Motorized Marble Roller Coaster

Step 8 And another video

Here is the painted, completed version in action:

As a parting note, I have a couple of balls out of old computer mice--they are heavy and rubber coated. They are silent as they go down the track, and very lively. My track wasn't built with these heavier balls in mind, so they tend to fly right off in a couple of spots.

If I ever build one of these again, I'm going to build it to be used with an old mouse ball, and I would recommend anyone interested in building one of these try them out. They create a really cool effect.

Let me know what you think!

Comments

[fkhalsa]

Nice job!
I agree it would be cool to see how many marbles you could load this with.

[MrMMatricks]

Hi! Amazing work! What would you think about using a garden hose as track, it's easily bendable and you only need to cut it in half, thefore doubling the distance possible with it :) M

[seamster]

Garden hose would definitely be worth trying out. Also, I imagine PVC or copper tubing seem like readily available, practical materials.

[art260]

Seamster, Very impressive. It is amazing what can be accomplished with common articles. Two issues that I would like to bring up. First, it’s not that the steel balls are too heavy for the track the track is too fast for the steel balls. I learned all the necessary coaster math in a college physics class. Now I don’t know where you are in the evolutionary scale but believe me when I say that this is all within the grasp of a high school student or even an enlighten pre high school student. You need to get and understand all the linear equations (no calculus here) that deal with mass, velocity and acceleration. You need to know the mass (the more sensitive the better) of the balls that you are using and the coefficient of friction between the track and the ball. This can be measured. With your Atari computer and a good assembler you can build a sensitive velocity meter. The rest is math. With this knowledge you could replicate any wood roller coaster hear in the sates. Art

[LOOPDOP]

hear in the sates?? wtf!

[seamster]

Huh... Thank you?

[der_fisherman]

I agree completely, great build, looks good, runs great, real fun and the slow down was a good idea, but you need more Balls!

[seamster]

There were quite a few ball jokes I considered including with this, but kept myself reasonably restrained. If you look at the top of the lift right where the balls drop, there are two little flags. At one point there was a little sign between them that said "HANG ON TO YOUR BALLS!" I thought it was hilarious, but my wife said it was too crass.

[ruler challenged]

This is so cool, I have a small roller coaster made by "Mr. Christmas" where the pulley stopped working, I'm giving my husband your Instructable and maybe he can attempt to fix it now. Thank you so much for the time you take to share your work and ideas, "ruler challenged" folks like me are lucky to have all of you.

[I_am_Canadian]

Great work! My only suggestiong would be to add more balls to it so there are multiple balls rolling around it at once. All in all a brilliant project - You have my vote!

[seamster]

I've only got two of these steelies, otherwise I would!