Marble run building tips.
- Search room: Your bedroom, attic, hobby room, shed, garden, etc. Search a place that’s big enough to build an track. Do not build tracks in crowded places as middle of living room or kitchen, ask your parents for permission.
- Search material: Tubes, roof gutters, vacuum cleaner hoses, racetrack toys, k’nex, curtain rails, bicycle bells, door bells, gongs, chimes, lamp caps, funnels, music instruments, disco lights, bricks and lots of more. Be aware of using glass or porcelain; it can break after a marble bumps on it.
- Build your track: Begin at bottom, then build up to top, this works easier. Be sure that your track is steep enough to keep the marble rolling without get stuck. Do not build the track taller than yourself; be sure you can reach the start without using ladders or chairs. Do you want a higher track, asks someone to help you with ladders. Do NEVER stand on a table or chair, this can cause accidents or your parents get angry.
- Test your track: Put a marble several times on the track to test it.
When a marble get stuck:
- Adjust the track supports.
- Make the track wider when a marble jams between the edges of the track and fix chinks between the track parts.
- Look for small spaces between the track parts, fix it with sticky tape or push it to close.
- Make the track stronger, support weak track parts.
- Check the track for dirt, debris or dust and clean it.
When a marble falls off track:
- Build fences along the track curves where the marbles gets off track.
- Look for small obstructions on track parts, fix it with sticky tape or push the track parts to close the space.
- Slow the marbles down with obstacles.
Take your time to build a good working marble run, you need time and a good technical sense. Most marble run construction toys contains a building manual, read it mindful before you begin.
