In this video I will be building a marble machine that makes
PIXEL ART MOSAICS! We’re even gonna see if it
runs long enough to set a NEW WORLD RECORD!
I like to invent marble machines from GraviTrax, with
surprising mechanisms like bearings and spinners.
I call it MARBLE RUN TECH So when I heard that GraviTrax released
its new POWER series, I got really excited. A track using these battery-powered elements
could run a long time. And this gave me an idea.
What if we built the world’s longest-lasting GraviTrax track ever...
WITHOUT POWER ELEMENTS? Now, I’ve built some
amazing marble machines in the past, like this marble computer that adds to 1 million,
and this Grandfather Clock sculpture playing Westminster chimes!
So how hard could it be to build the world’s longest
GraviTrax marble run... ...that makes mosaic art?
Actually, this is a MONUMENTAL challenge! If we want to beat the current record,
it has to last 25 MINUTES! I recently attempted a 21
minute track, and FAILED! But that's not all.
I want it to create PIXEL ART MOSAICS while it runs.
A mosaic-making marble run has never been done before!
This is twice the challenge! And I have a challenge for you.
Can you find the Masked Marble hero and bandito hidden somewhere in this video?
Before we start, let’s make a quick run to Target and pick up a GraviTrax POWER set.
There are so many toys, I don’t know where to look.
Here it is! It’s so shiny! This Launch starter set comes
with over 120 pieces including a 7-marble launcher
and a trigger sensor! If we can make a long
lasting track with these POWER elements, we can hopefully build a much longer track without them!
I’m gonna place the trigger at the end of the track.
When a marble rolls through, it signals the launcher to release another marble,
repeating the entire track! Wow, this track lasts 7 times as long!
And this little mosaic butterfly is so cute! Our mosaic needs more marbles,
and this track only lasts 17 seconds. This isn’t even a contender for longest track!
Then it hit me. What if we could make the launcher...
hold more marbles? This was harder than it looks.
We need something to keep these marbles in line! I finally managed to tame the marbles...
...with a spiral... ...and a flex tube.
This is looking pretty good! Now we have 50 marbles ready to launch.
It's time to test it. I’ll speed it up for you.
Those are the fastest marbles I’ve ever seen!
Wow! It lasted almost 2 minutes!
And look, it made a cute little frog mosaic! With more marbles, we should be able
to build our record-breaking track! But it will be a next-level challenge to build it
without Power elements! I found this faux book box
to hold our marble mosaics! It’s gonna take 128 MARBLES to fill it up
That’s about 2 ½ pounds! Our track is gonna need a LOT of marble storage!
The only problem is their weight is pushing them off the track!
Then I had an idea. The tunnel expansion has THESE tracks.
What if we capture marbles inside? The tunnel pieces help,
but these spirals are leaning from the weight! And marbles are still getting pushed off!
We’ll need to find a new strategy so we don’t lose our marbles!
Instead of slanting each tile, I’m going to use angled platforms.
Each platform holds 34 marbles, so we need to build 4 of them!
But there’s a catch. It’s almost impossible to
align platforms tilted in different directions. I’m stacking platforms on top of one another,
using angled tiles to keep the pillars from leaning.
Then I’m connecting plates with vertical u-turns.
They just fit! Let’s build a marble launcher
to release marbles one at a time into our mosaic box!
A lot of GraviTax builders use a trick where a marble knocks down a rail,
releasing another marble above. The only problem is,
we'd have to reset the rail each time. We need a self-resetting marble launcher.
Just like our Power track, we want each marble to trigger the next!
I don’t know how to do this. I need wisdom and inspiration.
Heavenly Father, You are the source of our creativity.
I need ideas to make this work. In Jesus’ name I pray.
Then I remembered, I recently reviewed a
3D-printed marble launcher from Etsy. The design is brilliant.
It captures a marble in a detent, then launches it sideways with a pendulum.
I want to make something like THIS out of GraviTrax.
It’s time to invent some new MARBLE RUN TECH!
We need our marbles lined up in one direction, and a mechanism that launches them sideways,
one at a time. Well that didn’t work!
Hopefully it will work the other way. That’s better, but if we can’t get
the marbles lined up perfectly, we’re gonna have a serious problem
If we want to create a self-resetting marble launcher,
we're gonna need to think outside the box.
Time for an inspiration break! MOVA Globes are really cool.
They have a hidden solar-powered motor inside, which spins the globe without external wires,
batteries, or magnets. Place them in any well-lit
location, and they keep rotating. I find mine beautiful and motivating.
Learn more about MOVA Globes using the link in the description.
And use discount code MARBLE to get 10% off the larger 6” and 8.5” globes.
Speaking of rotation, we’re gonna turn a rotating
GraviTrax marble bearing into a marble launcher.
Last year I invented the GraviTrax marble bearing,
and since then it’s been used in dozens of videos around YouTube.
Here’s how to build a GraviTrax marble bearing! Start with a circle track of 6 curve tiles,
then fill the track with 25 marbles. Place 6 more curve tiles upside down on top,
tying them together with a clear plate. Now it rotates!
The plate is upside down, so let’s add one more step to turn this into a platform for building.
We could place a second plate directly on top. It locks in place,
but is slightly off center But for a perfectly centered top plate,
we'll combine balconies with height tiles, and sandwich them between the 2 plates.
It’s time to turn this rotating platform into a marble launcher!
First we’ll slightly tilt our platform so marbles roll off.
On top we’ll place tunnel tiles with the tunnel removed.
We’ll finish it off with a marble feeder built from the top half of a flextube.
This works awesome!
But it's not ready. We still need a trigger. We have to harness the force of one teensy marble.
to rotate the entire marble launcher. I don’t know if this is even possible!
We need leverage! I’m going to make a ring from 6 bridge pieces,
and clip 2 ziplines on opposite sides to make a lever.
On one end, let’s attach a bucket made of 2 more bridge pieces.
Now we’ll hang the lever from a platform. Lastly we’ll add a vortex to
our rotating marble launcher, and run the lever through the middle.
This is perfect. I can’t wait to see if this really works!
The distance from the pivot to the marble bucket is as long as possible,
while the distance to the launching platform is much shorter.
That’s our leverage! Hopefully this multiplies
the force of a marble enough to turn the platform. Last step, we’ll add counterweights to the lever
so it returns to its starting position Here's a tip only the pros know:
This vortex placed in the center keeps the platform from rotating too far!
It’s finally time to test our marble launcher.
I built a 14 second track between marble launch and trigger. When multiplied by our 128 marbles,
that should give us a run time of over 25 minutes! It’s looking good, but will it actually work?
This is the moment of truth.
It launched the next marble!
But the lever didn’t reset.
I’m really starting to doubt that this is even possible.
To make matters worse, we have a second problem. The marble feeder is starting to lean sideways.
We need a new plan. First we need to unload all the marbles.
This is painfully tedious. To make the launcher work reliably,
we need to fine tune the design. We’ll add more counterweight,
but too much and it will be too heavy. This is a careful balancing act.
Every time I change one thing, it affects something else.
I'll spare you three days of your life watching me test and tweak the design.
During breaks, I finished designing the mosaic art using this free website
We're using the hexagonal grid because that’s the natural stacking pattern
of marbles. Did you know circles and
hexagons are related? Try this at home:
Fit 7 pennies together. They form a hexagon!
Finally we need to solve the marble feeder issue! The sideways force is just too much,
so let’s glue the feeder in place. But now it can’t move up to let the marbles out.
Let’s tape on the chute from a GraviTrax lifter. That should work!
Now the marble launcher is fixed, let’s build a custom ramp to direct
marbles into the mosaic tray! We want our marble machine to
automatically build the mosaic as much as possible.
Let’s slightly tilt the tray so marbles roll into place!
But we still need precise marble placement for the final row.
Let’s add another marble bearing for our ramp. And this custom-cut baseplate will bridge the gap.
I think our design is complete. I'm feeling pretty good.
But if the marble launcher keeps jamming, this will have all been for nothing.
I really hope this works. We don't have a Plan B.
This entire marble run fits on a coffee table. But how long can it run?
This has been an enormous effort. We’ve spent so many hours. I just hope this works.
We got 10 minutes in, and the marble launcher
stopped again. We’re so close.
OK, I’m making some final adjustments to the pendulum arm and the track.
Let’s try one more time! It’s running, but I’m still nervous.
I’ll speed things up for you. If this runs until the mosaics are completed,
we’ve achieved our goal.
Hold on. What are all these platforms for?...
Oh, we’re not going to settle for a 25 minute marble run!
We're going for 5 TIMES LONGER!
We’re shooting for 125 minutes! This is absolutely crazy.
That’s over 2 hours! Let’s add 11 more platforms.
Now our marble machine has 15 platforms... ...and storage for over 550 marbles.
That’s 10 pounds of marbles! This is insane! What am I thinking?
We’re also adding this 2nd marble mosaic tray
that is over twice as big. Our marble machine is running.
It’s done with the first mosaic of 128 marbles,
and now we’re continuing on to our much bigger mosaic that holds another 360 marbles.
It’s over 2 hours later and the mosaics look sweet!
A cross, and God is Love. What a great reminder!
Now let’s make some repeating patterns! They look stunning!
How about a maze? Pause the video and use your finger
to trace from beginning to end! Look! It’s DNA!
It’s time for some nature! Here’s a bird!
And of course, we can’t forget the Masked Marble! This was a super fun challenge,
and the marble art looks phenomenal! We just made a pixel art marble machine...
...and set a new WORLD RECORD of over 2 hours for the longest running GraviTrax marble run!
130 minutes! View the entire record-setting
marble run here, or watch the marble art machine build the mosaic of your choice!
Make sure you subscribe, and I’ll see you here for my next big project!