After seeing one of these cool sculptures on reddit, I just had to build my own. They are so cool!
This is built using a structural principal called tensional integrity (tensegrity for short), where all the chains are under tension due to the distribution of mass in the system.
There are many ways one of these can be built. With a three chain setup like this one, the key is that for the upper part there must be more mass on the side facing away from the two long chains.
In this model, that is just barely the case, so it will collapse pretty easily if it is disturbed. It can be made more stable by adding more bricks to the ‘long’ side. For example, in the video it becomes more stable once Emmet is seated on top.
Building instructions for this can be found below, or you can watch the build tutorial video. You can also purchase all of the pieces for this model in a kit from BuildaMOC.
Build Notes
One thing to note, LEGO has produced 2 lengths of long chains over the years – 16 studs long and 17 studs long. Unfortunately, Bricklink does not distinguish between the two. I’m using 16 stud long ones, but it’s easy to adjust for the longer version. You can just rotate the ends of the longer chains to effectively shorten them, or extend the height of the base by a couple of plates.
i built it, but its very unstable. Is there a way to weight it to make it less prone to collapse?
You can add more pieces to the ‘front’ of the top piece.
may I have one
What can you use instead of the chains?
You could use string instead.
Thank you so much for this….I needed something to make for a physics project and I was running out of ideas until I found this video on youtube and now this site. I am expanding to make my own style now since I don’t have lego chains…
Nice proceed