Hoody

Hi kbobam, of course they know something we do not. Don't worry. Think about it this way: You know things they do not even dream of ... Hoody

Yes, we do not understand very well but at least he is not upset when I baa at him (in germany this means I am ticking him off)

That is in line with my assumptions and findings. The glas marbles are nonhomogenous and so loose energy (speed). The steel balls are nearly perfect spheres and so they gain more energy from the same height difference. And with the bigger diameter the geometry changes dramatically - reducing the maximum speed for a certain radius. I think that it is not really speed but the diameter. Just take a piece of paper a ruler and a compass (zirkel = de passer) and do a drawing of both geometris in a certain scale 1:1 or so.You will easily see that with the bigger diameter the angle of the sphere to rail contacts is smaller. This smaller angle has less lateral support than with the smaller diameter. It is exactly as with a banked curve (= to hoog bocht?). Less banking means less speed until things get critical.

Okay, I will try to contact him. For those who do not fear of lots of german stuff you might try it out: http://www.kugelbahn.info/deutsch/haupt/einl.html There is a promising flag for english language but currently there is some gentle explanation that this might take some time.

Oh those typoes!!! Glasmrumelbahn Glasmurmelbahn Did you already notice all those "marble machines" clips on youtube? I just should be sleeping but got lost in viewing dozens of those.

Erector sets seems to be still alive: http://www.erector.us/products In Germany I know them as meccano. But erector/meccano is system different from fischertechnik: http://www.fischertechnik.biz/ Also the homepage of the comany but some of the topics are not trsanslated and still show up in german language: http://www.fischertechnik.de/en/Home.aspx Don't worry about them, its no important information. I know about one or two of our community colleagues located in U.S. and Canada. But I have no idea if there is a ft community around there.

But Jürgen is still alive. I had some eMail exchanged with him last year. I hope his site stays online until he has time again to maintain it further. Might it be an idea to invite hin to join us here?

Ah, yes there it is. Rob Van Baal did it again; he made a nice video of the FanClubTag (fan club day) "50 years of fischertechnik". Enjoy it all, there are very fine models in the clip. The last 2 minutes he gave to me - I swear he did it on his own intention. I am so glad he makes so good videos. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nyy7FhNCYv8 If you like to see a ping-pong ball run from the dutch ft fans then just give the Schoonhoven 2014 compilation a visit: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tLhLM1bLIoQ The ping-pong run is directly from the start. I love this machine they build.

Video - hhmmm, I just need to check something. Meanwhile you migth take a look into the gallery I started upon the topic: http://marbleconnection.com/gallery/member/3790-hoody/

Hi together, first I need to explain the german title: Jubiläumsedition just means jubilee edition I designed it to join this years special annivesary event "50 years of fischertechnik". That is why all the blue flags are spread around the marble run. Starting with the "A Tribute To Imperfection" project stage of 2014 I extended the marble run to have three linked tracks for marbles and a fourth track dedicated to ping-pong balls. The lifter for the ping-pong balls is driven by the glas marbles running through a 'mill' just as water drives mills along rivers. In 2014 already there was this type of mill but it just energized a small globe to turn slowly. And due to some problems of the 2014 construction I needed to redesign the mill as the arriving tracks now come in roughly 1 1/8 inch (30mm) lower. There is so much more to say, but I first need to find out about your gallery system. Stay tuned. Regards Hoody

I see, thank you.

Hi Steph, the fischertechnik forum is mostly for fischertechnik fans to post about their pojects and the gallery is for showing lots of projetcs' pictures. There are not only marble runs ("Kugelbahn" or try "Glasmrumelbahn"). Those constructions a just a few rare projects of countless others. There is all: trucks, cranes, excavators, tractors, industrial machines, roboters, ..., anything you might think of is there. I wish there wouldn't the language barrier. But I encounter something that is strange. I tired to set up my notifications to alert me when a post has been replied to. One day it worked and then stalled. This item here I got notice of by "show unvisitied replies" - today! Strange, but I think I will find out how get things work here. My fischertechnik mates just set up their runs in their home (living room, cellar, garage, ...) and sometimes they post some pix to the gallery. Also some of those get to the convention once a year to share it live with the community. Regards Hoody

I think you can directly navigate to the animation following this link: (oops, it sees the contents is automatically invoked here)

In other words roughly 1,7° of angle. Do you ever think (or even estimate) friction losses? Or do you just try until you think there is enough slope to keep the balls rolling?

What miserably failed I call "Hebekunst". You can find some pix including explanations of the outtake here: http://www.ftcommunity.de/details.php?image_id=41669

Yes and no. After correcting the friction issue by lowering the tracks behind the looping this works reliably. This was done when extending the machine for this year. http://www.ftcommunity.de/details.php?image_id=41550 My marble lifter for the third track was failing. I managed to get something else that worked pretty good - the tower a little bit to the right of the center. It ran throughout the day although I assembled it from scratch in just a few hours and had no time for much testing and improving it. And so the event I can call a success too, finally. But I am not really giving up getting the intended original idea to work. It is a pinciple that german mine workers used to get into and out of their mines at Harz mining area hundreds of years ago, calling it "Fahrkunst". Of course, for marble runs, there is an extremely complicated mechanism with tilting platforms that is also already available as a fischertechnik set. But there is a simpler way. Have a look at the second animation aside the second paragraph of the text: http://www.kugelbahn.info/deutsch/bergwerk/dusyma.html. Jürgen did a great job with the animation and it looks so simple and easy how marbles are lifted and gently pushed over to the other side climbing up the mechanism.

Hi marble run builders, I just would like to start this thread to find out if I am the only guy whose constructions seldomly work from scratch. Some do and some do not. Playing around with ideas my latest one for a lifting device ended up in disaser after months of engineering. How about yours?

Just look at all those details aside the tracks! The ticket machines and prices, the track rating, all the tracks names at their entries ...

What a nice idea. I am awaiting 2016 world marble racing impatiently.

Fantastic. I love it. The conveyor belt construction is a great idea. And the red hoses as tracks. WOW! Where do you get such an amount of marbles from? I bet you just not walk to the toys'r'us and tell them "11,000 of the 5/8, please"...

I think you are right. Cats and marble runs are not compatible unless you want to do your cat a favor or take bowling balls .

I just stared at the screen watching the youtube. Interesting idea to route it across house and garden. And an interesting track system. But there is also the underwater marble run: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PJU90-ouqGQ I never ever have seen something like this before. I just would like to know if those underwater run was just trial and error or if some calculations and estimations were done before building it. Anyway - crazy idea for hot summer days...

Well, I hope you enjoyed the beast. On the convention it ran the whole day. Some marbles escaped from the tracks but that was not too bad. But after I brought it back home and assembled the modules again on my table the machine refused to work immediately! It turned out that my estimations on friction variation were wrong. I have had so incredibly much luck on the convention. But that is history, the tracks have been rearranged anyway and from then friction variation is not an issue. The new technical issues of today I can solve, I think. The physics tell me that it is not impossible and so I will identify a way forward.

Oh, how cool! And the sequences in the dark - really great stuff. I need to get also some those glowing balls. I figure out a speed of roughly 1 meter per second just before reaching the bells. Would you tell us the slope you have used (millimeter of height per meter of length)?

Thank god: Weekend and access to youtube!!! Great! I am wondering how you made the surface so smooth... Groetjes Hoody