# What is this thing? \[Strange grid ball\] **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [January 12, 2013, 8:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-thing-strange-grid-ball/646989 "2013-01-12T20:37:29Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 7
**Author:** ![Leaffan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leaffan/32/299_2.png) [@Leaffan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaffan)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2013, 4:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-thing-strange-grid-ball/646989/121 "2013-01-15T04:40:28Z")
> [@Leo\_Bloom](#): > > I had a thought: it’s an “inner mold,” a form around which some material is poured, providing a 3-D stamp for the inside of some object. > > I’m thinking something like a lost-wax process. In which case this inner mold form should have been melted out. Or else molecularly rearranged when it’s job was done. But if they could do that, they wouldn’t need a mold. Maybe. > > So: the structure (whose external shape we do not know) for which it was used is out there or has been destroyed. Bzzzzzt. Can’t see it. ---
**Author:** ![Leo\_Bloom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leo_bloom/32/10377_2.png) [@Leo\_Bloom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leo_Bloom)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2013, 4:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-thing-strange-grid-ball/646989/122 "2013-01-15T04:51:26Z")
My concept/description, or you don’t think it may be correct? ---
**Author:** ![DocCathode](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/doccathode/32/18773_2.png) [@DocCathode](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DocCathode)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2013, 5:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-thing-strange-grid-ball/646989/123 "2013-01-15T05:16:22Z")
> [@AaronX](#): > > Could also be galvanized. Finding out what it’s made of would go a long way. If it really is just bolted together, the OP could take a section weigh it and then measure its volume. ---
**Author:** ![Leaffan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leaffan/32/299_2.png) [@Leaffan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaffan)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2013, 5:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-thing-strange-grid-ball/646989/124 "2013-01-15T05:23:52Z")
> [@Leo\_Bloom](#): > > My concept/description, or you don’t think it may be correct? Too elaborate with too many pieces just to serve as an inside mold. There would be no need to have so many discrete parts bolted together only to serve as a mold release object. ---
**Author:** ![d1a1s1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/f6c823/32.png) [@d1a1s1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/d1a1s1)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2013, 5:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-thing-strange-grid-ball/646989/125 "2013-01-15T05:42:13Z")
I defies all reason! When I first saw it I was reminded of a submarine sonar sphere but that’s definitely not what it is. Why are the pipes also constructed of bolted sections?? Gahhh! ---
**Author:** ![AaronX](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/7bcc69/32.png) [@AaronX](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AaronX)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2013, 6:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-thing-strange-grid-ball/646989/126 "2013-01-15T06:44:39Z")
> [@Leaffan](#): > > Welding professionals: Are there any metals that simply cannot be welded, hence the sophisticated arrangement on this sphere? And if there are such metals, perhaps that could narrow the scope? I hear aluminium and titanium are difficult to weld? This thread just makes me want to start a collection to create a tantalizingly familiar, yet with unexplained parts, unidentified, well-made object to screw with people from the future. ---
**Author:** ![d1a1s1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/f6c823/32.png) [@d1a1s1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/d1a1s1)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2013, 6:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-thing-strange-grid-ball/646989/127 "2013-01-15T06:54:41Z")
> [@AaronX](#): > > I hear aluminium and titanium are difficult to weld? > > This thread just makes me want to start a collection to create a tantalizingly familiar, yet with unexplained parts, unidentified, well-made object to screw with people from the future. Like the pyramids of giza? ---
**Author:** ![AaronX](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/7bcc69/32.png) [@AaronX](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AaronX)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2013, 6:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-thing-strange-grid-ball/646989/128 "2013-01-15T06:59:12Z")
> [@d1a1s1](#): > > Like the pyramids of giza? :eek: Is that what their purpose was? ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2013, 8:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-thing-strange-grid-ball/646989/129 "2013-01-15T08:11:16Z")
> [@whc.03grady](#): > > I’m going with abandoned art project. All said and done, I’m inclined to agree - it’s really hard to see any reason to have constructed something in this fashion other than for visual effect. The way the attached pipes have stopped ends is reminiscent of the spindle of a map globe - perhaps this was just a bit of grandiose corporate art for an organisation with ‘global’ or ‘world’ in the title, and that was in the business of pipes, chambers or pressure fittings, or something like that. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2013, 8:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-thing-strange-grid-ball/646989/130 "2013-01-15T08:19:56Z")
Once I started including ‘sculpture’ in my google image searches, I found some promising results - including: [http://www.allenpeterson.com/portfolio/modular-sculpture](http://www.allenpeterson.com/portfolio/modular-sculpture) ---
**Author:** ![eschereal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eschereal/32/18939_2.png) [@eschereal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eschereal)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2013, 8:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-thing-strange-grid-ball/646989/131 "2013-01-15T08:31:40Z")
> [@AaronX](#): > > I hear aluminium and titanium are difficult to weld? Aluminum is rather difficult to weld, titanium quite difficult to weld, but both are doable. Given that this is a _university_ salvage yard, it seems unlikely that the means to weld exotic materials would be so very far beyond them. After all, universities teach a lot of stuff and would be likely, I imagine, to be able to handle such work or find someone nearby who can. > [@](#): > > This thread just makes me want to start a collection to create a tantalizingly familiar, yet with unexplained parts, unidentified, well-made object to screw with people from the future. I think your work would be, um, derivative. ---
**Author:** ![LouisB](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/dfb087/32.png) [@LouisB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LouisB)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2013, 12:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-thing-strange-grid-ball/646989/132 "2013-01-15T12:12:15Z")
Many years ago we were blessed by a TV series whose name I have forgotten. It starred an actor whose passion was scuba diving. Soon after sputnik made the news, this TV series featured a piece about whales and dolphins doing bizarre things. They were upset by a submerged satellite that circumnavigated the undersea world at enormous speed. The object under discussion here bears a resemblance to that underwater satellite. I think. ---
**Author:** ![Sparky812](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/eb9ed0/32.png) [@Sparky812](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sparky812)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2013, 2:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-thing-strange-grid-ball/646989/133 "2013-01-15T14:12:15Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > it’s not an Interociter, either. Didn’t you see MST3K the Movie? I was kidding! Yes, I’ve seen the MST3K movie as well as the original _This Island Earth_ more times than most fans. I agree though, it’s as much Interociter as you are Rex Reason. ---
**Author:** ![AndrewL](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3d9bf3/32.png) [@AndrewL](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AndrewL)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2013, 2:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-thing-strange-grid-ball/646989/134 "2013-01-15T14:18:10Z")
The thing that still gets me is that the tubing on the right side is also made up of modular segments, not just lengthwise but such that each section of tubing is actually four quarter-cylinder sections. Why? You can buy metal piping off-the-shelf cheaply enough, so if this was a device intended just to hold pressure or vacuum there’s no reason not to just use standard pipe segments. The only way this makes sense is if the tubing (and rest of the device) needed to be disassembled because it was full of something that solidified in place. The segmented sphere would also be intended to be disassembled after casting something large and spherical. As pointed out a form for concrete would usually be simpler and heavier, made of fewer pieces. The only way the way this object is constructed, with so many small pieces, makes sense to me is if each piece needed to be machined to a precise shape. Someone needed to cast a fairly precise sphere out of something, probably for an exacting engineering purpose. I’m imagining a giant ball of cast acrylic or something similar, that is itself being used as a part of some other exotic machine, a window on a deep-sea submarine or some component in an exotic physics experiment… Or maybe it’s just a discarded art project after all. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2013, 2:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-thing-strange-grid-ball/646989/135 "2013-01-15T14:24:37Z")
> [@Sparky812](#): > > I was kidding! > Yes, I’ve seen the MST3K movie as well as the original _This Island Earth_ more times than most fans. > I agree though, it’s as much Interociter as you are Rex Reason. That’s just _mean_. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2013, 2:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-thing-strange-grid-ball/646989/136 "2013-01-15T14:54:06Z")
> [@AndrewL](#): > > The only way this makes sense is if the tubing (and rest of the device) needed to be disassembled because it was full of something that solidified in place. The segmented sphere would also be intended to be disassembled after casting something large and spherical. Even then, the sphere doesn’t need to be made from such tiny sections. It’s really hard to come up with any realistic explanation for that. Maybe it was designed to be broken down and sent through the mail. (kidding, but it makes as much sense as anything) Actually… is it possible that it was designed so that all of its parts would fit through something, or could be manipulated by a low-force manipulator? ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2013, 2:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-thing-strange-grid-ball/646989/137 "2013-01-15T14:58:38Z")
Or 3D printable. Is it designed so that all of its parts can be made on a desktop 3D printer? ---
**Author:** ![AndrewL](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3d9bf3/32.png) [@AndrewL](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AndrewL)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2013, 3:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-thing-strange-grid-ball/646989/138 "2013-01-15T15:08:54Z")
> [@Mangetout](#): > > Or 3D printable. Is it designed so that all of its parts can be made on a desktop 3D printer? That’s a possibility. You’d either have to use one of the really cheap desktop printers to print plastic forms to make molds from to cast metal in, or use one of the really expensive and large printers that can print directly in sintered metal powder. What gets me on that are the three large circular flanges where pipes attach to the ball. The pieces they’re part of are 2-3 times the size of the adjacent sphere section pieces.. The hypothetical printer would have to be able to print something that large, but if that’s the size of their print area, why aren’t all the pieces that size? ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2013, 3:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-thing-strange-grid-ball/646989/139 "2013-01-15T15:36:30Z")
That’s a puzzle for any mode of manufacture. It doesn’t make a lot of sense. ---
**Author:** ![Sparky812](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/eb9ed0/32.png) [@Sparky812](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sparky812)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2013, 3:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-thing-strange-grid-ball/646989/140 "2013-01-15T15:37:06Z")
> [@Sparky812](#): > > I was kidding! > Yes, I’ve seen the MST3K movie as well as the original _This Island Earth_ more times than most fans. > I agree though, it’s as much Interociter as you are Rex Reason. > [@CalMeacham](#): > > That’s just _mean_. You’re right, I apologize for the unnecessary snark, I’m having a rough day. Sorry. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-thing-strange-grid-ball/646989.md?page=6) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-thing-strange-grid-ball/646989.md?page=8)