Diabolically-clever Marble Machines

Phil Pilgrim (PhiPi)

I could watch these all day:

http://www.youtube.com/user/denha

-Phil

graffix

oh, very impressive.Thanks

Bill Chennault

Phil--

Gee. I wish I had NEVER, EVER seen those incredible marble machines!

--Bill

lanternfish

No YouTube video (though I have seen some vid) but a description of a NZ artists marble machine here

KaosKidd

Phil Pilgrim (PhiPi) wrote: »

I could watch these all day:

http://www.youtube.com/user/denha

-Phil

Yeah, these are so fun and cool to watch. Thanks for posting this!
KK

Whit

We had to do a similar sort of project in school using ping pong balls. I was a lot of fun.

Heater.

Nope, not impressed. Not so clever.

Now this http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GcDshWmhF4A is a clever marble machine. It can do binary addition.

Humanoido

Here's the design to make a marble computer:

http://www.bardavid.com/mc/index.html

This can add and subtract.

Suggestions by the author:

• Do some complex calculation, like multiplication, powers, or roots
• Build a machine that can receive a complex program as input. I thought of using different sizes of marbles to define operation codes and operands.
• Make a nice display of the current value. This can be done by LEDs to give the computer an “electronic” look, or by some mechanical means.

Ding-Batty

It wasn't a marble-based machine, but in the 1960's I had a Digi-Comp mechanical calculator toy. There is a new version of it available:

http://www.mindsontoys.com/kits.htm?dc1_main.htm

erco

Kind of makes me want to dust off my "Spencer Gifts" ball bearing and domino clocks gathering dust out in my garage!

http://cgi.ebay.com/CYI-Time-Machine-Kinetic-Rolling-Ball-Clock-/320661307598?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item4aa8e740ce
http://www.dansdata.com/timemachine.htm

http://cgi.ebay.com/1983-Arrow-Elect-Domino-Clock-/200585856756?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item2eb3d946f4

Publison

I don't see one relay, and nary a piece of plywood. 'sup with that?

erco wrote: »

Kind of makes me want to dust off my "Spencer Gifts" ball bearing and domino clocks gathering dust out in my garage!

http://cgi.ebay.com/CYI-Time-Machine-Kinetic-Rolling-Ball-Clock-/320661307598?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item4aa8e740ce
http://www.dansdata.com/timemachine.htm

http://cgi.ebay.com/1983-Arrow-Elect-Domino-Clock-/200585856756?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item2eb3d946f4

Ding-Batty

erco wrote: »

Kind of makes me want to dust off my "Spencer Gifts" ball bearing and domino clocks gathering dust out in my garage!

http://cgi.ebay.com/CYI-Time-Machine-Kinetic-Rolling-Ball-Clock-/320661307598?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item4aa8e740ce
http://www.dansdata.com/timemachine.htm

http://cgi.ebay.com/1983-Arrow-Elect-Domino-Clock-/200585856756?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item2eb3d946f4

I have one of the "ball bearing" clocks, but it is a little older and uses small white plastic balls instead of ball bearings (in fact, pretty much the entire thing is plastic). It is line-powered, using a 1 RPM motor that I had to replace at one time (that required a small amount of plastic modification to fit the new motor into the original space).

erco

@Publison: You a quick study, Dawg!

erco

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hyCIpKAIFyo
Easy to simulate with balls, impossible to do for real!


(Somebody prove me wrong, I double-dog dare you...)

Phil Pilgrim (PhiPi)

Erco,

You must've copied the URL from another post. The link is the same as the text (i.e. with the "..."). Try doing a "copy link" instead before pasting.

-Phil

Ttailspin

The URL contained a malformed video ID. :frown:

erco

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hyCIpKAIFyo

Sorry, link corrected above and added here.

Ttailspin

I want to know where they get all those "Steelies" from...

Beau Schwabe

Hmm... wonder if anyone has scaled up the idea and used pool balls?

Al Booth

@Ttailspin
Try VXB.com in Southern California. Warning - the shipping cost can be painful.

Phil Pilgrim (PhiPi)

I saw one in Columbus, Indiana, many years ago that used hollow metal balls larger than bowling balls. It was in an indoor mall or plaza and was several stories tall, IIRC.

-Phil

Ttailspin

Heh, thank's Al Booth, I was just making a silly comment about erco's music video, I know that the "Steelies"
they show bouncing around, are not "real"...


But thanks for the link to vxb.com... gonna have to pick up a couple dozen of these...only 12 pounds each,
I should be able to get a small loan from the bank to cover shipping...