Marble Machine - made from household items

This kinetic sculpture is actually not a marble machine but a Lacrosse ball machine. I used a cordless screwdriver motor for the drive mechanism for the elevators. I used one LaCrosse ball as a counter weight for the elevator car. Scrap wood was used for tracks. Household light switches were switched on an off by the LaCross balls when they fell on the 2 levers at the bottom. In additions there are some pulleys, levers, string, sliding door wheels ( used as bearings for the big dowel at the top ) and other counterweights that makes it work reliably. kids get a kick out of it.

Category:

Entertainment

Tags:

• MOV03822

[macksdesign]

I used lacrosse balls because they were the perfect weight to trip the switches.

[macksdesign]

Its important for there to be a small time interval between when the switches are reversed. One marble has to turn "off' the motor, then there has to be a delay, and the other marble turns "on" the motor to send it down. Of course Manual intervention "pulling on the cord" restarts the cycle. If there isn't a delay you run the risk of shorting positive to negative and vice versa. I hope this helps.

[macksdesign]

Hi - I used a cordless screwdriver ( inside the little wood housing ). They are useful because they have plenty of torque, are rechargeable, and are DC so you can reverse the polarity to reverse the direction. I used a long hex bit on the screwdriver with nylon string. When the string winds, the elevator goes up, when it unwinds the elevator goes down. The marbles "land" on some dowels which are positioned right over the "see saw" ends and when the "see saw" changes positions it trips the switch

[macksdesign]

thats funny,. Actually Ive tried to come up with the simplest yet most reliably functional basic system. Just for fun Im putting together a little kit that allows people to make the automated elevator scheme with little trouble. Then they can use their creativity to make the tracks themselves. are you familiar with Watsonville

[toufrise]

pas mal mais la balle va un peut lentement

[sully596]

u hav way too much time on ur hands

[mijnvideokanaal]

nice. I have made a marble-machine to

[CoconPL]

I cant figure out how this elevator works :/

[17043S]

you are awesomee

[topidude]

Gee... 26,000 views and only 4 comments (i think people are just trying to be nice)

[gamegod10104]

i dont know what you have laying around you house but i dont think the people will be vary happy if i remove the light swiches