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Marble Racer

ONE STEP AT A TIME - A PROJECT OF FIRSTS

Marbles "walk" up this 3D printed project powered by a DC motor, only to enjoy a short ride down through sloped thoughs back to where they started.

3D Print

My first design and 3D printing experience

Sweep Geometry

My first experience generating meaningful geometry using a swept/lofted profile

Constraint-Driven Geometry

My first experience using skeleton-based constraints driving geometry (motor stand)

Electrical Spec

My first real-world specification of motor and power supply for a given application

Designed and simulated in Pro/Engineer Wildfire, the Marble Racer children’s toy was created by my team (of four) as part of Purdue’s ME 444 Computer-aided Design And Prototyping class. After CAD and mechanism simulation the toy parts were 3D printed in SLA, painted, and painstakingly glued together. The only project from our class to be demonstrated successfully, and the only one featuring electrical motion, the Marble Racer actually drew applause from our peer teams. The project featured a completely custom pin and slot lift mechanism (reliable, if slightly over complicated) designed by my teammates.

Marble Racer was very roughly based on the Penguin Race toy (featuring penguins instead of marbles, the latter being infinitely harder) and completed for Dr. Anderson’s ME 444 class in Spring 2013. The final project has since been displayed prominently in a glass case just inside the door to the Mechanical Engineering Building and even used as a demonstration for later classes.