I just took delivery of my sisyphus table 2 days ago (and wish that I had backed them 18 months ago for their kickstarter to save myself some money

their product is a glass top table that has a recessed area under the glass that houses a ring of adjustable LED lights and a soft, felt surface (much like a billiard table) that is covered with a thin layer of white sand. under the table, a raspberry pi computer controls a rotating, moveable arm with a strong magnet on the end that moves a 1/2" ball bearing through the sand to create a multitude of continuous line patterns (much like the spirograph toy of the 1960s)

the microSD memory card comes pre-loaded with over 30 designs and they have a community that not only has created a website that allows you to generate your own patterns, but you can also take vector drawings and convert them to the appropriate format to be used as well.
the mobile app (android and ios) allows you to control the brightness level of the strip of LED lighting surrounding the "playfield", ball speed as well as creating "playlists" for the drawing patterns.

at the slower speeds, it can take upwards of 2 hours to complete a design (depending on its complexity) but its rather therapeutic to watch it trudge through the mini mountains of sand, as it plows through and creates small valleys

I purchased the 3' coffee table version (they also produce a 22" dia. side table) and for people with lots of money, hand crafted 3' and 4' wooden tables
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begin shameless plug:
if you are even considering purchasing one, you can use my referral link (below) to save $75 off of the purchase of a side or $100 off of the 3' coffee metal tables (which sell for $1299 and $1899 respectively). I receive an equal amount in my account that I can bank for the purchase of another table. it's definitely not a cheap table, but they are very well made and nicely constructed (and great conversational pieces

referral link:
https://sisyphus-industries.com?raf=ref9956860

more information on the table can be found at https://sisphus-industries.com

I'm using bryan kelly's pin footies to prevent deep depressions from occuring in the carpeting again until I find something that will hold the square stock of the table legs better (the old table left 8 which are evident in the first photo
I'll have to try the ice cube trick to try and get the carpet fibers to relax again

sisyphus industries have launched a new kickstarter today for a mini (15" dia) version of their table

at less than 40mins into it, they've already raised $155K of their $50K goal!

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1199521315/sisyphus-mini?ref=1jf778&utm_campaign=a0e46c52f9-Mini+pre-launch+email+1_COPY_01&utm_medium=email&utm_source=Sisyphus+Industries+Updates&utm_term=0_3a34169896-a0e46c52f9-161256797

for those still looking to purchase a table, here's my referral link. it should save you money on your table (as well as get me a discount on a future purchase
https://sisyphus-industries.com/?raf=ref9956860

you are able to name the tables so I would assume that you can just run the app and it will see each table (with it's own mac/ip address)

congratulations

with the updates that they've made to the app, it's really easy to view all of the owner created paths and download them to your table. you can then set up "playlists" so that your table draws the designs that you want in the order that you want as well.

sisyphus industries also sells an upgrade kit for the original owners to change out the white LED strips to the fully addressable RGB ones and add the 2nd ball for those tracks that use 2 ball bearings.

the one thing that I've found running my table daily (from 4-9:30pm) is that the small slick pad (mag pad) connected to the arm does eventually wear out and needs to be replaced. fortunately, replacements are available from their webstore and are relatively inexpensive (along with other parts, such as replacement ball bearings, sand and even a new glass table top should you somehow manage to shatter yours)

https://sisyphus-industries.com/product/replacement-magpad-set/

you can set the RGB LEDs to displaying all colors (e.g. white)

I can't comment on the larger, wooden tables, but my 36" metal table was packaged very well and arrived via UPS. there is plenty of warning stickers about requiring 2 people to set up the table, but I had no issues doing it myself. the glass top is very thick and extremely well packaged and finished very nicely with a smooth rounded edge (since it's exposed at the edges)

the power supply is like one of these:
ebay.com link: AC Power Supply Adapter to DC 5V 10A 50w LED CCTV Cameras Etc US Ship

with the small barrel connector end running up one of the legs and terminating at the sisyphus board located under the table. they have you zip tie the power cable to one of the legs

the setup time from start to finish, including unboxing took less than 40 mins (with most of the time spent discarding all of the packaging materials)

just a subtle reminder about using my referral link to say yourself some money if you're considering purchasing a table

referral link:
https://sisyphus-industries.com/?raf=ref9956860

more information on the table can be found at https://sisphus-industries.com

edit: corrected the referral link

I believe that at checkout, the referral link is supposed to adjust everything. if you're interested in purchasing one and it doesn't adjust the price for you, let me know and I will forward them the info before you make your purchase.

from their website on the purchase page:

Want a discount on your purchase? Learn about our Refer a Friend Program.
Please make sure that you purchase your Sisyphus via Referral Link to claim your discount.

the zip tie is only used for the metal tables (as far as I know) which at most are less than $2K. I'm not sure what elegant solution they could provide given the design of a basic table, other than running the cord inside of the leg (which would require a few holes in one of the table legs to route the cable and some grommets to keep any sharp edges from cutting into the power cable

however, given that the table legs, the power cable and zip ties are all black and oriented so that its out of the way and out of sight, it's really not that noticeable.

I've also hidden the power supply behind the vertical blinds so that's not an issue either [for me]

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and here's the power supply with a us quarter for scale
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if you had a lamp, pinball machine, television, etc... in the middle of a room, what would you do? by your logic it's kind of a poor design that anything that runs electricity requires a cord

I get it that it's not optimal, but maybe that's why I've seen floor plans with [hidden] covered outlets located in the middle of the room

one of the best updates that they made to the phone app was the ability to search all of the user created patterns and download the ones that you like. as gliebig has stated, you can make up [multiple] playlists for any of the patterns that you've downloaded to your table and select which one to run.

initially, I was running the erase pattern in between each, but then found that you can get some really cool results when multiple patterns are drawn on top of each other. I have my ball speed set to about 1/3 what it can be since I'm no longer in a hurry to see the patterns completed

I still need to install the RGB light kit w/ the 2nd ball option (once I finish working on a few other projects

my referral link gives 10% off

thank you to everyone that has used my referral code so far

I hope everyone is enjoying their table as much as I've enjoyed mine for the past year +

the updates to the software have been great since I originally purchased my table, making it very easy to add new designs and playlists. I still need to install my 2-ball option/rgb lighting kit that I ordered and received about 3 months ago

I've been running my table for about 6 hours a day since I've owned it (over 1-1/2 years now) and the last time that I removed the glass to redistribute the sand evenly, I did not notice any significant wear on the ball bearing.

the bottom of the table is covered with a soft felt (just like a pool table), so I don't think that the sand incurs much resistance on the ball bearing.

for those looking to purchase a sisyphus table, according to their website, prices will be increasing on aug 01

you can still take advantage of a 10% discount by using my referral code:
https://sisyphus-industries.com/?raf=ref9956860

that reminds me, I still need to install my RGB kit with the 2nd ball

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in preparation of the stern announcement tomorrow

just reminder to anyone that may be interested, my referral link is still valid and will save you 10% off of the price of any table (I receive the same in the form of a credit to my account for a future purchase)

referral link:
https://sisyphus-industries.com?raf=ref9956860

more information on the tables can be found at https://sisphus-industries.com

that reminds me, I need to peruse the new designs and load some onto my table

I'm glad that you're enjoying it

the company is having another contest where you can win a side table for designing a track
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https://sisyphus.wishpondpages.com/track-design-contest-algorithmic-entry/?utm_source=Mailchimp&utm_medium=Track%2BContest%2BAnnouncement&utm_campaign=Track%2BContest%2BAnnouncement&utm_id=Track%2BContest%2BAnnouncement%2B-%2B1

I've had to replace the small teflon disc on the underside of the table and occasionally will need to unplug/wait 30 seconds/re-plug it in for the phone app to see it, but those have been my only issues in the 4+ years that I've had mine.

oh, and re-distribute the sand about once a year. I have mine scheduled to run from 4pm-9:30pm every day.

I've got mine set around 20-25%. initially, I had it set to 80% to see the tracks drawn fast and move onto the next, but found that it's more relaxing to let the table draw at a slower pace.

I haven't noticed any change in [image quality], regardless of the speed that the tracks are drawn.

I've made a couple of playlists where I do this and have the table [draw] anywhere from 2 to 5 patterns before I run the erase program. some of the results are fantastic where the next pattern has [white] space in areas of the previous pattern, giving you something new and different.

what was it? I like that one a lot.

the honey bee one has some nice subtle patterns in it

I purchased mine just after the kickstarter. the only issues that I've ever had are:
- occasionally having to unplug and [reboot] the table when the phone app cannot find it
- replacing the magpad (1x so far)

and my table runs 6 hours a day, 7 days a week

I was hearing a louder [than normal] scraping sound when the table was running. normally, you can hear the ball cutting a path through the sand, but this was a bit louder and it was only evident when the table was [drawing] in certain areas. the nylon portion of the pad had worn down significantly on one side.

I just wish that you didn't have to remove the entire assembly to change it out. it's kind of a pain and takes about 20+ mins to do. fortunately, there is enough room under the table to do everything without having to remove all of the sand and flip the table over.

it's definitely one of those products that really wow people when they see it in person. I had my family room picture window replaced, and every time that they were out (sales pitch, taking measurements, installation), they were blown away by it.

probably the best thing about it is that since you can change up your playlist or make your own designs, it never gets old. I've seen people do custom drawings based on events they were having (superbowl, birthday, tv show parties, etc...) and it ends up being a conversation piece.

you can also replace that part. they sell replacement mag pads for $7.50
https://sisyphus-industries.com/product/replacement-magpad-set/

I found that my original one was worn (mostly on one edge). after replacing it, the table runs quiet again (other than the sound of the ball grinding through the sand

filenames for those last two?

the textures that these artists are getting in some areas of these patterns are really cool (feathers in the crane, lower jaw in the velocirapter)

I have an issue sometimes where I can't access the table from the phone app. rebooting the table and restarting the app seems to clear up the issue 99% of the time.

moved? as in moved the table to vacuum around the area or moved house so it was packed up and moved with everything else?

I set up the 3' metal frame by myself (even though they suggest 2 people) and didn't have any issues.

it's pretty easy to remove the glass top, vacuum out all of the sand (use a shop vac that has been thoroughly cleaned and a new filter inserted. then strain the sand through a fine-mesh screen to ensure that you don't insert any contaminants before putting it back in [or just purchase new sand, which they sell on their webstore])

that reminds me, I still need to install my 2-ball option