! What, am I Josef Mengele here?
What the fuck is the matter with you people?
It makes more sense for you to try again. That or you can give me a second Sphero free (or $15 tops). Gimme a deal on a Dremel too. I don't have one, but I've always wanted a good excuse.
"Think you can do better?" cough buy one cough
oh wow oh boy I wonder if he's singl--
FUCK YOU
@HELLOALICE y'all need to get your fucking act together ok how am I supposed to lust after meh employees if they're all goddamn taken
@HELLOALICE goddamn
@HELLOALICE
@JonT WOMEN! can't control their emotions! rabble rabble rabble
@HELLOALICE
"WOMEN! can't control their emotions! rabble rabble rabble."
You sound like Aaron Sorkin.
snark aside, if I had $68 I'd totally make one but since I don't:
the reason yours didn't work is all the paint and shit you put on the outside, making all that stuff snag. You need to keep the outside of the ball super smooth and slick. Then, for the head, a) why did you use that horrible rough foam? Floral foam would've done better just as cheaply, but I would've taken half of a ping-pong ball or something. Also, try taking a little ball-bearing ring from (something that uses one, idk, I've seen them independent of their gadgets) and use that to keep the head rolling smoothly on the surface. Also super ideal is if you put a super strong magnet in both pieces and then had them not actually touching anything (it looks like you're using buckyballs? touching everything). Just enough to keep the head in place, while allowing it to move freely.
someone else do all that and report back pls
@HELLOALICE First off, I think they know it was the paint... 2:49. Please stop talking and build one yourself. There's no way it could be better than this one.
@Tystix Totally! Buy one and send it to me and I'll set it up.
Ha ha Makin' Bacon Pancakes!
Really, @Moose you and your coworkers have the coolest jobs anywhere.
@Moose Good effort sir! I see where you were going with that idea. I think reducing the smoothness of the sphero did not work in your favor. What do you think was the biggest issue? Did the internals need more ballast weight at the bottom? Stronger magnets? Better tolerance?
How it was made:
The head consisted of thick styrofoam I took out of a box that held a tv, with a nickel-sized "Super Magnet" from Home Depot superglued on.
The body was a Sphero 2.0 and a piece that consisted of a small bit of a Dilbert pen as a spacer, another Super Magnet, and a large googly eye on top as a buffer between the magnet and the inner surface of the ball, all superglued together.
Things I learned:
1) Sand the inner seam. I sanded the seam on the outside after I cut it in half and again after I glued it, but never considered the edge on the inside. The top of the ball where the magnet was would get caught in places, and cause it to stop and then fling the head off as it rolled away.
2) Paint it better. It worked like a charm (kinda) before I painted it; there was the issue mentioned above, but beyond that it was okay. I painted after gluing it because I thought that would make it look better and hide the seam. Instead, it fell in the grass and got covered in fingerprints and crap and my goodness did it ever go downhill from there. I also only had an hour or so to let it dry, so it got super tacky and sticky. The Makezine guy used black paint, then white paint, and then a layer of enamel. I just made an awful mess and tried to cover it up with plastic. Perhaps when it fully dries I can sand it smooth again...
3) The foam wasn't actually terrible, except for how it looked. Ping pong balls were too small, but the foam would never paint well and I couldn't find anything else to use in my rushed walmart trip.
@Moose "Perhaps when it fully dries I can sand it smooth again..." here's a tip: to make sure it stays as round as possible when you sand it, line the mouth of a mason jar (or some other perfectly round thing that's somewhat smaller in diameter than the ball) with 400 grit sandpaper and "roll" the ball in the mouth of the jar. The high spots will make themselves known first so you can attack them by hand. When you think you're close, remove the sandpaper, get in a somewhat darkened area, and anywhere you can see light between the jar opening and the ball is where it needs work. Nice job BTW!
@Moose Oh, and if you haven't yet seen it, there's this design: https://xkcd.com/413/ , which pre-dates the Star Wars droid design.
That wasn't a @matthew soundtrack, was it? Between that and the absence of his voice, the video felt like a thing that wasn't a meh thing. Not that it was bad. Just foreign-feeling.
Chad (of Glen & Chad fame) made today's video. I'm glad you recognize my voice enough to miss it! But not as glad as I was to slack off all day yesterday drinking margaritas in a lawn chair while other Meh-ites got the video done.
@matthew - Sardine margaritas?
Would an array of ball bearings at the connection point helped? I'd speculate that it would work for fluidity, as well as magnet contact.
Nice experiment, that was fun to watch.
I think you guys did a great job (for a first try).
It's cool, fun shit like this that makes Meh such an interesting site to visit.
Things I learned from the process:
Sand. Paint. Sand. Sand again. It needs to be super smooth, to allow for...
The head needs to be on felt, or something really smooth. It needs to travel easily across the smooth orb.
To echo what @moose said, I think the big mistake made was not getting a better sand on the inner seam. The painting and decorating all would have been able to be better if we hadn't come across the issue created from having a not-perfectly-smooth inner seam.
I do feel like if we did it again we could probably get it exactly right. Seems like big talk, but we really did identify a number of our own issues that we could work through on a second try.
Higher quality foam. Better sanding. Smoother cut. Better sanding. Higher quality paint. Better sanding...you get it.
@ChadP @moose You guys should do interesting/freaky mods on more of the products you sell - especially the boring ones - (speaker docks, flashlights, Onkyo Receivers, etc) - and post video of it for us because this was really interesting and engaging.
Not quite interesting and engaging enough to get me to spend $68 and buy one for myself, but you definitely get points for creativity.
@pepsiwine I'm all about it. We'll see what happens.
@ChadP Don't forget about the other little things, like safety glasses and gloves
@ChadP Forget felt. What you need is some silicon-based lube! get the surfaces as smooth as possible and lube 'er up! I recommend Swiss Navy brand.
@medz You seem pretty confident, use a lot of lube to make robots do you?
@JonT I don't know about spherical droids, but It's the lifeblood of automatons.
I think it's awesome that y'all did this and I have a Sphero from a previous day's deal (and it is super cool), but WHY FOR HOLY FUCK'S SAKE WOULD I TRY SOMETHING THAT WILL ALMOST INEVITABLY RUIN MY BEAUTIFUL LITTLE ROY ORBISON!!!! What, am I Josef Mengele here?
What the fuck is the matter with you people?
It makes more sense for you to try again. That or you can give me a second Sphero free (or $15 tops). Gimme a deal on a Dremel too. I don't have one, but I've always wanted a good excuse.
@joelmw I have a dremel. Yall can even send me the one from the video and I'll fix it up.
You've inspired me. I have to build one. One thought, maybe try graphite on the base of the head. (you can use a pencil)
Is @moose getting a cut of this action?
@medz Yeah, me and David Prowse got the same deal.
@Moose did ya see the drone? http://www.engadget.com/2015/09/03/disney-is-selling-a-millennium-falcon-drone-starting-tomorrow/