Simple Marble Machine Captivates The Eyes

Marble machines are the kind of useless mechanisms that everybody loves. Their sole purpose is to route marbles through different paths for your viewing pleasure. They can be extremely complicated contraptions, and sometimes that is the precisely the point. However, even a simple mechanism can be delightful to watch. [Denha] just uploaded his latest creation, using a spring as elevator and a simple zig-zag path.

The construction is relatively simple, a spring with the appropriate pitch for the steel balls size is used as an elevator. The spring is driven by a small electric motor via a couple of gears, and a wooden zig-zag path for the marbles lies next to the spring. The marbles go up with the spring and return in the wooden path in an endless journey.

We believe that a serious hacker should build a marble machine at least once in their life. We have posted several of them, from simple ones to other more complicated designs that require careful craftsmanship. [Denha]’s Youtube channel is full of good ideas to inspire your first project. In any case, watching a marble machine at work is quite a nice, relaxing experience.

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An Eggcelent Eggspriment

After multiple iterations [Keef] has nailed down the fabrication process for an unusual component. Using only a heater water bath, some silicone and easily available reagents, [Keef] demonstrate how he manufactures a gastronomic enigma: the long egg.

The similarities between [Keef’s] process and the typical hacker iteration cycle are eggceptional. He starts out with a goal and iterates, modifying his methods until he gets the perfect long egg. Sound familiar? Cooking can be as much of a science as it is an art.

In his quest, [Keef] utilizes sausage casing, plastic bags, sticky tape, “lots of sweat and almost some tears” to hold eggs for cooking via an Anova Precision Cooker immersion circulator. However, [Keef] notes, the Anova is normally used for sous vide cooking so you might not have one sitting around. In that case, you can use a regular pan on a stovetop along with a digital thermometer, but you’ll have to be quite vigilant to keep the temperature steady.

But wait. Why would one want a long egg in the first place? I’ll leave this explanation to [Keef]. “Well, the main use is in a Gala Pie (a long pork pie baked in a loaf tin and often cut into slices for picnics). Or you could just slice the egg and lay it out on a platter and amaze your friends with how every slice is exactly the same size.”

Go check out [Keef’s] two videos. He has two, one that chronicles the eggciting initial attempts, and another that describes his final method. With [Keef’s] help, the number of long eggs outside of Denmark may substantially increase. But, if you’d rather have some pizza, we won’t be offended.