I finally did it! I made the Marble Machine and it WORKS! Not well - especially not with 10 mm glass beads, but it works. It took me 7 cuts to get all the pieces, and 9 hours to get it together, and even then I had to cheat some. I just couldn’t squeeze the wood tight enough, so a few things got waxed and made a teensy bit bigger; but I did it!
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I forced mine together and only had one small piece crack on me. Kragle to the rescue.
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That looks awesome! I have it on my todo list…it’s a long list!
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That looks so good! Congratulations on your patience and resolve. And doesn’t it feel good to be able to say, “Thank goodness, I’m done!” 
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Congratulations! Good on you for sticking with it 
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Nice job on that!
Heh. You must be a beader as well. I’ve got that same bead storage system, works great.
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Wow, what perseverance. I bet you learned a lot while assembling and it must feel great to be able to say “I finally did it!” Way to go.
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Thanks so much for all the good notes! I am pleased with myself. And I found some 12 mm beads and they work great!
It is good bead storage. I don’t get many broken ones anymore - even when the cats get in them.
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That was my very first design for the 
! I have learned a lot since then.
(I see you have my helicopter in the background too!)
If you thought that was exciting, maybe check this out:
I am still trying to simplify the design though.
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I had wanted to explore clocks! Thanks for the info. I was just so totally blown away by working gears that I could cut for myself - not that I have any use for them really, or that I could actually design something that would work but it’s so cool!
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I can see why you are still trying to simplify it.
Just a question- the marble machine rarely cranks smoothly- often seems to get hung up and has to be turned backward or (terrifyingly) forced. Any hints on what I have done wrong? I haven’t completely glued /pinned it together because of this, but then of course,I wonder if that is why it is doing it…
Without witnessing it I cannot say. I have never had that problem unless one of the balls get lodged in a way that the wheel won’t turn.
It was designed for ball bearing I bought off Amazon, but I later enlarged the holes in hopes of allowing actual marbles to be used. I never tried it with something as light as a bead.
Idk if I have the patience to put all the pieces together lol. Yours looks great