Plip plop plip plop

March 17, 2013 11:15 AM

Seven amazing marble machines by Paul Grundbacher
posted by ocherdraco (19 comments total)

Pay no attention to the man behind the box.
posted by skewed at 11:40 AM on March 17, 2013 [4 favorites]

This is just fantastic. There's a lot of cool stuff on that woodgears.ca site. Every time I click a link to there I lose at least a half hour. This is fun.
posted by phunniemee at 11:40 AM on March 17, 2013 [6 favorites]

I wish the video for Lift showed how he's managing the feed into the lift. I guess you could use a gear but it seems like it would require a lot of force to lift the stack.
posted by Tell Me No Lies at 11:51 AM on March 17, 2013

Those are cool!
posted by Mrs. Pterodactyl at 11:51 AM on March 17, 2013

Deeeelightful!

Reminds me of Pitagora Suichi. And/or Arthur Ganson (previously).
posted by Peevish at 11:56 AM on March 17, 2013

Tell Me No Lies: He says the lift is based on this "marble pump" design.

The woodgears.ca site is the definition of best of the web - completely noncommercial, meticulously documented projects and a clean, concise presentation.
posted by davey_darling at 12:13 PM on March 17, 2013

As my six-year-old daughter said when I showed her this: "Whoa. I can't believe someone made something as cool as that."
posted by The corpse in the library at 12:20 PM on March 17, 2013 [2 favorites]

I wish the videos were a little slower, linger on the shots a bit longer. Trying to see everything at once is somehow eye-straining for me.
posted by maryr at 12:29 PM on March 17, 2013

I need a more awesome hobby.
posted by denriguez at 1:02 PM on March 17, 2013

Does it surprise you to find out the guy who made these is form Switzerland?
posted by notsnot at 1:12 PM on March 17, 2013

I like how you can see Paul's work grow in complexity as he goes along. The machines start out at pretty cool, work their way to awesome, then to whoa and finally OHHOLYCRAPHEBUILTAREGULATOR.
posted by Spatch at 1:52 PM on March 17, 2013 [1 favorite]

Tell Me No Lies: He says the lift is based on this "marble pump" design.

Ah cool, very clever design.

Thanks for he pointer.
posted by Tell Me No Lies at 2:25 PM on March 17, 2013

I absolutely love complex machines that are made to do nothing but delight.
posted by xingcat at 2:35 PM on March 17, 2013

Insane. Love.
posted by bayani at 3:27 PM on March 17, 2013

I absolutely love complex machines that are made to do nothing but delight.

To this day, my favorite part of the Museum of Science in Boston is the huge marble machine in the main concourse.
posted by Rustic Etruscan at 4:35 PM on March 17, 2013 [1 favorite]

These are wonderful. Thanks, ocherdraco.
posted by homunculus at 4:42 PM on March 17, 2013

Excellent, thanks.
posted by OmieWise at 6:17 PM on March 17, 2013

Very cool. I love when people post interesting woodworking things to MeFi, because it gives me something to talk about with my dad.
posted by vytae at 11:05 PM on March 17, 2013 [1 favorite]

I love marble machines so so so so much. I have been bulk-purchasing used Marble Works tracks for my daughter so we can finally construct a track that goes from the 2nd floor to the basement.
posted by Theta States at 7:40 AM on March 18, 2013 [2 favorites]