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Over the past few years I've seen a few pieces of kinetic art that really stuck with me. Usually these are things that are simulating organic motion with simple mechanical structures. At some point, I decided I wanted to make a piece of kinetic art of my own. The concept I settled on was a "wave machine". I'm not the first to come up with this concept, many have approached it with variations on similar mechanics. If you do a google search for "wave machine" you'll see quite a variety.
My idea involved swinging "arms" that would ride on a cam. The cam should be interchangeable, allowing for me to simulate multiple different types of waves.
The initial vision I had for this project was machined out of brass and aluminum. I thought the juxtaposition of the heavy and hard metals with the smooth and flowing forms and motions would be neat. To do this required I learn some cnc machining. I've had this Tormach 770 cnc mill for a few months now, and finally felt comfortable enough to tackle this project.