Advanced Marble Run: Engineered Parts

Challenge: To create unique pieces for a marble run.

As part of our school we are always looking for extension activities for our students, sometimes created by our staff.   

One example is that in recent years our students have produce a pinball machine.  This machine has been full scale and is digital.  The parts of the machine have been made and engineered by students and each year the school has a Pinball Competition featuring the students, which is streamed on Youtube.    This is a major undertaking for our school 

The project which is the teacher is now involved in, which is estimated to take a year is a marble run.  As part of it there are are number of unique and individual parts that are being engineered.    The first of which is shown above.

The print is designed as a corner to allow a large ball bearing to drop down into another section of the marble run - this is a design from an adult which took eleven hours to print.   It will allow for a permanent part of the machine to be built, to potentially be modified using screws and tools.

The eleven hour time from is considerable however this part is unique to the design. The video below features the Pinball Machine - you can see the broadcast from 2022, which starts at the eight minute mark.  The competition proper starts at the twenty two minute mark.