Make a Marble Rollercoaster

Here's a fun way to make a marble roller coaster that tests your skills of construction. (If you do make one of these, how about registering so you can share some photos of it with other readers of wikiHow? Then, just click the "Edit" tab, and look for and click the "picture" icon right above the edit box and located next to the "Web" icon. When the images window opens click "Browse" to upload by browsing to your pictures saved on your computer and clicking to add them!)

Steps

  1. Save up odds and ends that can be used such as empty cardboard tubes from paper towels, toilet paper, food wrap and foil to attach (i.e.: tape) together later to form a tube for a tunnel for the marbles to pass through.
  2. See whether your parents or a neighbor has an old 3/4 inch diameter (19mm) water hose to make tunnels -- but hoses that are 1/2 inch (13mm) or 5/8 inch (16mm) are not large enough.
  3. Use pieces of PVC pipe or tubing for tunnels.
  4. Make troughs (open channels) of cardboard or such to connect tubing at places to be able to see the progress of the marble passing through there.
  5. Try splitting open foam pipe which is malleable and should enable you to make troughs and bend it to make arches, curves, and up and down areas.
  6. Make hills and jumps/drop-offs for the marbles.
  7. Look at how to make a Rube-Goldberg machine for ideas.
  8. Use a plastic bottle(s) to make a funnel(s) to receive the jumping, running or falling marble and guide it into the next tunnel (or alternative course). Possibly you can put 2 or 3 bottles together so each one goes to a different/alternative tunnel.
  9. Experiment with pieces of plastic pipe, and plastic pipe elbows or such pieces to make joints and turns between the tubing.
  10. Plan how to create a long enough Make a Tunnel Playground for Your Gerbils, and temporarily attach it to something high, such as the back of a chair or couch, a mantelpiece, or other furniture that appears suitable.
  11. Go outdoors, if you have a suitable area and attach this to a tree or fence. Or, make a semi-permanent structure from wood or cardboard to serve as the "base" for your rollercoaster.
  12. Use tape, string, sisal, raffia, etc. as means of attaching.
    • Be sure to not damage any furniture using the attaching item.
      • Glue should not be used unless the item is to be a permanent structure just for your marble rollercoaster.
  13. Test roll some marbles. See how they roll. You will need to make adjustments where the marbles do not roll effectively. Keep fiddling with it until the tunnel and trough (channel) system works; this is a good creative exercise to test out your engineering skills.



Tips

  • Have a good storage area for the tunnel structure so that it doesn't get squashed or damaged when not in use.
  • If your roller coaster does not work at first, keep on trying by changing angles, shapes, twists etc. until everything works well.
  • Add loops jumps or anything else to make your roller coaster more exciting to observe. Build on it over time.
  • Make sure your marble rollercoaster is durable so it doesn't keep breaking.

Things You'll Need

  • Marbles
  • Toilet paper tubes
  • 3/4 in water hose (optional)
  • PVC pipe and elbows (optional)
  • Foam piping pieces (optional)

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