Modular Rube Goldberg Machine (Rube Cube)

Materials: 1 empty W.B. Mason paper box, some scrap cardboard (preferably sheets of it), 4 wooden skewers (the kind for shish kea bobs) a rubber bouncy ball, a marble, 6 quarters, and masking/duct tape

BEFORE YOU START!

Make sure you look at the pictures, they will help you a lot!

Step 1: Step 1

Make

a marble track by cutting out two long strips of cardboard and gluing them together in a V-shape as shown. Then make a support out of a wider strip of cardboard and cut a V shape for the track to sit on. Hot glue or tape the support in place then put the track on top. Make sure that the track is aimed at the middle of the box at the other end. Tape down the end that is on the box itself to make sure it doesn’t move

Step 2: Step 2

Cut a hole from about one inch in on the top of the box on

the oposite side from the ramp, to the handle that is pre-cut out of the box. Then, take a skewer and poke it through both sides of the box as shown to make an axle

Step 3: Step 3

Make a platform as shown and glue it in place, use tape to

hold it still while drying. Put tape over hole in box where platform is to allow a hammer to hit a marble later.

Step 4: Step 4

Make a small hammer by layering three pieces of cardboard that have the same shape as the one shown.The hole in the hammer is what the skewer goes through to make the hammer swing. the hammer also has to be long enough to reach the middle of the tape you placed earlier, where the marble would be, from the where it is on the skewer. Put a few strips of cardboard paddle for the marble to hit as shown in the last picture. Now the last thing to make this hammer is to put it on the skewer and put it in position. Make it ready to swing by propping it up and make a paddle like the last picture.

Step 5: Step 5

Make another marble track about a third of the length of the first one. Then, cut one skewer in half and poke it through to be a support for the marble track you just made. The marble track sits on top of that half-skewer and should be glued to the platform so that the marble can roll off of the platform and down the track.

Step 6: Step 6

Make a bigger hammer by making 5 cardboard pieces that are shaped like the small one but twice as big. tape them together and poke the hole in the handle with the last skewer. Tape the quarters to the sides of the hitting end of the hammer. make a square ring that can fit around the hammer handle. make a triangle that is as wide as the ring. Cut the end off of one of the corners, making it a trapezoid. Tape the triangle on the end of the ring and put it all on the hammer handle.

Step 7: Step 7

Poke the skewer through the box where it is shown. Put the hammer in it aligned with where the track ends. Put the hammer.

Step 8: Step 8

Cut a large hole under the little hammer as shown. Put the lid back on the box without rotating it and poke holes that are level with the other axle holes and put the "axles" (skewers) through with the hammers on them.

Step 9: Step 9 OPTIONAL ALTHOUGH RECOMENDED

Cut out windows as shown. BE CAREFUL THAT YOU LEAVE PLENTY OF ROOM FOR THE AXLE TO BE STABLE!

Step 10: Finished!

Now this should be done, so I will tell you that making it work is a bit of trial and error. Here is a video of my trying to show how to set it up. (and of course when I try to make it a video is the ONE time that it fails...)

You can make your own and attach them all together as well, which is why they are modular!