Ball Gimmick from a Tom Stone Idea

Copyright 2011 by James P. Riser

On page 112 in his latest book (Maelstrom) Tom suggested an original gimmick to be used with the billiard balls. I thought the idea had merit but did not think the design, as presented, was practical. Since a Jack Miller holdout principle was to be used, I felt that a full ball gimmick would be too bulky. It was my feeling that a Tommy Wonder idea could be adapted to Tom Stone's proposal and something workable might result. Below I show what I came up with as a gimmick to be used as Tom Stone suggested.

I punched two aluminum discs and one copper disc each 2" in diameter.

A center depression was turned into each disc. The depression in the copper disc is of a larger diameter.

 

The three discs were then domed to the curvature that I wanted.

Doing this left a "shadow" on the convex side of the dome.

These "shadows" were sanded off to leave a dome ready for priner and paint.

 

Two very thin small neo magnets were placed into the depression of the aluminum domes. A larger more powerful magnet went into the copper dome.

The magnets were held in place by tape which also served to prevent "talking" of the domes when in use. Silencing material is necessary.

The magnet in the copper dome will end up being epoxied into position.

Tom's original suggestion was to utilize a hinged gimmick. I decided to go with magnets which allow everything to be more freely handled.

When in use, the domes virtually stack themselves.

Once assembled, the domes look like this. To make things even more deceptive I decided to very slightly reduce the diameter of the second aluminum disc and to make the copper dome even smaller. This tapering of diameters helps to conceal bottom most domes when assembled.

The copper dome will be fitted to attach to the Jack Miller style of holdout for actual use. All domes will get painted to match 2" Fakini balls.

Several magicians have asked about why I chose two different metals for this gimmick. The copper disc was selected to add some weight to the gimmick which will allow easier use with the holdout.