Constructive marble run

Draft

Introduction

A constructive marble run kit allows children and grown ups to create their own marble run.

A marble run can be used to explain some physics principles.

Types of marble runs

A quick online search revealed several types. These can be classified according to several criteria

• Commercial / free
• Finished pieces / Do it Yourself
• Compatible with an other construction set (e.g. Lego) / Not compatible
• Large / small
• (Support) for complex / simple runs

Lego compatible marble runs

A number of free and commercial lego compatible marble run systems exist.

Open source 3D printable systems

On [ thingiverse] we selected the following 3D printable systems.

• 3D printable Lego compatible marble runs on Thingiverse
• 

  (https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:994812 Lego Duplo marble run set by thecrash74 Sep 1, 2015)

• Duplo compatible marble run system.jpg

  (https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:159219 Duplo compatible marble run system by joachim67 Oct 1, 2013

• 

  (https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:736756 LEGO compartible flex marble run elements by erdinger Mar 23, 2015 Can be fixed to Lego Technics)

• 

  (https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:675917 Lego Marble Run - Individual Files by garthvh Feb 10, 2015)

• 

  (https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:148232 LEGO marble run by mathgrrl Sep 9, 2013)

• 

  (https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:2668311 Lego Compatible Marble Run System by lovedzc Nov 25, 2017)

• 

  (https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:3072314 Lego Marble Run by metallguru Aug 29, 2018)

• 

  (https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:1624151 Quarter Helix Marble Run by JmsDwh Jun 14, 2016)

Commercial 3D printable systems

• 3D printable Lego compatible marble runs
• 

  (https://pinshape.com/users/413821-jtronicsde) One free example on thingiverse)

commercial Lego or Duplo compatible systems

A good example of a Duplo-compatible set is Marble Race Run Maze Ball Track Building Blocks Plastic Funnel Slide Big Size Bricks Compatible with Big Brand Duplo Blocks (retrieved Dec 5, 2018). The largest 208 piece set features the following elements:

Advertising of a marble run product (Source)

The vendor also includes the block size which indeed uses standard Duplo conventions as explained in the Doblo factory article. Height should be 19.2mm and not 20mm, but this is maybe a mistake by the graphist.

Advertising of a marble run product (Source)

Marble run bricks

Constructive marble run sets are composed of several brick types that can be combined into a run. The most important elements are runs and curves.

Crossings

Balls can cross at an intersection.

Curve

Variants:

• Degrees: Mostly either 90 / 180
• Narrow / Wide
• Flat / Sloped

Funnel / hole

A hole

Joins

Balls can come from 2 directions and join in a single track. On also could use this element as (random) separation.

Start/end

A run with a wall at one end. May contain a little depression to keep the ball in place.

Track

A usually straight (not bended) run.

Variants:

• short/long
• flat / slope / cosine / up/down bending / etc. slope
• rigid / flexible

Tunnel

A brick that is closed. A variant of almost all the other variants. In case of Lego compatibles, can have nibbles on top to allow building on top.

Variants:

• short/long
• straight / curved
• flat / slope.

Twister

Ball enters, rotates and then falls down a hole.

Links

List of products

We don't have time to conduct a serious evaluation.

The following search provide a lot of products:

• https://www.google.com/search?q=constructive+marble+run
• https://www.aliexpress.com/af/marble-run.html?

3D printables

Commercial

Free

• See above