BUILDING A MARBLE CLOCK - Pt.1.
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 21 ส.ค. 2024
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I've always wanted to build a marble clock and now I realise what a huge mistake I made. I had to 3D print huge parts several times and dedicate lots of hours to sanding, filing and getting the parts just right so the marbles don't get stuck. For now I got the marble circuit running with the marble paths, the marble lift that raises the marbles to the top of the circuit and the marbles get in and out of the lift without issue so I think I'm ready for the marble selector. This is the first half of the build and I already think this project is going to be on the "too much" side but I won't be defeated so stay tuned for part 2 because I'm going to make this build epic.
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After watching Martin trying to build the MMX for several years, I wonder what world of pain we're about to see unfold here.
Feature creep + undefined goals are a hell of a drug
Man it seemed so close and easy when meeting him with the first 3D printed MMX prototype parts in May 2017 at the Speelklok Museum
Unfortunately Martin can't stop feature creep from getting into the project
Difference being that Ivan has more of an engineering mindset, that likely helps. I also don't see him find inspiration, direction-wise, in questionable books. :)
3 years later "so I've re designed based on specific principles that will not change, no more elevator just a basic easy run so I can know the time"
Wintergatan engineering nightmare moment
Exactly where my mind went!
The Infamous Floor Marbles 😂
I don't think this guy is going to throw people's good money away chasing a dream beyond his capabilities.
Looking forward to see how this turns out! Also loving the black filament 😄
Thanks guys!
@@ivanmirandawastaken Eres de España verdad, se nota un poco, pero, el vídeo está muy guapo.
I love this idea, but I can't help but thinking that breaking it down into individual digits that change vertically downward would make it slightly easier. Have a nozzle of marbles that deposits the right amount of each color into a buffer, release the lower number from the 'display', release the upper number down to that in the 'display,' repeat. Still a herculean effort but you have more time to prepare the display, and more help from gravity in advancing it
I have exactly that idea of marble clock for years now. Even I was thinking to patent. Bit sad that he has built almost built it in public
You don't even need a buffer that sorts marbles. If the modules are vertical, you can just leave the marbles preset for all 10 digits and have a way to store them in that order. No sorting or complex robotics required
He’s trying to make it work the simplest way possible, its meant to be a challenge.
That was my thought too, it seems like it would be simpler to only change 1 number but will be interesting to see finished project
And since the digits are made of pixels, you don't even have to use the seven segment display style. You could use more natural-looking numerals.
14:44 Did anyone else notice the Subscribe button glow and light up when he told us to subscribe? I have never seen that before, but this project and that magic he pulled has earned my subscription. Would love to see you finish this awesome project!
It's not just you. My shit glew like a rainbow. My (his) subscribe button.
Do you have youtube premium? It might be a new feature 😂 I have premium and I see strange new stuff sometimes too. (like being able to post shorts instead of comments... Which I only see on certain videos)
@@chapterblaq Holy moly I didn't think about that. I did recently get youtube premium. Pretty nice. They do be adding lots of little changes I've noticed as well. Like the borders of videos being rounded and what not. Very cool and thank you kind person on the internet for letting me know it wasn't just me. I am not going crazy.. yet. Only a matter of time y'all, never forget.
@@chapterblaqI don’t have premium and I’ve been seeing that for a little while now
@@chapterblaq If the creator says "subscribe" or "like and subscribe" It likes up rainbow.
😢😢@@chapterblaq
Es de las pocas veces que veo a alguien español atreviéndose a hablar en inglés en TH-cam y me alegra, parece que nos da vergüenza o algo, ojalá más gente como tú. ¡Brutal el proyecto!
And another TH-camr loses his marbles embarking on a years long mission to tame the mighty marble :)
Wintergatan Vietnam flashbacks
There's only one TH-camr that has succeeded in their quest. Jelle of Jelle's Marble Runs.
As someone who tried to design a contraption to sort black and white marbles at secondary school, over 50 years ago, and never got anywhere close to a working solution - I'm very much looking forward to the next episode. Your ingenuity and skills are inspirational - please continue making things and sharing the highs and lows.
It probably wasn't easy 50 years ago. Now, I think that an ordinary LED, a photoresistor and a microcontroller may be enough, but I'm curious how it will be solved :)
I'm sensing either a camera based system or photo-sensor to detect black from white and eject the 'incorrect' marbles as they ascend the lifter. OFC that would need some pretty extensive programing to know what marble needs to be where in the 'display' raceway.
I've seen videos of industrial sorting machines doing this with air nozzles to kick out - for instance - bad product from ripe product in sorting lines at hundreds of frames per second, ejecting 'dross' so fast it takes a high speed camera to detect it.
@@Bazarack im curious how you would go about using those components to separate black from white?
@@justinc2633have the marble roll through a shroud where a led shines on it and a photoresistor catches the light reflected off the marble.
Hook up the photoresistor as a voltage divider (needs another resistor, but that is usually built-in to the microcontroller) to an ADC capable microcontroller to sense the changes in resistance/voltage/light.
Measure the amount of light reflected for marbles of both colors to determine a good cutoff value.
Program the microcontroller such that when the light reflected is above the cutoff value, the marble is sorted as white, otherwise the marble is sorted as black.
If something about my explanation is unclear, please let me know in a reply so I can amend or supplement it.
instead of the resistor, use a photodiode because it's faster. shine the led onto the marble and with the photodiode you can measure the amount of light the marble reflects. If it reflects a lot of light, it's white and if it reflects not much light it's black. With this info you can trigger a "pusher" of some sort to put the marble which is currently passing through the sensor into different containers. @@justinc2633
Seems like an oversight to not have made the marbles drop vertically so you could have only flushed the minutes, 10 minute and hour marbles as necessary rather than resetting the WHOLE display every time.
I think TH-camrs are under a lot of pressure in regards to time when it comes to doing projects and uploading videos. Maybe that's why.
Honestly I think he's using the rule of cool here. Something about seeing all the rows move instead of just specific ones scratches a certain itch in the brain
It is one of endless possibilities, I could have made the marbles be individually swapped too but I had to stop somewhere.
At that point just use a ticker tape then. Doesn’t really feel like marbles.
@@ivanmirandawastaken I'll reserve my judgement for when I figure out how you're going to determine which color goes where and whether you can do it within 60 seconds! 😁
But… can it play music?
Wintergaten issues.
"Tight " music
This is an awesome project. A brush at the bottom of the ramp, hanging from the marble catcher should absorb all the excess energy and reduce your marble loss significantly, if you're still losing your marbles.
Was really curious on how you were going to reorganize the colors on a fixed track.
Right now it's a cool marble raceway! I can't wait to see how you separate the black from the white and arrange them to be in the correct order.
Maybe if he replaces one color with metal marbles he could attract them with a magnet or something... Great video!
That will be quite the challenge, indeed. Only manner I could see that working is having gates or pins to limit what color will enter each hole at what time. Using metal and magnets would be far too heavy.
Or, like the ejector assembly at the top, have one just above the input to 'eject' the wrong colors back down into the loading platter.
Eject the bad ones while climbing seem to be the simpler to implement. Color reader sensor, solenoid and the pins to eject 🎉 add a capture track to merge them back at the bottom and that is it. 😅
@@alfvicenteMartin has shown that messing with metal and magnet is a bad idea😢 balls will then tend to get magnetized all along and get stuck then in the paths.... Pls a marble machine should be made of marble marbles ey 🥳
@@testman9541yeah this is the way it's gonna be done. Marbles are quite shiny though so calibrating the sensors could prove to be a bit tricky. Black and white is just a difference in sensitivity, but shiny black marbles detected at the highest point in the marble will reflect as much light as white marbles at the edges.
Moving the sensor a bit further away to average out each marble is probably the way to go. And only rejecting white marbles will make things easier. One sensor rejects white marbles and another counts black marbles is probably the most stable way of doing it. Means 2 simple on/off sensor configs rather than 1 sensor trying to differentiate between the black background, black marbles, and white marbles all at the same time. Bit cheaper doing it with 1, but going to be a lot harder to dial each lane in.
My favorite TH-cam genre is Marble Contraptions. Let me tell you how refreshing it is to see a project with reasonable goals rather than be subject to endless feature creep and perfection paralysis! Good idea, good work, and good machine!
you don't know who you're watching, do you? :D
Do you watch martin from wintergaten
i've seen a couple vidoes, it's on my list to catch up with. I understood your reference to him. Simply meant Ivan does it too. probably to a lesser degree, though. meant in jest.
@@user-wo7rl4nm7w
Love the project you got this! Marbles are like water, finding their own way… Strongest back on all of youtube 😂
👨🍳👌
As someone that's watchinh since the begining of Wintergatan X... This dude is on for a LOOOONG ride (also getting on the same pitfalls as you is kinda painfull)
Oh Gosh, I feel like a 12 years old watching this, what a nostalgic feeling. MORE CONTENT PLEASE... Thank you for the marble idea!
"It's only a small marble clock. How hard can it be?"
*Wintergatan screaming from a distance*
Can't wait to see how you separate the marbles by color. I think a clock that updates every 5-10 minutes would be impressive let alone every minute. I wonder if using steel balls and electro magnets might be the play instead of white marbles. BUT IDK I am not an engineer and can't wait to see this finished.
I think ball bearings for white, and the glass marbles for black then you can select with magnets
Or maybe a camera looking at the marble lift that can reject marbles directly to the basin (or add another track that isn't stopped by the big gate).
Color sensor
I think having two different weights or two different diameters would be the easiest. otherwise you need a camera and a computer circuit.
Yup this @@FoxDog1080. Cheap and easy to interface with a microcontroller like an Arduino. Then a servo directing the marble to one of two chutes from which the clock can select marbles to go into the top of the machine. At least, that's the theory I'd follow.
I thought he had been too quiet…. 😂
Edit: STRONGEST BACK IN TH-cam!!
I’m a 65 year old woman with zero skills that require more than a hammer or screwdriver. But I was fascinated by your tenacity. Can’t wait for Pt 2. Can’t even imagine how you’re going to make this work. But I have faith that it will happen. Got a new subscriber here. Build on. 😊
I appreciate your dedication to sanding and making custom sanding tools. Great work!
I knew you would 😉 thanks!!
Winter gartan had lots of headaches with marbles and has a lot of great solutions. You should have some vertical tubes that the marbles run over, and an adruiono that selects if the tube should open and let the marble drop, based on the color needed.
Amazing project Ivan! 🤘😎🤘
can't wait to see the future updates!
Thermochromic paint them all. Pre-chamber with a grid of heaters that warm up the time ones. No sorting required, just some thought about control circuits. They’ll have cooled back down by the time they’ve climbed the lift. Possibly run them through a water bath on the way back. Might allow for 1min updates. Actually closer to an LCD than having different colour marbles.
Watching those marbles fall down only to get scooped up and dropped again, one must imagine Sisyphus happy.
If you adjust the channels vertically, you can easily track and measure changes in individual time increments. You can account for the units of seconds, then the decades of seconds, then the hours, and finally, the decades of hours :)
"Hourglass style clock doesn't work with marbles, how do we tell the time?" Ivan: "Hold my beer."
You kmow I'm not easily disuaded 😅
I have two suggestions for you: 1_ use metallic marbles ( it's They are all the same size and very smooth and do not create such a rough surface like glass marbles, then just paint it in white and black)
2_ Use Dry lubricants like graphite and molybdenum disulfide on the threads or paths , it will make your marbles traffic very smooth.
If you heat up the bearings to red hot, they turn blue and stay that way.
Design concepts that use 3D printing for something that would be super, super hard to fabricate by other means are the _best_ concepts. Fantastic stuff!
Awesome project! To stop the marbles jumping out of the bottom tray, how about narrowing the exit from the "covered" section. I.e. if the exit gate is only 1.2-1.5 marbles high then they won't jump out as easily.
Now for the elephant in the room, how are you planning to sort the marbles before building up the time display? Might I suggest switching to steel and ceramic ball bearings? This would give you 3 easy ways to sort the marbles and the marbles would all be a uniform size. (weight, magnetism, and conductivity)
I think he is going to reject unwanted colour marbles from the elevator by using maybe a set of simple infrared detectors and popping them off the elevator ,back down to the collection area as they rise.
@@JohnWatkinsUK that's a great idea. Didn't think of it initially as it's not very efficient. But it's lots simpler and should get the job done as long as he can cycle enough marbles past the selectors.
@@JohnWatkinsUK Infrared/color detectors often have issues with shiny materials though, and his current marbles are made of glass.
Steel bearings and magnets would be far too heavy for that frame.
I suspect he'll go with what @JohnWatkinsUK said, using low-res sensors rather than infrared - detecting only black and white. That'll cut down on the glossy-error issues.
@@JohnWatkinsUK would an infrared sensor be consistent enough? and hows he going to eject them? i thought maybe replacing the little fingers that poke them out of the elevator with individually controlled ones using servos, eject white, let the black fall into their own track, and to load them back up each row would need access to both colours, thats a whole other thing though
I love how you make design insanity a new normal!
Good luck! Really looking forward to watching "BUILDING A MARBLE CLOCK - Pt.196: MAYBE WE CAN INCLUDE SECONDS AFTER ALL?? (DESIGN EXPLODES AGAIN)" in a few years! :P
Your joy and enthusiasm is contagious
Great project idea but you're going to run into a problem with the marble bias at the end, most of the marbles want to end up in the far right corner, which affects which gate they come out of on top. Additionally you need a sorting mechanism between black and white marbles, or else your clocks activity will be entirely dependent upon your total supply of black and white marbles. Not only the sorting mechanism but a stacking mechanism that picks and chooses where black and white marbles go into each channel to display the numbers you want to see. Of course all of this would have to occur within 60 second intervals so that you have hour and minute time scale. Although not an immediate problem, the mechanism for popping the marbles out of the lifter is rubbing on the backside of the lift belt, short term this is fine but long term either the popper will rub down and no longer be effective, break, or even wear grooves into the backside of the belt which may affect operation. It's a super cool clock idea but a bit of a mechanical nightmare to employ. Ironically I'd argue that you don't have to worry too much about your tolerances for the marble gates and paths and the marbles themselves, you spent a colossal amount of time making it all so precise when you could've designed around the marble size being inconsistent, in the belt the size matters more but a design change could mitigate that too, just a thought as far as overloading yourself with work goes.
But... ITS NOT RED!!
Niesamowita konstrukcja. Lubię oglądać konstrukcje domowej roboty
Let the marbles hit the floor, let the marbles hit the floor, LET THE MARBLES HIT THE FLOOOOOOR. Sorry, I'm better now. This looks super fun! Can't wait to see how you sort white from black to get the numbers to display properly. Thanks for sharing!
Impresionante! Podrías girar 90 grados las pistas para descartar solo las bolas de los minutos con cada cambio de minuto. Esperando el siguiente!
Iḿ very much wondering how you wil lget the marbles in the right order to display the next time, mybe just bypassing unfitting marbles in each row when they come towards the display section. could be done with a simple light sensor (like the line follower bots) and an arduino that keeps track of which marble is needed....sounds like a nightmare to code...
It is a nightmare to code but not near as hard as to make all the rest work properly 😅
Just the shots needed for the video and the stitching and editing I imagine took weeks. The design and thought going into the machine itself? I can't imagine. Can't wait for the next parts.
So glad the youtube algo sent this video my way. Now to go back and binge watch everything.
This looks super cool! Thank´s for your amazing content 💜
Ivan, me fascina como consigues todo esto. La expansion de tu canal es 100% merecida. Suerte en el futuro!
Suggestion: Put the marbles in a tumbler for 2 hours. This will smoothen the surfaces even more.
Nice project!
this is probably the most realistic diy video ive ever seen, the guy listens to music while he is working, you just dont see that anywhere else
Ivan you've built and incredible machine. The springy combs to eject the marbles is brilliant but whats better is that clunk, clunk sound it makes. That adds a new dimension to a mechanical clock. Your dedication and engineering is top class. Thanks for showing us and I cant wait to see the progression.
Yes, it would be extra cool if it moved every second or half second
There is a rule that you should follow my good man. At least 10 times per each video you should say "Add some Spacers!!!!". You have been slacking on this lately. I cannot wait to see how this progresses! It would be fun to see you and Wintergatan work one something together.
can't wait to see it working.
1 thing that came up in my mind is that if you let the Mable display change vertically, you would be able to change the numbers individually.
Then at the hour change, there would be a lot more noise/action.
however, for the show/action, horizontally is most likely more fun
there's something satisfying about watching Ivan Miranda build.
If you thought the •tick•tick•tick• of a normal clock was annoying... Seriously, this is such an inspired alternative to the traditional marble clock. Looking forward to the final finished horologe!
Fukineh! Beautiful work buddy. The "it works" realization is priceless. I literally lol. Hilarious. You are so smart even when some silly thing like that happens. Thanks! Cheers!
The marble selection *should* be easy enough simple black/white detector (either an Ir reflector sensor or maybe an Adafruit APDS9960) Paired with an arduino. Have a solenoid to reject wrong colors in the path on the belt before it gets to the top. Rejected marbles just fall back down to the bottom. should be realtime enough. Once the correct Number of marbles are loaded for the next minute load for the minute after that. Once the count and cadence is correct should be close to real time. Hope this helps cant wait to see what you come up with.
If you get working on some sort of marble machine, you must always remember: Pain is temporary. Glory is forever!
I like just listening to this guy talk. He sounds so positive.
Oh no! We can not lose another great TH-camr to the marbles!
A "Mad Scientist" and his "Laboratory". Love the videos and adore the projects!
El acento español es inconfundible 😂
Maravilloso vídeo! Love the idea
Here's an idea. Use a PV sensor to select white from black and a solenoid to kick one of the colors to a different track. Maybe have two layers for the top section and send all the whites to the back. Then you can selectively add them back in at the gate.
A pv sensor might have trouble with the shiny glass marbles.
@@Yay295 you think? I'd think there would be enough contrast between the white and black. You could use an Arduino to read the voltage VS using it as a dumb switch.
Proof that you should work smarter not harder, martin should take couple notes from this guy
Marble machine X, Ivan Miranda edition. Welcome to the next 10 years of content on this channel, lol. Good luck Ivan.
Another channel in marble hell :) . I believe marbles exist only to make engineers go crazy or depressed. Keep your head up Ivan! And don't let yourself become like Martin.
Bold move for making the display horizontal. I would've thought a vertical display would be easier so you could drop the segments individually instead of all together.
The algorithm has brought me another impossible marble project. Circuits be praised.
Watching smart people being smart is the greatest thing TH-cam could ever offer.
This is insane.
Waiting for the second part of it.
Ivan, you are my favorite crazy maker on TH-cam...and also have the strongest back!
This man must be supported.Thats a big patience.
Thank god there are enough crazy stubborn tenacious people out there knowing how to handle a camera to fill my evenings with entertainment!
Wow, instant like! This is going to be so satisfying when it's complete. I can't wait to follow along :)
Thanks a lot Devin! I learned from the best!!
Thank you TH-cam for suggesting me this channel!
If I've learned anything from watching Wintergatan, it's that marbles are a right pain in the ass to do anything with.
These just keep getting better and better.
Only just stumbled across your channel through a watch group I'm in... this is such a good episode!! Love your approach, humour, and how down-to-earth you are. Brilliant build, very entertaining to watch, and genuinely hilarious. Keep up the awesome work! Much love from down under 🇦🇺
I am forever reminded that there are 3 kinds of engineer -
The kind who will make something in the most straight forward manner.
The kind who will make something with the fewest parts because they know it has to be constructed by someone with basic knowledge.
The kind who will over engineer it not because it is practical to do so, but simply because they can.
Sir, you make me smile, thank you very, very much
It’s WINTERGATAN marble machine all over again 😊. ❤
You seem to have found a real sweet spot! There are hordes of builders doing incredible craftsmanship with welds, machining,… and tons of tech savvy folks doing raspberry Pi etc., you provide an enlightening I’d. thanks
Could also display a QR code with that. Excited to see more.
I guess so, in the end it is just a display right?
looking forward to part 2! the algorithm seems to like your enthusiam!
My man you're an absolute genius, good to see people enjoying doing what they love
The way I see it is that there are two main ways to separate the colors.
Option A: You rebuild the bottom tray to force them to always stay in their correct line(with a ceiling to avoid any marbles jumping to other lines). That lets you keep the marbles in a known order, and a separator drop based on a counting checker for each line would allow for a computer program to pull out the white marbles automatically.
Option B: You switch to using magnetic marbles for white ones and non-magnetic for the black ones, and then use a rotating magnet to pull out all of the white marbles and deposit them in another tray.
Your patience and creativity is legendary….Good luck 🎉
Big MMX vibes here. The sound, good memories.
Ivan, your videos are so impressive that I will actually watch your sponsors commercials. 🤯🤯👍👍
Getting the strongest back on all of TH-cam!
The lenghts some people are ready to go to just not having to read an analog Clock.
Great projekt ;)
Ivan is a mechanical engineer on another level if he can get this clock to work!
This is going to be the loudest clock ever. Can't wait!
In the most fun way possible, I like that your accent is like a test on my brain to how well I know English, it’s kinda like a game every video
His face at the end when his fix didn't do the job... chef's kiss
Original, silencioso y portable, jejeje. Miranda, eres un crack
The strongest back in all of TH-cam! I loved this video!
Hi Ivan,
das ist wohl daß absolut Coolste Projekt was ich bis jetzt als 3D Druck gesehen habe!
oh boy, that pause at 6:03 was really funny, great work!
9:52 - I think it would be a much better long-term approach to bend that track forward on a wheel that will make that track follow the s like patterm and will also push the marbles out consistently, without jitter or parts that will wear out quickly
Good way to make a mini-horse track. lol "Alright, ladies and gentlemen. The marbles all have numbers, pick yours and place your bets!"
You are amazing! I like your sense of humor, great work man!
8:39 Ivan, you should be using your invaluable knowledge and talents at NASA or SpaceX. We would miss your videos immensely but you would be serving mankind in a much better way. Love your channel. 👍👍
So you kind of solved the easy part. Now the more difficult part to sort the marbles by color and the really difficult part to rearrange them perfectly and in time, so that they show the correct time the moment they roll into the display area. Good luck! Little hint, if you have a huge difficult problem: Chop it up and start with the difficult part or you might need to completely redo the easy part of the solution multiple times.
First I thought "why doesn't he just let the marbles roll out of the marble lift on the other side?" But after seeing - and hearing - the marble dismount mechanism in action, I see the reason. I absolutely love how it ticks like a clockwork.
Iván! Qué buen proyecto! Claro que cuesta y ya sabes, el artesano tiene su mayor valor por las herramientas que hace a la medida para erguir sus creaciones! Así que sería super interesante que hagas un video también sobre esas herramientas que lograste hacer 🎉
Increíble trabajo!❤