3D render of the Marble Machine: a silver screw lift on the left, orange tracks and a red rocker on a white pegboard, on a graphite base, with coloured marbles
Free 3D model

Marble Machine

A marble machine that keeps running. An N20 gear motor in the base turns a screw lift, which picks up one marble per turn and carries it up a channel to the top. From there it rolls along the first track and drops onto a rocker. The rocker tips under each marble, so they go left and right in turn, down short tracks, along the lower track and back along the feed track to the lift, where a few wait their turn. Nine 16 mm glass marbles keep it busy. Every track is a V-groove, so the marbles run straight and steady. The parts hang on pegs on the board and the board stands in the base: no screws and no glue.

  • 10printed parts
  • 12 × 21 × 22 cmassembled (L × W × H)
  • ≈ 0.5 kgfilament in total
  • 210 × 200 mmbed size for the board; the base needs 214 × 117 mm and the screw is 183 mm tall
Download all files ZIP · 0.4 MB

Free for personal use under CC BY-NC 4.0: print it, remix it and share it with credit to Shapekit. Please don't sell the files or the prints.

Take it apart in 3D · Parts · How to build it

In 3D

Turn it, take it apart

Every part as you print it. Pick colours to see what your filament will look like.

The 3D model (1.7 MB) loads when you get here.

Preview colours

Base
Board
Lift and tracks
Screw
Rocker

Drag to rotate · scroll or pinch to zoom

In the download

10 parts, ready to print

Every STL is already placed the right way up. Download them all at once, or one by one.

Base

A hollow plinth, 30 mm tall. The motor drops into a pocket under the screw with its gearbox flush with the top, the board stands in a slot, and the battery box sits in a tray behind the board.

Size
214 × 117 × 30 mm
Print
Upside down, its top on the bed. No supports: the slot, the motor pocket and the tray print as bridges.
Filament
≈ 148 g
STL 41 KB

Board

The pegboard everything hangs on: Ø5 pegs for the column and the tracks, a long pivot peg and two stop pegs for the rocker.

Size
208 × 199 × 32 mm
Print
Flat on its back, pegs up. It needs a 210 × 200 mm bed.
Filament
≈ 153 g
STL 0.8 MB

Lift column

The lift in one piece: the floor where marbles wait to be picked up, the channel they climb in, the bearing for the top of the screw and the first track, which ends in a drop above the rocker.

Size
184 × 112 × 46 mm
Print
Lying on its back, the side that touches the board on the bed.
Filament
≈ 49 g
STL 0.1 MB

Screw

Ø42 mm flight with a 24 mm pitch on a Ø18 mm shaft: one marble per turn. A D-socket at the bottom takes the motor shaft, a pin at the top turns in the column's bearing arm.

Size
183 × 42 × 42 mm
Print
Standing on its bottom end, no supports: the underside of the flight is 45°. It is 183 mm tall.
Filament
≈ 47 g
STL 0.6 MB

Feed track

The bottom track, from the right-hand end back to the lift. The marbles wait in a row at its end.

Size
163 × 36 × 24 mm
Print
Lying on its back.
Filament
≈ 27 g
STL 28 KB

Lower track

Catches the marbles from both sides and drops them onto the feed track at the far right.

Size
161 × 36 × 24 mm
Print
Lying on its back.
Filament
≈ 26 g
STL 36 KB

Left track

A short track from the rocker's left arm to a drop onto the lower track.

Size
40 × 26 × 24 mm
Print
Lying on its back.
Filament
≈ 7 g
STL 30 KB

Right track

The same on the right: from the rocker to a drop onto the lower track.

Size
44 × 26 × 24 mm
Print
Lying on its back.
Filament
≈ 7 g
STL 29 KB

Rocker

The flip-flop switch: a short V-groove with a fin on top. It rests 15° to one side; a marble lands beside the fin on the raised arm, tips it over and rolls off the other end.

Size
52 × 28 × 23 mm
Print
Lying on its back, the pivot hole upright.
Filament
≈ 10 g
STL 25 KB

Rocker cap

Pushed onto the tip of the pivot peg, it keeps the rocker on.

Size
10 × 10 × 3 mm
Print
Flat.
Filament
≈ 0 g
STL 16 KB
Also needed

Parts you buy

  • 9 glass marbles, 16 mm: the standard size. 8 to 10 marbles work.
  • An N20 gear motor, 6 V and 100 RPM, with a 3 mm D-shaft. On two AA batteries it turns the screw at about 50 RPM, nearly a marble a second.
  • A battery box for 2 × AA with a switch, at most 70 × 37 mm (most are 58 to 66 × 32 to 35 mm), and two wires to the motor; solder them on or use a motor with wires already attached.
Print settings

Slicer settings

0.20 mmlayer height
3walls
15%gyroid infill
PLA or PETGmaterial

For a 0.4 mm nozzle. Filament amounts are estimates for these settings.

Assembly

How to build it

Print the parts

Nothing needs supports. Print the base upside down, the board flat with its pegs up, the column, the tracks and the rocker on their backs, and the screw standing up. Clean the ends of the pegs so they slide into the holes.

Fit the motor

Lead the motor's wires through the slot at the bottom of the motor pocket and up through the hole in the battery tray. Push the motor into the pocket, shaft up, until its gearbox is flush with the top of the base. Connect the wires to the battery box and lay it in the tray.

Put the screw on

Push the screw's D-socket onto the motor shaft. It stands upright by itself for now.

Hang the parts on the board

Lay the board on its back. Press the lift column onto its five pegs and the feed, lower, left and right tracks onto theirs. Slide the rocker onto the long peg and press the cap onto its tip; the rocker should tip freely from one stop peg to the other.

Stand the board in the base

Hold the board upright and lower it into the slot in the base, guiding the pin at the top of the screw into the hole in the column's bearing arm.

Run it

Switch on: seen from above, the screw should turn clockwise. If it turns the other way, swap the two motor wires. Lay the marbles on the feed track; the lift takes one on each turn.

Marbles and small parts are a choking hazard: keep them away from young children. Take the batteries out when it is not running.

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Open the makers