How to Make a Steel Marble Track with Rail Segments
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- Опубликовано: 28 ноя 2020
- This video explains the step by step process of making a steel marble track using pre-assembled segments. I made three different types of segments - straight and two types of corners. These are constructed individually by laying the 16 gauge wire on an assembly board and clamping it into place. The pieces of wire are then soldered into place to form each segment. Once creating all of the rail segments, construction of the track begins. Segments are selected one by one and soldered into place. Segments are supported by a small pieces of wire soldered to the bottom of each rail connecting bit. And segments are soldered end to end to extend the track. Working from the bottom to the top, the track is assembled one segment at a time with lots of soldering!
Two tools that are indispensable are the 8" bolt cutter to cut and trim the wire, and the helping hands to hold the wire into place for soldering.
Enjoy!
TOOLS & MATERIALS (affiliate)
- Steel Ball Bearings amzn.to/2KpAxBw
- 8 inch Bolt Cutter amzn.to/3gZOX63
- 16G Steel Wire amzn.to/2W9HhG5
- Helping Hands amzn.to/324HQom
- 1 inch Mini Spring Clamps amzn.to/3iTfGCM
- Black Foam Board amzn.to/2DwVGpv
- 65W Solder Station amzn.to/2ZXJxBr
- Solder amzn.to/3oEqFCP 
Хобби
By far the best instructions for a marble Machine Novice, thanks.
Thanks! Glad you found it helpful.
You should watch the videos from "Daniel de Bruin", pretty sure it's where his idea comes from...
Great! thank you for showing a full build with an easy listening presentation. I really like how you prep up and use 3 basic shapes, that's a really great tip for this wanna do one! Kind regards, Tony.👍👍
Simply the best illustration. Thanks.
Glad you like it!
Very informative video. I'd be tempted to try one.
I have been playing with wire marble runs during our current cold snap. I stripped surplus solid copper wire out of standard household wire ( 14-2 Romex?). I did buy a high power pistol type soldering gun (75/150W?) to cope with copper's higher thermal conductivity. My 30/50 W iron was not man enough. I have curves, straight sections and a spiral so far. The adventure continues. Thanks for the inspiration!
That's great! I started the same way. A nice thing about copper is that it is very ductile. So getting it around the curves is a bit easier.
@@bitmachines Hi Bit Machines, can you tell me which pistol type soldering gun are you using? Im trying to make some wire marble runs with my 60w, but I think it is not enough, thank you.
I tried making a steel marble run last fall, but I got hung up on trying to make a spiral lift. You've inspired me to try again. This time I'm going to focus on actually making a _track_ and I'll deal with the lift later/never.
Great, I agree. I almost got stuck at the same place - I tried a few and they were not working. However building the tracks themselves is fun. On my list is still to tackle the lifts and hopefully I can find a good simple solution. If so I'll post a video for sure.
I'm just starting getting the materials together to do a marble run, and have had no luck finding any decent instruction on the spiral lifts....looked on here and Pintrest. I'd be interested in any info.
@@mcoo465 I was able to make a simple marble run that my daughter loves, but no lift. I may try again because I saw a clever design where the screw/spiral is under the track, with the track on an upward angle. The gentler the slope, the less stress is on the spiral, the better it works.
@@Not_TVs_Frank cool. I’m still doing research. If I see more, I will report
You totally inspired me!! I just spent $150 on Amazon and bought a bunch of stuff to start making these. I ended up going with 16 gauge, hopefully I wont regret that. If so, I can buy 14
Awesome! I hope you have fun with it. I'm guessing 16 gauge should be ok. You might just need to put in some more supports and have smaller spans if it ends up being more wobbly than you want.
@@bitmachines Thank you, I re-read my message to you. I had it backwards. I purchased 14 gauge, not 16 gauge. I think the numbers mixed me up. I cant wait to start on this new hobby. Im sure it will be quite difficult. You make it look very easy.
A perfect video!!!
Thank you!
super cool build and nice tutorial :-)
Glad you like it
Very good
Very good. .. thanks
You're welcome!
Thanks
What is that stand called that has a crocodile clip on the end and holds a track connector in place while you solder it? Amazing video btw ❤
Helping hands - check the description for a link
sanks,for your video, its a top.
Thanks for watching!
I make these, that arm thing is soooo cool, although i use 14 gauge so it might be too heavy.
Helping hands are indeed very helpful! They can be tightened down so unless you have a really long wire, it should be ok. And you can always use more than one if needed.
@@bitmachines interesting, i will certainly try to pick up a few!
Excelente video, thanks. Whats Caín of wire is? I trayecto strench the wire, but lts broken
It is just regular steel wire. However if I twist it too much, it will also break on me. I think there needs to be just enough twisting to straighten it, but not so much that it becomes brittle. For curves, you can skip the straightening since it'll get bent anyways.
congratulations broo,
CLAP CLAP CLAP...
Thanks!
Hey do you have any advice for soldering the wire? I just bought a pretty powerful soldering iron (Ksger T12) but when I try to do what you did in the video, I can't seem to heat the steel wire enough to even melt the solder (although the solder will melt of the iron tip). I'm using flux and sanding the wire too. Is it a specific solder you're using perhaps that works better for steel?
It sounds like you're doing things the right way. It does take awhile to heat everything up. This video is pretty heavily edited to keep the pace up. So the only thing that comes to mind is apply the heat a bit longer and do so to both wires simultaneously.
@@bitmachinesYou do not use flus and degreaser liquid or? Just temperature from soldering machine was enough?
What type of solder did you use and did you not use flux?
I'm using a generic no lead solder with a rosin core (Tin 99.3 / Copper 0.7), 2.5% flux. I suspect additional flux would be helpful but it went ok this way.
What name's Flux used?
hello, thank you for your video , i ve a soldering iron 48W-350 degree is it enough for your project ? what are your soldering iron specifications ?
I'm using a 65W iron and usually run it around 400F/750C. The exact iron is linked in the description above.
@@bitmachines thank you for your reply !
I would like to upscale it using bowling balls. What do you think?
That would be epic!
I built two wood-based RBMs using billiard balls. They were a great hit in vacation Bible school. The kids loved cranking the lifts.
I am new to the soldering. You seem to do it effortlessly. Could you offer some insight? I bought the same solder and the same wire. Is there a certain temperature? Do you have any tutorials that show your technique? About to give up :( Thank you for any help you can be.
This wire is actually a bit tricky to solder. I still have issues from time to time, but that didn't make it into the video! If you're new to soldering, I'd suggest starting with something easier to get a feel for it, and then switch over - something like thin gauge copper wire. Just practice soldering some wires together for a while.
One of the tricks to soldering is to heat the wire and let the solder wick in (it will flow towards the heat). Since this wire is thick it pulls the heat away which makes it harder. The other trick is cleaning the wire well. You want to remove any surface oxidation. Flux can help here which I didn't show in the video. I hope that helps!
@@bitmachines What kind of flux do you use? There are a lot of options it seems.
have you been using flax in order to collect the coils?
My solder is fluxed
I wonder if ceiling tile wire would work to make some of this?
I'm not sure, but if you try let us know!
@@bitmachines Yeah I might give it a go just for S&G it is works out I'll let you guys know.
What size PVC fittings are you using in this demonstration?
They are 1/2 and 3/4 inch. I tried a few more but liked those the most.
Hi. Thx for sharing. What's the soldering iron you are using. If you can share that info. I'd like to star with a project like that thx.
Check the description
for making the support under the rail how can you determine what size form you need for the circles?
Just try a few out and see what works. You can also trim them to change the gap.
@@bitmachines so far i have 3/4 done straightening out the wire rods except a lot of them were breaking at the tip when applying the pressure and don't completely go straight. Also what size drill bit did you use for posting into the plywood. Cheers
I didn't use plywood like that
Ive tried straightening the wire with a drill but it keeps snapping, i'm using galvanized wire, same as you. Ive been able to straighten a few cm but it snaps really essily and it's really brittle SO i can't Even bend it yo the right shape afterwards. Is there a step i'm missing? Ive tried with a few diferente wires Ive fondo laying arround at home and they allá snap excepto for one that was a little darker and les shiny compares to the other ones.
It sounds like it is getting work hardened which is a specific property of the metal (and has nothing to do with any coating). If it's happening to several different kinds of wires then you could be twisting it too much. It doesn't take a lot and you don't need it perfect. You can also skip that step and just straighten it by hand.
Is that galvanized steel wire or non galvanized stainless steel? I heard that galvanized steel is dangerous to solder due to zinc coating producing fumes when heated.
Great point! You either want to use non-galvanized wire (which is harder to find) or remove the galvanized coating which I don't show here. And if you don't do either of those use an appropriate respirator/ventilation/etc.
How Manny watts solder equipment do you use for solding?
It's a 65 Watt soldering iron.
How loud would you say a sculpture like this is? What steps would you use to make it more quiet?
i think a more study (denser) base that would absorb the vibrations would be a good way to start
@@bitmachines Thanks. We're considering making a marble run as part of an exhibit at a local public library and wanted to reduce the amount of noise it would make.
@@trickstur5994 don't use metal balls. Metal on metal is why it's loud.
What wire...what gauge...I'm kinda new...
This is 16 gauge steal wire (there are some links in the description to help get you started with what I used).
@@bitmachines I would like to hook a motor to mine for continual play. Have you done that before?
I don't have any videos on a lift yet. I'm playing around with a few ideas. I want to make something that is simple and robust. Some of the spiral lifts are pretty finicky with getting all of the tolerances right. However even 100% manual these are fun!
@@bitmachines I got used to using the motors on the space rail setup...this is definitely different and better...I bought most of my material already...working on a layout! Thank you for posting.