BUD BALL or EDPOS

The Times square million dollar ball will fall soon and you can only watch it on TV. So here you can make a cheaper version and drop it. Do not drink all the 50 bottles of beer and try to make the ball at the same time as you may glue the bottles upside down!! Because I do not drink it took me over 1.5 years to find 50 bottles with lids on the side of the road.

The EDPOS is equal distant points on a sphere. I not only show you how to make the Bud ball but give you insight to the complex of placing equal distant points on a sphere (edpos). This is still and always will be a impossible mathematical conundrum. You can't create finite points from an infinite number (pi).

I have a good stl file for the ball and all you need is E6000 glue NOT silicon rtv. And 50 clean bottles with caps, and a simple jig from scrap 2x4s to keep the bottles straight while gluing.

First print the ball from the stl file. Test the lid size on a partial print to see how well the lid fits into the hole. The lid should be slightly inside the ball with the ball inside flush with the lid. The lid must fit this way so there is a lot of surface area to glue. The ball filled ball will be surprisingly heavy and the center support is needed. Insert a wire ALL the way through and support from the bottom. DO NOT screw to the support as it will split.

Make simple 2x4 'L' frames to hold the bottles straight while the glue dries. The frames must be lined up on a straight line so the 2 bottles are forming a straight shaft as the attach to the ball. Let dry for 4-6 hours and glue 48 more lids. The lid gluing is much better than just gluing the bottles to the ball. First it makes the attachment easy as opposed to full size of the bottles. The lids also make the ball sorta water proof for outside. If the bottles fill with water they WILL fall out because of the added weight.

Use scrap 2x4 about 10 inches screwed at a 90. I added a side scrap to keep the bottles parallel to the jig and 90 degrees straight to the ball. I like E6000 glue and use it anywhere i need a GOOD glue. It works well outdoors. Silicon glues may work but outdoors I have seen it loose it's grip.

After all the lids are glued I check for loose or poor glued lids and re glue. I make a feed through wire from clothes hanger wire (actually aluminum) and make a loop. Feed through the ball and place a washer and nut and then crimp. The ball will spin on this without grinding away the support. Any other way to hang the ball will distort the ball and WILL fail. Just holding a single bottle will distort or pry out that bottle from the ball.

edpos = equal distant points on a sphere is quite involved. I downloaded several articles about this. Some were so involved I really needed to drink all 50 beers to understand! I was hoping to find an easy way to 3d print the ball but it took many, many hours to get this stl close. About 3 weeks worth. And my covid 19 ball (see post) was twice as hard to make.

The ball shape pdf gives a good picture of the placement of 'nodes'. It uses brute force and complicated math for the placement of edpos. The very best is when the edpos begin to look like a sunflower seed pattern. But this shape takes place only with 100+ edpos. This uses 50.

I just gave the TIP of the iceberg in articles on the subject. I read many more and was surprised as to how complicated it can be and that many articles began with "not exactly perfect placement but good enough for the eye"

Looking at the photo you can see the 'bud ball' and a plain jane bottle ball in the background. The long neck of the bud bottles makes the pattern beautiful. The long neck allows for more bottles to be placed in a tighter sphere.

So "party on dude"

enjoy the bud and EDPOS......please see my MANY other things

thanks from oldmaninSC