Marble Machine, just finished

[Sawdust60]

Just finished this marble machine which is made out of maple, a little walnut, canary and blood woods.  It was a fun project, took about 2 weeks, and no plans.  I did use a CNC to cut the track.  It has two lift mechanisms, a big 9" gear and a marble pump to feed marbles to the stair case.  Retirement has been a lot of fun so far!  You can see a video of it running here:  https://masterwoodcreations.com/marble-machines

[gjohn]

That is pretty cool. Welcome.

Thanks,

John

[atgcpaul]

Love those things! Good work.

[camp10]

Awesome work. Thanks for the link to the video.

[Redman]

 
 

[Woodshop]

Very nice work, great detail

[badwhiskey]

Very cool.  Would cutting the track without a CNC be feasible?  I can't visualize how that would work.

[Gary G™]

Without a CNC, I suspect a core box bit in a router and then lots of mitering, hand-planing or steam bending would be in order.
If a slot isn’t perfectly formed in the curve, a marble is still going to go, albeit slower.

I forgot: that’s really cool!

[Sawdust60]

Thanks everyone!  You could cut the track on a router table as long as you use a template.  For the CNC, I can cut 4 straight tracks using a 1/4"d router bit on a board 12" long, leaving enough space in-between to cut out with a bandsaw.  As I start deciding how I want this thing to go, I can cut custom curves easily with the CNC.  I included 2 screen shots for the cutting of the straight and curvy pieces.  The software I use is VCarve.

[EightFingers]

Kwel! You should send that in and I bet they put it in their newsletter.