Wood and Metal Tensegrity Table

thingiverse

Here is a version of my Symmetric Tensegrity Table, done in wood and metal. Of course, it's really all just plastic (wood filled PLA and Silver Silk PLA), but it looks pretty believable. The table uses transparent nylon lines for a better floating illusion, and it might take you a few seconds to see how it stays suspended. The wood PLA I have doesn't take stain very well, so I used the Polyshades type stain & finish, which can make almost anything resemble wood (this is Pecan color stain). During printing of the first layers, I jumped the printing temperature around about 15 degrees every few minutes to give it some wood grain look. That worked surprisingly well, but if I did it again, I'd jump it around a little more aggressively. Like my previous Symmetric Tensegrity Table (https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:4292334), this one uses #6 -1/4" sheet metal screws (and 2 washers each) to clamp down the transparent nylon tensioning lines. That makes it easy to set lengths for balance and to get things very tight and stable. The other ends of the lines (and both ends of the one in the center -- do that one first) are tied to beads that sit nested in pockets in the arc-shaped pieces. The arcs glue to the top/bottom pieces with gel superglue. Takes only a few minutes to put together.