Stumbled at The First Hurdle - The Marble Run

I have been thinking of ideas for a marble run. I have decided on a theme and am going to make the themed marble run.

There are two essential conditions that I want to keep as much as possible. It must be fun to watch. Marble runs are toys, so this condition is key. I want to make the work enjoyable for both adults and children who see it. The second one is related to being particular about the design. It is not only about the marble run; I do not like to make the same things that other people make. I love original ideas. It is not a matter of copyright; I just do not like that.

However, it is arduous to think of novel ideas. Probably, geniuses can think of cutting-edge ideas, not me. So, I mean that I want to make something as new as possible.

Even for me, I could sometimes think of something supposed to be a new idea. In such a case, I watch YouTube videos, search the information about marble runs, and make sure that nobody has made my idea yet.

I have heard that even though you come up with a new idea, a hundred people in the world have got the same idea. It may be correct. It is hard to make things from a picture. I believe the most important thing is to create an idea to happen in reality. In other words, there are two hurdles to clear. Thinking of ideas and actually making them.

I have not yet jumped over the first hurdle. I am struggling with one of the parts of the marble run. I think if I could not think of any new ideas, I would give up and make a marble run that has ordinary types of parts.
Let me think and worry about what to do for another month or so.

Making The Marble Run Machine - 1

I had been struggling with the idea of the marble run. As I have written in the blog on January 2022, I was planning to add an optical illusion. I still have not given up on the idea. However, before I started making the optical illusion, I thought I should decide on the design of the first part of the marble run. It is a lifting structure of the starting point of the marble run.

 

 

I wanted to make a giant marble run, which meant I needed to make a structure that could lift tiny balls efficiently from the bottom to the top of the marble run. There are several common types of systems to raise the balls; a rotating disk with holes, two staircases moving up and down, a rotating spiral rod, a method of moving a rod with weights and making a ball fly. I wanted to use a new idea, but what I thought of was not good enough to lift the balls from the lower place to the top. Therefore, I have decided to use a chain. I believe a chain is one of the most efficient and easiest methods to lift the ball.

Having said that, I have never made a chain and knew nothing about chains. Luckily, I have an excellent person to ask. Juno used to make racing bikes at work long ago, so he knows about chains. I drew some pictures of chains that I believed could work, and he advised me. I drew gears to carry the chain too. I made sure whether those chains and gears worked well. Here is the picture that I drew.

What I was afraid of the most of was the chain coming off the gears. With the advice of Juno, I drew one of two parts of the chains wider. The light-coloured rectangular part should not have to have that width, but it is made wider to be secured.

 

The most time-consuming part of making a chain is making each link. It is a lot of work to make them by hand. So, I made data using 3D software and read the data with CamBam CNC software. For this kind of job, the CNC router is a perfect machine.

Juno showed me several off-cuts. I have chosen two timbers; one is Silver Ash, and the other was not certain, but probably Utile or Queensland Maple. If there was no use for the off-cuts, I thought I could have cut those links as much as I could. Maybe I could make use of them. Then, what I got were so many links! I was going to make one chain, but eventually, I could make two chains.

These pictures below show connecting each link. I glued cut bamboo barbecue skewers with glue. This work was quite fun. Looking at the chain that is getting longer is pleasant. 

 

Here they are. These are the chains I have made this time. They seem to work well.

 

This was only just the beginning of making the marble run. I am going to design the next step. I will write about the work as it progresses.
See you next time!

An Optical Illusion and a Marble Machine

I made an optical illusion object yesterday and the next step is to make a marble machine.

I was planning to combine the marble machine with the optical illusion, but I found it very difficult to make. So, at this stage, I'm not sure whether I can make it.

Making an optical illusion object isn't easy. If you want to make it care about even small details, it's possible to make a good one, but it's very difficult. So, I gave up paying attention to the details early.

There is one more issue. If I added the optical illusion object to the marble machine, the existence of rails and balls might more easily reveal the illusion that isn't real. Of course, the illusion isn't a real object, but you know, as possible as I can, I want to make it as if it's a real object.

Anyway, I'm going to draw the picture of the marble machine together with the optical illusion object. Let's see what it will look like.

An Optical Illusion Object

I finally made an object that I had been wanting to make. 

It's an optical illusion object. I thought it's difficult to design, but after I actually made it, I realized that more than designing, it's difficult to make. 

There are two boards with two posts stuck in both. It depends on which angles you look, these posts are to be seen parallel or crossed. 

This is just a trial, so these two posts have been cut in half and glued on the boards. Next time I make this, I'm going to make two holes and put them through the holes.

To tell the truth, this object can be seen better through a camera lens from a certain point. With the naked eye, two posts look slightly tilted. Probably, I need to do more devices. This object isn't so accurate, but I'm satisfied that I could make it with timber. I'm going to make a more accurate one next.

The view from the different angle.
 

Takao Yoshimura - Unique Gear Structures

There are people who create unique things who can sometimes be found on Twitter. Takao Yoshimura is one of them. He creates unique structures using gears. The first time I saw his creation "geomecha", I could not help staring at it, then I found he had made several other gear structures.

This is one of my favorites of his creations that I just mentioned above, "geomecha."

He says that he named it "geomecha" combining the words "geometry" and "mechanism." I thought it would be suitable to display "geomecha" somewhere like Exploratorium, it would be fun. What do you think?

His videos are useful for someone who is interested in linkage mechanism. Actually, I have learned about planetary gears from his video. I didn't know about planetary gears and found it interesting. He made a speed meter mechanically with a planetary gear. 

A mechanism that is made with gears cannot move once one of the gears is stopped. By using a planetary gear, he has made the best use of its characteristics and created a system that can move even after the other part of the mechanize stops.
Here is the mechanism using a planetary gear he made.

This is named "Speed meter" because the hand in the middle changes its speed depending on the rotating speed of the right-hand side of the gear. Like the other videos, this video also shows how he draws and assembles the parts.

 

The next one is his representative work and he had spent lots of effort which works beautifully. This is a linkage system named "mechanical 3 segment display." 

 
"Mechanical 3 segment display" has two distinctive features.
One of the features is the system can express the numbers 0 to 9 using two L-shaped and one T-shaped parts rotating. The other feature is to average the force required with increases in digit, so that any number of digits can be carried forward.

He says that this system took two years from conception to be realized. If this system is developed further, it could be made into a clock or counter mechanically. To get closer to realizing it to a clock or counter, the numbers need to be moved up. So, Takao figured out the method of making it four digits and he did it.

This is a video that Takao tried to figure out a "mechanical 3 segment display" of moving up the numbers using a cam mechanism. The parts of the whole system require more than 250 parts. If you want to watch the assembling video, please watch it at 1:26.
It is a great idea that each of the systems can be connected to the others.

He explains that the system looks complicated, but it is simple. The key to moving up the number is a cam. (The video at 5:00) When the cam rotates, a spring is stretched and when the ramp of the cam moves, the spring shrinks at once. The force of this spring contraction is used to move the next digit.

The latest of his creations is the one to use a coil spring. To use a coil spring as a power source, he has made a mechanical system to convert spring power to the other. I think this system is convenient and he can use it for future creations.

These creations on the above are not all of his creations, so please have a look at more details on his YouTube channel or his Twitter. If you have any questions, please feel free to ask him through YouTube or Twitter. (Please note that these 3D data are not available for sale.)

Takao's Craft - YouTube
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCeyy15nZoKy_mSJhlz4zgvA

Takao's Twitter
https://twitter.com/YBB_824

He says he wants to count down at the end of this year with the system. Good luck to Takao! Looking forward to his future success.

 

p.s. I have not made any creations recently, but I am planning to make a marble run machine. Hope I could show it here someday in 2022.

Wishing you a very happy Holiday season and a wonderful New Year!🎄