Marble Racetrack -- NOISY kids toy.

[Art Mulder]

I built this several years ago, but just revisited it recently to put together a more detailed web page with many more photos.




Overview: Drop the marbles in at the top, they race down one of two tracks, banging and clattering all the way...
http://i.imgur.com/ZG1qE8b.jpg (http://imgur.com/ZG1qE8b)




And at the bottom they leave the track, ring the bell, and drop into this sort of catch basin area
http://i.imgur.com/gaztpvD.jpg (http://imgur.com/gaztpvD)


I bought this brass counter bell (desk bell) kit from Lee Valley. They don’t sell it any more, but you can find a counter bell at any office supply store, or check amazon
http://i.imgur.com/gYNS2Xr.jpg (http://imgur.com/gYNS2Xr)


This is a two-dimensional marble toy. (Rear view) all the track pieces are simply glued or tacked to this vertical plywood back.


(If you want a complicated 3-D type of marble toy, I recommend checking out one of Matthias Wandel’s, like this one: http://woodgears.ca/mm2/index.html )
http://i.imgur.com/BnxGivU.jpg (http://imgur.com/BnxGivU)


Top Down, watching them roll
http://i.imgur.com/9JCkLNC.jpg (http://imgur.com/9JCkLNC)


Ringing the Bell…
http://i.imgur.com/x0gQSfP.jpg (http://imgur.com/x0gQSfP)


I used 9/16" diameter chrome steel balls. And then made this wooden track sections from 3/4" wide by 1/4" thick stock, glued up into this U-shaped channel.
http://i.imgur.com/7OOjIIs.jpg (http://imgur.com/7OOjIIs)


The base needs to be thick + heavy, so it doesn’t tip. I embedded the back into a dado.
http://i.imgur.com/OSsxoHd.jpg (http://imgur.com/OSsxoHd)

[Bruce Page]

Fun project! I bet the kids love it.

[Lee Schierer]

Fun project! I bet the kids love it.

I agree, but after 20 minutes I bet the parents hate it or the bell comes up missing....

[Phil Mueller]

Well done Art. Nice woodworking with a bit of engineering. Back when our kids were younger, my sister and I would send each other's kids the noisiest toys we could find for Christmas. This would have been a good one back then.

[Art Mulder]

I agree, but after 20 minutes I bet the parents hate it or the bell comes up missing....

Stuff some paper or a rag under the bell and you can mute it.

It's definitely a "keep it in the basement" sort of toy.

[Floyd Cox]

Art, that is too cool! would you happen to know where I could purchase a set of plans or would you have it in sketchup drawing?

[Art Mulder]

Art, that is too cool! would you happen to know where I could purchase a set of plans or would you have it in sketchup drawing?

Floyd, please click on my name, and in the drop-down menu click on the "visit homepage" link. I have more details on my website.

[Art Mulder]

Floyd, A later follow up:

It is now on the newsstands. I just saw it in my local Lowes:
I built this back in 2007/8 and it was published at that time in Canadian Home Workshop magazine. (That magazine has since ceased publication)
This spring/summer I was approached by the folks over at Scrollsaw Woodworking magazine (http://www.scrollsawer.com/) about publishing it again.

It's now on the newstands both here and in the US, in the October "Gizmos and Gadgets (http://www.scrollsawer.com/2015/10/02/gizmos-gadgets-2015/)", which is an annual(?) special projects magazine that they put out. (I saw it in Lowes just the other day... I had first thought it was only going to be sold stateside.)


And no, I did not use a scrollsaw once on this project. :rofl:

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