Epic Wooden Marble Run For Kids’ Room

Some parents buy kinetic sculptures for their kids at art or craft fairs. Not [Steve Moseley], he turned his kids’ hovel into a sculpture by wrapping a marble run around the entire room. It’s big enough, with so many features that finding a banner image was a bit tough. After the break we’ve embedded a video where you’ll see a wagon wheel lifter, plenty of gravity-fed curves, loops, inclines, rockers, a stair-step lifter, and… well you get the idea.

Considering the scope of the project it was remarkably inexpensive; about $70 in wood, $40 for the glass marbles, and around $60 for everything else. We’re glad he shared his building methods with such verbosity. You’ll need a well-stocked shop. Fine work like this requires tools common for woodworkers, but we’d bet the band saw and oscillating spindle sander were a godsend.

[Thanks Ferdinand via Flabber (NSFW)]

30 thoughts on “Epic Wooden Marble Run For Kids’ Room

  1. I think ‘EPIC’ is probably a little much, but I would agree with ‘epic’. Think about who this is meant for.

    This, for a young boy would be just the coolest thing. Our son’s pediatrician has a model train mounted near the ceiling in the waiting room, and only goes around in a loop, but is still pretty neat to watch. This would be great for any little kids. I wouldn’t mind having one in my room, but I imagine my wife would.

  2. Literally, epic refers to a certain type of poem with specific characteristics. Generally, however, Princeton has it right with: # very imposing or impressive; surpassing the ordinary (especially in size or scale); “an epic voyage”; “of heroic proportions”; “heroic sculpture”
    # epic poem: a long narrative poem telling of a hero’s deeds

    Fail is another four letter word, highly applicable to anyone complaining that this isn’t epic enough. This is neato torpedo, 23 skidoo with a shupedebopdebop.

  3. I had a very similar setup, in length, but certainly not beauty… a dozen wrapping paper tubes sliced in half, some extra cardboard, and a few rolls of scotch tape was definitely the most affordable way to build it as a kid. What is it about watching the balls all cycle through that is so mesmerizing? The moment you see a marble complete your course without failing it was a very exciting feeling… always wish I had a way to circulate them back to the top, but just accumulating more marbles to start with was usually sufficient.

  4. Awesome would be a word I would use to describe it. Would have loved this as a kid. Come on peeps if you don’t think it is epic then build one that you think is, instead of winging about it ;D Oops have I just set a challenge?

  5. epic

    –adjective Also, ep·i·cal.
    1.
    noting or pertaining to a long poetic composition, usually centered upon a hero, in which a series of great achievements or events is narrated in elevated style: Homer’s Iliad is an epic poem.
    2.
    resembling or suggesting such poetry: an epic novel on the founding of the country.
    3.
    heroic; majestic; impressively great: the epic events of the war.
    4.
    of unusually great size or extent: a crime wave of epic proportions.
    –noun
    5.
    an epic poem.
    6.
    epic poetry.
    7.
    any composition resembling an epic.
    8.
    something worthy to form the subject of an epic: The defense of the Alamo is an American epic.
    9.
    ( initial capital letter ) Also called Old Ionic. the Greek dialect represented in the Iliad and the Odyssey, apparently Aeolic modified by Ionic.

    noting or pertaining to a long workshop session , usually centered upon a hero(Dad) in which a series of great mouldings or cuts are made in elevated style:

  6. I’m glad to see so many people also getting annoyed at the habitual miss use of words such as epic. These words have a meaning, we shouldn’t let people with small vocabularies redefine them to the point that they loose their meanings.

  7. @EPIC Haha! That’s exactly what I was thinking as soon as someone complained about ‘epic’. I think maddox is hilarious, but the world would be a much darker place if everyone followed his cynicism. Next thing you know someone is going to demand his own marble run because he can spell, draw and do math better than that guy’s kids.

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