My Marble Machine

[Namabiiru]

In the interval between completion of St Gildas and arrival of Fair American I committed to finally getting this thing working properly

It started back in 2014 as an amalgamation of experiments that coalesced into a single sculpture. Since then. it's been years of on and off tweaking, frustration and more tweaking.

View attachment 20250730_183334.mp4

Most recently, I replaced the AA battery holder with a wall wart, added a proper switch, and swapped out the anemic Tamiya hobby motor for a high-torque, low RPM motor.
View attachment 20250730_183354.mp4

It has three switches of differing types to give it six distinct paths
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I already have some ideas for a new marble machine, which I anticipate will be significantly less complex than this one, considering how much trouble it's given me to get it right.

Hope you like it! BTW, sorry for the micro-sized videos—I don’t have a youtube account to which I can link

 

[Rebus]

That's an incredible machine and wonderful build.

 

[Namabiiru]

That's an incredible machine and wonderful build.

Thank you, Rebus!

 

[cdnfurball]

Absolutely perfect !

 

[535i]

In the interval between completion of St Gildas and arrival of Fair American I committed to finally getting this thing working properly
View attachment 534765
It started back in 2014 as an amalgamation of experiments that coalesced into a single sculpture. Since then. it's been years of on and off tweaking, frustration and more tweaking.

View attachment 534768

Most recently, I replaced the AA battery holder with a wall wart, added a proper switch, and swapped out the anemic Tamiya hobby motor for a high-torque, low RPM motor.
View attachment 534767

It has three switches of differing types to give it six distinct paths
View attachment 534766

View attachment 534769

View attachment 534770

I already have some ideas for a new marble machine, which I anticipate will be significantly less complex than this one, considering how much trouble it's given me to get it right.

Hope you like it! BTW, sorry for the micro-sized videos—I don’t have a youtube account to which I can link

Love it! I've always been fascinated by those things. I've thought about building one, but I doubt I could ever get it to work. I remember seeing an old Anthony Hopkins movie where he had several of those. Are there kits available?

 

[DomCee]

In the interval between completion of St Gildas and arrival of Fair American I committed to finally getting this thing working properly
View attachment 534765
It started back in 2014 as an amalgamation of experiments that coalesced into a single sculpture. Since then. it's been years of on and off tweaking, frustration and more tweaking.

View attachment 534768

Most recently, I replaced the AA battery holder with a wall wart, added a proper switch, and swapped out the anemic Tamiya hobby motor for a high-torque, low RPM motor.
View attachment 534767

It has three switches of differing types to give it six distinct paths
View attachment 534766

View attachment 534769

View attachment 534770

I already have some ideas for a new marble machine, which I anticipate will be significantly less complex than this one, considering how much trouble it's given me to get it right.

Hope you like it! BTW, sorry for the micro-sized videos—I don’t have a youtube account to which I can link

Neat! I built a small (very simple) one just for a bit of fun but I really like yours, perhaps I'll have a go at something more ambitious in the future!

 

[Corsair]

I love it !

 

[Thomas]

Absolutely brilliant!!

 

[Namabiiru]

Love it! I've always been fascinated by those things. I've thought about building one, but I doubt I could ever get it to work. I remember seeing an old Anthony Hopkins movie where he had several of those. Are there kits available?

I’ve seen laser cut kits, and I think there are some plastic kid-level kits. This one involved a LOT of trial and error.

Neat! I built a small (very simple) one just for a bit of fun but I really like yours, perhaps I'll have a go at something more ambitious in the future!

Thank you! And you should!

Absolutely perfect !

Far from it, but thank you!

@Corsair and @Thomas, thank you, Gentlemen!