Bubble setup at the CSC

Guide on Setting Up the Exhibit from Scratch

Figure 4.

This is a short guide on how to set up the demo. This usually would take me an hour with help from one other person. A list of the necessary equipment follows at the end.

  1. Set up some sort of fluid catch at the bottom of the atrium. In the past this was first a large tarp, then a kiddy pool in the middle of that, and sometimes a big trash can in the middle of that. If the tarp has to go on top of the ice wall, be careful not to slip, and use tape to secure tarp at its edges on the railings.
  2. Take all the other stuff up to the top. Rest the boom, metal tip out, on the railing. The semi circular notches should be facing down. There is a metal socket on the other end. Make sure this socket faces up. Find the plastic Nozzle which should be taped to the boom somewhere and place it into the hole in the metal tip of the boom.
  3. Now take the heavy fishing line and attach one end to the weight. We used to use a heavy lead one, but later preferred a lighter brass one. Lower the weight to the bottom. Then hold on to the string and get the spool down to the bottom. There should be some metal rods and clamps in the boxes which allow you to do all this in one move. You can attach the string to the weight, and then also attach the spool to the weight, so that it can still spin. Then lower the whole thing down, while keeping a hold of the wire. Take out enough slack so there is no tension on the wire.
  4. Now you have to attach the wire to the nozzle. This is done as shown in the picture:

    Figure 5.

    To do this you have to have the nozzle in place. Then kink the wire, and push this kink through the narrow nozzle outlet. Then take the loop of wire and fold it over on the metal plate.
  5. Now make sure the wires inside the nozzle are not twisted, as shown in the picture. Once you have the wires untangled, there are a few small notches in the boom where you can attache the lines temporarily so they don't re-twist. You can use tape too.
  6. Now gather up the electrical tape, the little wooden blocks with the fishing wire guides on them, the fine fishing line, and scissors. Take this stuff with you as you walk down one level. You are now ready to start tying on the secondary wires, colored red in figure 4, above. Keep this geometry in mind as you are tying the thin line.
  7. First you need to tape the wire guide eyelets to the railing. The loops need to be even with the extended boom. You can guess at this distance, and you will probably notice that there is a little paint stripped from the railing from previous demonstrations. It will be the last angled section of railing before the straight away, and in the center of this section.
  8. Once the two loops are in place, one on either side of the atrium, put the spool of line on the floor at the head of the atrium, where the heavy fishing lines are hanging down in front of you. Leave the spool (better yet, have a friend hold it) and walk over to a guide eyelet, and pass the line through so that it will not be twisted when all the knots are tied. (You'll notice how). Now walk back to where you left the spool and tie the thin line to the heavy one, again, making sure none of the lines cross or are twisted. You have to use a knot so that the end of the thin line will not poke into the soap film. There should be instructions on the spool on how to do that, or follow the diagrams below. It helps to practice a little. The diagrams tell you how to tie to a fish hook, but, it also works if you tie to another fishing line

    Figure 6.

  9. Once you have made the knot, take some excess slack thin line (we'll trim it later) and tie or tape it to the railing, so that it does not fall down.
  10. Do the same thing to the other side. You have now tied to the points C in figure 4. If the ice wall is in there, then this is all you need to do with the thin string. If the bubble goes all the way to the atrium floor, you have to tie more strings and attach more eyelets one floor down (points B in figure 4.).
  11. Now go back to the top. We need to fasten the boom. Look for a two or three foot long 1/2 inch thick aluminum rod in the supplies. It should have a clamp like valve attached to one end of it. Put the end of the rod with the valve into the metal socket on top of the boom. Screw it tight with the screwdriver. Have the valve knob facing back.
  12. Now find the plastic bottle with all the hoses attached. Using a pair of large hose clamps, attach this bottle to the top of the metal rod. Tighten the screws until the bottle is slightly squished. Loosen the bottle cap a little so air can get it and out.
  13. Now take the longest hose and lead to the nozzle at the tip of the boom. Jam the hose into the nozzle. Not too tight, not too loose. Take the part of the hose nearer the bottle and pass it through the valve. The valve works by squashing the tubing. Leave the rest of the tubes dangling for now.
  14. Now we are ready to put out the boom. Unhook (or untape) the fishing lines from step five. Now that we have tied the fine lines to the heavy ones one floor down the wires should not get tangled up.
  15. Push the boom out a little further, keeping its back end on the floor. When you cannot go any further, take on of the nylon cloth straps and pass it through the holes in the back end of the boom. Loop around the lower had railing and put it back through the buckle and pull it taut. Now have someone help you. Keep extending the boom, one notch at a time. As you do this, make sure someone else keeps the strap taut. The final position is to have the railing in the fourth notch from the end. Take a look at this photo to see how it should look.

    Figure 7.

    Not that the boom is a little off from the center point of the railing, so that the tip of the boom sits centered in the atrium. We also jammed some rubber bike inner tube under one side of the boom so that it is level. Make sure the book is tipped a little downward, to help the fluid flow down the tube.
  16. Once it is all adjusted, take the second strap and tie it around the place where the boom sits on the rail (see photo).
  17. Now go all the way to the bottom and attach the weight to both sides of the string hanging down there. Make sure you let them untwist all the way by letting them hang free for a while. Then tie on the weight, so it hangs a foot or so above the bottom. Over the next few hours, the string may stretch some and require the weight to be tied again.
  18. As you walk up again, and as you pass the eyelets, pull on the fine string until the heavy line reaches to the eyelet. If it does not line up, slide the knot up or down the heavy line. It helps to have someone at the bottom supporting some of the weight. Do this for all the eyelets.
  19. We are now ready to set up the fluid pumping system. Here is a diagram outlining the workings of it all.

    Figure 8.

    The pump keeps a constant flow from the bottom 5 gallon bottle to the top 1 liter bottle. This happens through the green tube. It is good to attach a weight to the bottom of the green tube so it stays in the bottom of the big bottle. Otherwise it may start sucking in air before the big bottle is used up. This flow is much more than what is needed to feed the giant film. The excess flows back through the grey tube. This tube therefore needs to be pushed into the top bottle almost all the way up to the top. The other two tubes should be near the bottom of the bottle. The red tube goes through the valve. The constant fluid level and a constant valve setting create the smooth and slow flow required for the bubble exhibit.
  20. Now go and fill up the big blue bottle. Take anywhere between 200 and 400 CC of Dawn dish soap, and the rest tap water (about 20 liters). It helps to add the dawn last, to prevent foaming, and to mix it up a little by swirling the big bottle in the sink. Then put the tubes into the big bottle as shown, pinch shut the valve on the red tube, and turn on the pump. Keep it pumping so that the overflow into the grey tube in only a little bit. You can adjust this later on also.
  21. That is basically all that is needed for setup. Now you have to decide how many people you will use to operate it. If there are two, one stays with the valve at the top, and one goes down to where the thin lines come together. You can feed them through a single eyelet there and pull on them by hand, or, you can tape the fishing reel to the banister and work it using the reel. If you only have one person, you can pass the wires up to the top and have the top person work it all. Eventually we should set it up as in figure 4. So that the valve and the strings can be operated by one person on the floor below the top. This will require us to extend the red tube in figure 8. to loop down to the floor below and then back up to the nozzle.

List of Necessary Equipment

  1. Tarp
  2. Electrical Tape
  3. Kiddy Pool
  4. (Trash can optional)
  5. Wooden Boom
  6. Plastic Nozzle (should be taped to boom during storage
  7. heavy (20 or 30 pound test) fishing line.
  8. Lead or brass weight, weighing a pound or two.
  9. Metal rods and clamps to attach spool to weight (optional)
  10. Wire guides
  11. Scissors
  12. Fine fishing line (6 to 10 pound test)
  13. 2+ foot aluminum rod with attached valve.
  14. Screwdriver
  15. Plastic bottle with hoses attached.
  16. Pair of large hose clamps.
  17. Cloth straps (2)
  18. 5 gallon plastic drinking water bottle
  19. One fluid pump. A gear pump or a diaphragm pump. I bought a little one I can send over. It cost only $15. medical surplus.
  20. Dawn dish soap
  21. Measuring cup
  22. Tap water.
  23. One fishing reel.
(C) Copyright, Maarten Rutgers, 1997.