While many pieces of kinetic art are installations unaffordable to any but the largest institutions and corporations, I wanted to highlight a few artists and companies that have very creative offerings that can be purchased. I cover a wide affordability range, from $50 all the way to $20,000.

Or if you have a few million to spare, I’ve also highlighted a number of bespoke design firms and designers around the world who can help you deck out your villa or decorate your massive garden… or at least serve as inspiration for your own unique kinetic steampunk and electronic creations.

Leveraging a bit of the electromechanical experience I’ve garnered on past projects, and scratching that ever-present itch to do some interesting programming, I’ve worked thru much of the design and math for a “ring” messageboard or clock. This steampunk-esque design builds on the principles of a combination lock, can be extended to a message board of arbitrary length, and yet can be set with just a single precision-controlled motor. Read on for the what, how-to, and wherefore!

My personal projects are often one-of-a-kind combinations of electronics and craftsmanship. In this post, I describe the steps in taking a “word clock” from rough idea to finished product, with many of the messy intermediate steps and lessons learned exposed.

The story of a hyper-local steampunk flight tracker, with a software-defined ADS-B radio, lots of custom software, some beautiful walnut veneer (and solid walnut) custom cases, and hours and hours of love. All this to drive a “splitflap display”, one of those nifty-but-noisy messageboards you occasionally see in transportation hubs, like San Francisco’s Ferry Building or airports and train stations across the world.

Vain Rumpfed Flirtgill! Frothy Fly-bitten Lout! This creation combines 1950s era cutting edge technology - the single-pane display, a competitor to the Nixie-tube - with an Arduino in a simple oak box to generate those, and 998 other, Shakespeare-inspired insults.