Constructive marble run
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)
(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:
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.
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