This simple game is a gravity-powered race between two tumbling discs. The first one to bump, swivel, and fall down the course and reach the bottom is the winner!
I’ll upload a file which includes all the parts. Cut and assemble the track using Proofgrade Medium Draftboard. In my first proto, the base is a snug fit but the other track slot joints may need a spot of glue for best results. Go ahead and print out the racing discs with Draftboard, but for best racing action cut out just the discs by themselves using Heavy Acrylic. (In my proto I used Clear Acrylic, but painted them to show up on camera.)
This project was first featured in my "Toy Inventor’s Notebook” column in Make magazine in 2016 but this version is tweaked for Glowforge materials. I was recently reminded of this concept from something I saw at the last Bay Area Maker Faire: a booth where a high school teacher had turned my Tumble Tower Raceway into a design class project. He had his students design and laser cut their own discs fro I’ll upload a file which includes all the parts. Cut and assemble the track using Proofgrade Medium Draftboard. In my first proto, the base is a snug fit but the other track slot joints may need a spot of glue for best results. Go ahead and print out the racing discs with Draftboard, but for best racing action cut out just the discs by themselves using Heavy Acrylic. (In my proto I used Clear Acrylic, but painted them to show up on camera.)
This project was first featured in my ‘Toy Inventor’s Notebook” column in Make magazine in 2016 but this version is tweaked for Glowforge materials. I was recently reminded of this concept from something I saw at the last Bay Area Maker Faire: a booth where a high school teacher had turned my Tumble Tower Raceway into a design class project. He had his students design and laser cut their own discs from scratch. For Maker Faire, he had his students man their booth and help walk-up attendees quickly and easily assemble their own racers from variously sized components. Instant involvement with quick results!
Here’s the idea for a Glowforge forum Tumble Tower Raceway challenge: if anyone is so inspired, print out your own identical vertical racetrack. Then go on to create your own, personalized racers to find the optimum, FASTEST design. You’ll find that by varying the dimensions of the racer’s size, slots, and swivel hole diameters, as well as the location and size of the unbalanced weight cutouts, you’ll change the action and speed of the racing disc.
Then pit your own unique racing disc design against others’ racer designs by sharing the designs with each other here on the forum. Print out the various submissions and race them yourself at home. Who’s design will be the fastest?
I think it could be interesting to see what people come up with, especially if you think outside the box and use other materials, thicknesses, laminated parts, and radical designs to bounce, swivel, and fall faster.
Any takers?
(Also, this design of the track is pretty vanilla looking, so of course, create your own graphics! The original article also suggested making the track design modular so that you could stack and build up a GIANT vertical track from multiple pieces. Anyone curious enough to try making that?)
Bob Knetzger
new tumble tower for glowforge.v3.svg.zip (220.6 KB)
