Have you ever been on a plane, car, bus, or train, and are really bored because all you electronic devices died out? Luckily, you can make a fun little toy called the Tumble Bean. The Tumble Bean is a little capsule that you can maneuver in your hand. If you put it on an inclined surface, it will flip down.
The Tumble Bean works based on a very simple principle. Inside the Tumble Bean is a steel ball. When the Bean is tilted, the steel ball inside moves down onto one of the ends of the capsule, causing the center of gravity to change. This causes the Bean to do some cool movements!
The Tumble Bean makes a fun, great gift/stocking stuffer for young ones. However, I don't recommend giving this to children 3 or under because of the steel ball inside of the Bean.
It is really fun to play with and fits right in your pocket. Its also super easy to make!! Let's begin!
The Tumble Bean works based on a very simple principle. Inside the Tumble Bean is a steel ball. When the Bean is tilted, the steel ball inside moves down onto one of the ends of the capsule, causing the center of gravity to change. This causes the Bean to do some cool movements!
The Tumble Bean makes a fun, great gift/stocking stuffer for young ones. However, I don't recommend giving this to children 3 or under because of the steel ball inside of the Bean.
It is really fun to play with and fits right in your pocket. Its also super easy to make!! Let's begin!
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Signing UpStep 1: Gather Your Materials
The materials needed for this project are:
Two vending machine toy capsules
Superglue
Paint- (Only if you are going to paint)
A steel ball bearing
Water- (Only if you are going to paint)
The tools needed for this project are:
Sandpaper- (Only if you are going to paint)
Paintbrush- (Only if you are going to paint)
A Place mat (such as a flyer)- (Only if you are going to paint)
If you don't know where to get the vending machine toy capsules, look at some grocery stores. Inside, they will have some machines that sell toys when you put in a quarter. These toys usually come in a capsule, which is what you will need. These toys cost 25 cents each, so if you don't have any of these capsules already, you will need to spend 50 cents.
Two vending machine toy capsules
Superglue
Paint- (Only if you are going to paint)
A steel ball bearing
Water- (Only if you are going to paint)
The tools needed for this project are:
Sandpaper- (Only if you are going to paint)
Paintbrush- (Only if you are going to paint)
A Place mat (such as a flyer)- (Only if you are going to paint)
If you don't know where to get the vending machine toy capsules, look at some grocery stores. Inside, they will have some machines that sell toys when you put in a quarter. These toys usually come in a capsule, which is what you will need. These toys cost 25 cents each, so if you don't have any of these capsules already, you will need to spend 50 cents.
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Also, please leave comments and suggestions!
Thank you!
sunshiine
Then you could have a bunch of them going all over the place.
Lots of fun ideas popping out of this.
Great instructable!
I'm so glad you enjoyed my instructable!!
Painting the inside is a great idea, but it might be hard to sand the inside of the capsules. Of course, you could use spray paint.
Medicine capsules and BB shot might work as well, but unfortunately I can't test that.
If anyone tries that, please let me know the results!
Thanks again!
You can also by a steel ball here for $0.55
http://www.kjmagnetics.com/proddetail.asp?prod=NSBA
Of course, you could try using other materials (although steel works the best) to act as a weight inside the capsule, as long as they are spherical.
What are your marbles made of? Most marbles are not as heavy as the ball bearing I used in this Instructable, so I am not so sure if the Bean will work with marbles. If you want to try out marbles, tape the capsules together instead of gluing them so you can take them apart if it doesn't work.
Hope this helps, and thanks for commenting!
I just attached 2 videos of the Tumble Bean to the first step of this Instructable.