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Mini Giant Marble Clock that tells the time using marbles - Still too big
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- Published on Mar 14, 2026
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The files for the clock can be found here: ivanmiranda.co...
A year ago I made a Giant Marble Clock. I feel like I'm the only one that has lost his marbles with this project and now I think it's your turn.
In no way I think this is a good idea but you can go to my store, buy the plans and try to build one yourself. It'll take more time than you think and it'll cost more money than you expect and even then you may not end up with a working marble clock but you know what? You'll have fun (most of the time) and you'll be supporting my marble madness (not sure about how good of an idea is that either).
I'll be back soon with a new marble clock seconds video but in the meantime I love to read your comments down below
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Science & Technology
So.. If you can make it smaller.. does that mean that you can also make it.. LARGER?
That's what's being told in the streets
@ivanmirandawastaken😂
He comes back next with 5000 large boulders on the side of a hill 😂
@ivanmirandawastaken I am waiting for the bowling ball version....
Billiard balls?? Croquet balls?? Snooker balls??
I have bought your clock files. Not because I would ever attempt to build it in 1000 years. I dont contain enough curse words to be able to finish the project. I've purchased them because you are a madman and will need to pay for psychiatric help soon. Your builds are amazing. Thank you!
I dont contain enough curse words
That sentence haha
I'm Australian... I wonder if even *I* contain enough curse words to finish it... but I'm also crazy enough to try it :D
No, he still has all his marbles!
@pauls3075 yeah but he's just spilling them everywhere
"pay for psychiatric help" -- Where do you think he lives? Some backwards nation where people have to pay for health care?
It’s quite impressive that you made a clock almost entirely out of screws!
I thought he was German, that's a lot of screws.
@monad_tcp 😂😂😂 his accent is nothing like German 😂😂😂
@monkeytrumpetz Greek?
@KenBissell-oq2ns Spanish.
@KenBissell-oq2ns sounds more Spanish to me
You may want to have a 24 hour video of your clock that you can upload. That way we could watch the video and fast forward to our current time so we can use it as a "live" clock. Might be fun, and it would hopefully help monetize the channel a bit.
Yes. He should have separate channel that has a 24 hour stream of this clock that always runs.
@undercomposition Yeah that would make for a nifty live background wallpaper !
We need this!
Idea is wonderful. With sound plz. One 24h and then just make it to meet a time. It brings a LOT ot views and long ones 😂
But single ad will ruin it, so there's some problems too.
the part where he listed the side effects of building a marble clock was hilarious. 18:53
Hippopotamus.
Set playback speed to 0.5.
0.65x speed is best for listening, 0.5x if you want to read along.
Proudly sponsored by "Big Screw"!
I swear Ivan, you must have stocks in screw manifacturers.
can't wait for wrist version 😍😍😍😍
yes, pls... a version that can be printed on a 200x200 bed in one single print ;-) use tiny ball bearings
@theorganguy I'm guessing there is a limit to how small it can feasibly be made using 3d printed parts. When you're dealing with a machine the function of which depends on predictably controlling the movements of hard spheres, the parts involved need a certain level of "smoothness" compared to the size of the spheres. In other words, the smaller the marbles, the tighter the tolerances of the parts. A miniature version of the clock could certainly be made, but probably not using 3d printers. At least not ones available to most people.
😃😃😃😃😃
@Wishbone1977 yeah that's probably the only problem
I think in the 6 years I've been watching your channel, the thing that astounds me the most is that you actually use the big printer for projects. Love seeing that.
The marbel clock seems like something that belings in an art gallery
So true, a great example of a dynamic art piece, and a functionning one on top of that
@aterxter3437 like a kinetic sculpture
Nah, cant be having that. The galleries are too full of bananas taped to walls and big squares of solid paint.
That’s what passes for “art” these days.
@RichardBrooklyn lol
and *only* an art gallery because the noise from this thing would drive you mad if you spent hours next to it 😅
Awesome! Going to start printing this now. Blocked off a few months to work on this and a couple hundred $$$ for screws. See you all in 2026!
We'll be waiting !!!
What time will it be ready?
I know it's common for 3D printing enthusiasts to lose their marbles, but Ivan takes it to a whole new level
According to some math I did in a spreadsheet the average clock display contains 32 white marbles and 43 black marbles, so if your clock has 1:1 black to white marbles that's going to make the random selection take longer. you should have a ratio of 3:4 white to black marbles in the system total to optimize the draw time further.
A pre-filtering step would also be good.
Each of the 5 rows has a different ratio.
In the marble drop area at the bottom, add a step that separates marbles into black and white sections, then feed them into each of the 5 tracks in the correct ratio.
@anon746912 You saved me typing time. I was going to suggest separating the colors first, then only load into the chain the correct colors for that vertical section.
If you keep a 1:1 ratio but alternate display color every minute (white on black, then black on white), then the marbles in the pool will always be more plentiful in the color you need
@elektriktoad2 Oooh that is really clever
There is a small chance that there will never be tails.
This clock is made from screws held together by a bit of plastic.
It's also really awesome!
True. I wonder what the screw count it.
@mumblety It's hovering somewhere between YES and OH GOD WHY
Sponsored by crazy Ivan's premium screw supply!
He could start measuring his projects in watt hours of cordless screwdriver charge. The numbers for grams of filament, hours of print time and number of screws are just too big :D
To be fair, it *is* a solid looking build - but yeah, it looks like it's *way* more than 50% screws by weight 🙂
What a marbel of engineering!!
marbelous joke also ....................
That does it. I'm spending the money to install a pun filter on my web browser.
Those cable clips sliding onto grooves in the other parts is GENIUS.
There's something so saticfying watching screws being screwed in at a sped up pace
- How many screws do you need?
- Yes
Now there should be a live stream of the clock running 24 / 7 .
how to be a millionaire in 2 steps: 1. sell these screws. 2. thats it.
I was so happy that you built that clock so I didn't have to.
Now I have to.
Exactly this
The random feed combines with the required mix (mostly dark) to result in having to spend a lot of extra time kicking dark marbles off the conveyor to get the light ones into the right position. Consider having a mix of 50% dark and 50% light marbles, and changing the display every other minute from light on dark to dark on light. It won't completely solve the problem (ie, optimize for minimum average number of conveyor links needed per time display) but it should be quite a bit closer to optimal than the current design. Plus it would add another level of interesting to the display, switching back and forth.
Actually, that would work better than making the display 50/50 black and white. Let's say there are 50/50 marbles in the machine, and the current minute displayed is mostly black. This leaves mostly white marbles in the reserve. If it flip-flopped colors as it went, then the next minute would be mostly white, which is perfect. By flipping contrast every minute, the minute being built would always have more available of the color it is working with!
Brilliant idea
For each column or row of each digit there's a set pattern of black and white marbles that cycles every 10 digits. There's no need to mix and sort the marbles.
@putrid.p Then you just have to find somewhere to line up almost a thousand marbles in the right order...
@putrid.p he uses that property in his seconds version of the clock.
Reminds me of that scene in Iron Man where Stane is telling the scientist "There is the technology...I've simply asked you to make it smaller"
smart man once said
if you have screws loose
you will lose all your marbles
0:34 When I saw the red guy in the corner I thought I was watching a SUPERHOT video.
Time only moves when you move!🗿
SUPER HOT
SUPER HOT
Haven't thought about that game in ages. So good
That is a very well designed clock! The small things like how the cable sheath clips slide onto the main body, the double coloured prints, everything is just engineered beautifully! From one engineer/maker to another, I can tell you've spent wayyy too long dealing with headaches building this machine 😂 And I love the video and your editing too, keep it up!!
19:20 haha youre hillarious :P
Fantastico! Now I need to save money for all the screws I'm gonna need for this.
damn this thing is so screwed
Seeing everything getting hidden so neatly inside the elevator column is incredibly satisfying.
how TINY can I make this if I have a small precise resin printer and ball bearings...
Loved the fingers crossed shot 😅
I would buy this watch if it was purchasable
It takes a genius to lose his marbles in such a creative way proving the James Bond movie quote: "The difference between genius and insanity is measured only by success." Very interesting project, I salute your mad 3D printing skills.
This time-lapse-drilling is awkwardly-satisfying.
17:53 It would be cool if the steps were timed one per second - so that the marble solenoid was like the ticking of the clock
I think there would be a way to create full displays with that if you used various other commenters' ideas about separating the black and white marbles into two collection areas
Ok, it happened. This video proves it. He’s officially lost all marbles!
You're not a good salesman but God damn are you an amazing engineer! It boggles my mind how much time this must have taken to get it this far! Fantastic work. It's exactly in my wheelhouse of fun, playful and ridiculously complex. If I had a warehouse work space, I would LOVE to have one of these clacking away setting the pace for an orchestra of creativity
"It's a trap." Best sales pitch ever!
Ivan Miracles!!! You make it look so easy... But it is a huge achievement!!! Big respect for your design skills!! And build skills.. and.. skills!!
If anything, this video shows that you have mastered the art of designing and printing 3D parts out of various color plastic.
0:31 😂😂 I love this type of editing lmao. I like your sense of humor
He's hilarious, this is my first video by him and I'm hooked.
I don't know about losing my marbles, but I loss my senses how cool this is
😂 love this. I’m 1:30 into the video and had to stop to comment! You made me smile and laugh today. Thanks! 😊
Cable Management, the most important part of technology.
OMG! You built it! I’ve been following your journey since you started and YOU DID IT! I’m so proud of you! I’m so excited and happy for you!
Can you make a kit of all the hardware and the code we need to make it?
Love this series
Saludos desde MÉXICO 🇲🇽 , me imagino que es un ingeniero mecatrónico
Astounding build, sir! Absolutely mind-blowing. Your patience is amazing! Great work.
I haven't had this much fun watching screwing in high-speed since that National Geographic documentary on sloths.
The English term for saying a phrase so much that it seems to lose meaning is "semantic satiation"! Hope you still have enough marbles to keep building!
The cut to lose your will got me good I just had to hit like
have 2 buckets at the top of the elevator. Instead of an ejector to sent back the marble down, you have it eject white marbles in the first bucket, the white bucket. The blacks that remain go in the second bucket atop the white one. Each bucket can now be your 2 color cartridge for your dot-marble printer, and you always have marble-ink for printing the time just in time...
Yeah I think building a marble color separator is the best design idea. Especially when it comes to counting the seconds. Having to randomly sort the marbles for every minute is extremely inefficient and could theoretically lead to an entire row never getting finished if, for example, the row needed a white marble but just happened to only get black in that channel for an entire minute. With the seconds display there isn't the luxury of waiting a minute for changes.
My thought is basically the same but have the buckets at the bottom and have a lift pull from the buckets to the top.
Buckets in the back, lifted up and into the display, drops down into the sorter that returns them to the buckets.
The bucket up top makes for faster printing. You can possibly only need a single column elevator as well, that way you get a constant stream of marble going back up.
all clear, guy lives next to a screw factory
Thanks Ivan. Just fantastic!
We shouldn't forget the amount of beautiful video editing that went into this. Love it.
With only one more gate, you can probably have the belt never need to stop. It would be a negative gate and only need to be closed when marbles are going from the holding area to the display area. The belt would only need to stop if too many marbles are behind this third gate.
Nice build overall!
If the system can fill a time reading (and allow for the time changing) in less than a minute, then the belt can stop. Getting ahead of the time doesn't help. Although if you really wanted to keep the belt running, you could of course just keep rejecting all the marbles until you need to start building a new time reading.
One of the best things I have ever seen, simply wonderful design and execution ❤
The polish of this design is incredible and your wiring was delightful. Great job
The name for this clock should be "the loudest clock in the world"
Tips to massively improve the design: Feed each digit from the top not the side so you don't have to update all digits per minute. Keep the white and black marbles in separate containment by discerning them on return from use not at the base of the conveyor elevator. The two different containment areas can be stacked so they can load the same conveyor in the right places. Load black first and insert the white on the second level. Cheers.
Genius, imo
defeats the whole purpose
@Crushonius What purpose would that be that apparently eludes me?
@robertholtz the purpose of the whole design is that ALL the marbles are updated at once every minute , so that you have this beautiful animation of the random looking marble mess that suddenly alligns perfectly to show you the time .
Its quite poetic in a way but i guess that is apparently to much to grasp for some people . Maybe that helps you see the beauty of this design
but it updating from top would would increase amount of electronics by more than x3. in this case instead of controlling 5 channels you'd need to control 17 channels (vertical vs horizontal).
and the size of the conveyor... :D
which defeats the idea of making it smaller.
he is already doing pre-sorting on his bigger version that shows seconds and to make it faster he's updating whole matrix at the same time instead of by row/column
NOW THAT'S AN INTRO!!!
You and Wintergatan are both insane. But I am still here watching it all. You can't trick me into building this stuff though, lol.
They share that trait for sure, though only Ivan seems to be a finisher.
@makers_lab Ivan puts less artificial restrictions on himself (like refusing to speed control the marble machine with a motor) and does not have to transport the thing.
now we need a live broadcast so we can all use it as our clock
How many screws does it use?
Lots of. @1:45
why is the screws being sped up so funny?
the thing i like about you the most is, not only are you modest and deliver what you say you will, you also don't beg for money thinking you're the new leonardo da vinci who should be patronised so they can live a lavish, lazy lifestyle off the back of other peoples hard work ...unlike some other marble guy on youtube. the one who looks like nigel farages' less attrative older brother. you know who i mean 😶
you though sir, are a gentleman and a scholar! 😊
He doesn't have to beg when the print files are $25
1:30 I saw that...
You really need the marbles to go straight down so you can update each digit independently.
That's what I was just thinking. It would require more channels to do it by column like that, but you would cut out tons of work sorting and staging marbles for unchanged digits repeatedly.
in the 20 minutes it took for me to recreate this work, I learned everything about everything and sold more paper
Sometimes RUclips recommends a video that blows my mind, this is one of them. You are insanely genius, and I love this clock. I would not attempt to build one, but I would buy one.
Such a fine line between genius and insanity .
I think that if you built a glass walled vacuum chamber, put the machine in it, and set an integrated vacuum pump to always pump the air out of the chamber, it would still make less noise than the machine does in open air.
Wouldn't the vacuum pump make enough noise on it's own?
Nachdem die unsichtbaren Murmeln aussortiert waren, klappt es wunderbar.
the disclaimer at the end was amazing. worth the price of admission
This is absolutely marbelous ❤
This looks like something out of Martin's head, from Wintergatan hahah it's awesome!
The only difference is: this actually works
@br52685 And it's finished
Here's me waiting for a ping-pong ball sized version...
Thanks for the 2x speed disclaimer at the end. It drove me marbles.
Clock so nice that he had to design it twice
Das ist die perfekte Uhr für das Schlafzimmer
Nowhere in this Universe is *mini giant* a thing. You'll have to cross over to another realm.
"...giving you the impression that this is an easy build... It's a trap!" 🤣🤣🤣🤣
Going to be finding marbles in his shop for ages
A well documented video series on an engineers decent into marble madness
This liiks like one complicated jigsaw puzzle that I will never even gonna dream of making
You can also speed it up with removing a few columns of black when there is a "1" displayed
It must have taken forever to edit this. I feel the pain of the screw edits
I think I prefer the gentle “tick-tock” of my long case clock in the hall.
Who else watched the marble disclaimer at 1/4 speed? Lol
I’m losing my marbles over here this is awesome
Babe wake up, the crazy Spanish marble man posted an update
If there was an intelligence battle between you and Einstein, you would easily win it.
Very impressive!!!
Channels like yours make RUclips GREAT! Thank you!! Subscribed.
I want to see you use balls that are super tiny, like 5MM or smaller! This is awesome
I need a 24 Hour video of this clock running
The screw to marble ratio of this design is quite unique
It’s the most DIY genius project I never seen !!! 🎉
Encouraging everyone to play with their marbles 10/10
I feel like yalls dirt roads there are better than our paved roads here in the US!