• Win a Free Custom Engraved Brass Coin!!!
    As a way to introduce our brass coins to the community, we will raffle off a free coin during the month of August. Follow link ABOVE for instructions for entering.

My Marble Machine

Joined
Nov 4, 2021
Messages
1,405
Points
393

Location
Tokyo, Japan
In the interval between completion of St Gildas and arrival of Fair American I committed to finally getting this thing working properly
IMG_5912.JPG
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
View attachment 20250730_183428.mp4

View attachment 20250730_183450.mp4

View attachment 20250730_183407.mp4

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
 
Last edited:
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?
 
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!
 
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!
 
Hey Namabiiru,

what are you actually doing there? Aren't you supposed to be building ships? Now you're even throwing out a marble machine! You're marvellously crazy. :DGreat piece and very nice to look at ... I like it!Thumbsup

Cheers, Günther!Ship-1
 
Hey Namabiiru,

what are you actually doing there? Aren't you supposed to be building ships? Now you're even throwing out a marble machine! You're marvellously crazy. :DGreat piece and very nice to look at ... I like it!Thumbsup

Cheers, Günther!Ship-1
Thanks, Günther! Yeah, I’m just chasing shiny objects and squirrels!
ROTF
 
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
wow. that's pretty cool. I have a couple of marble runs that I purchased. they need to be assembled. I got them from ROKR. They are made of wood and plastic.
 
wow. that's pretty cool. I have a couple of marble runs that I purchased. they need to be assembled. I got them from ROKR. They are made of wood and plastic.
This is an amazing machine and masterfully built! WOW!
Thanks, Jack and Jim!

Purchased marble machines are cool, I liked the challenge and satisfaction of building one myself. To say I designed it would be a stretch, since it really was just bodged together through trial and error. Most of the major elements of it started as, "I wonder if I can..."
 
Back
Top