Since last week, I've been working on my marble run machine to add new parts. Two unique parts have already been completed with the help of my husband, Junichi.
One of them is a switch to split the balls in two directions. You may know the similar functions if you have watched marble run's video on YouTube. This is the one that is commonly used. A ball drops from a rail and goes into one side of the divided space, then the side where the ball enters tilts due to the weight. I don't know who invented it first; it's an excellent and convenient function. It's also easy to make.
This part can divide one ball to the left and right.
However, I wanted a part to divide one ball to the left and two to the right. I've watched as many videos on YouTube as possible but couldn't find a similar part. I wondered if I could really make it.
What I thought at first was to extend one side. Here is a picture of the struggles I had.
In the picture, the design with the lower number was the first one I thought of, and the bigger number, the more improvements were made. These parts look all the same, but I changed the angle or the size slightly. I made them with MDF first; then, when I thought I got a good design, I cut them with timber.
Junichi and I tried testing so many times. Sometimes the balls went well, and sometimes more than three balls got stuck inside the part and didn't work correctly.
Somehow, we reached the best design and found another issue. My marble run is set up vertically. It's exactly 90 degrees, so the balls easily come off from the part. Yes, it needed a fence.
The easiest way to solve it was to put something transparent in front of the part. I considered using an acrylic plate, but while playing with the marble run, I guessed the balls might leave traces on the surface. Then, Junichi thought of adding fences to the function, which went well.
After making many prototypes and trials, it finally works properly. This is the result of hard work. I couldn't have made this part without Junichi's help.
Two balls that pass through this part go to the next part, mountain. The one ball that passes through this component goes to the new part I have created. It's a half pipe.
The half-pipe is, as it's called, shaped like a snowboarding half-pipe. I glued several pieces of timber and made an arc. The balls drop on the left side of the arc and swing two or three times, then fall into a hole. The balls swung more than I estimated, and some jumped over the half pipe, so I added a little fence.
The timber used for the half pipe was American Black Walnut, Koto, PNG Rosewood, Fijian Mahogany, Iroko, and Black Bean. I love assembling different colours of timber.
Only half the marble run machine has been completed. Therefore, currently, it has some tentative parts. The red circles in the picture below are the temporary parts. I'm going to replace these parts later.
As you can see, about half of the board is empty.
What kinds of parts could I make?
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