Exercise: Marble Fidget Toy

In this exercise we will design a small handheld marble toy. The main objective of this exercise is designing and fabricating a device using 3D printing.

A secondary objective is developing your parametric design skills in 3D CAD. The scope and size of the design idea should be chosen in keeping with your existing CAD skills. If you are a novice to parametric CAD, then please keep your priorities centered on modifying the sample device to suit your creative goals. If you have prior CAD experience, please choose a more ambitious scope.

For a more general discussion of the IDeATe 3D Printing resources please see IDeATe 3D Printing Guide.

Objectives

The overall objective of this exercise is to design and fabricate a small handheld device incorporating one or more steel marbles in motion. Please also include top and bottom input and output ports so it may be assembled on a sloped table with other similar tiles.

The goals of this exercise are that you should be able to:

  1. Conceive and sketch a handheld marble toy.

  2. Design a three-dimensional form compatible with the FDM 3D printing process.

  3. Create a 3D CAD representation in SolidWorks using parametric constraints and dimensions to capture design intent and support iterative design modification.

Sample Parts

The sample files for this exercise can be browsed on the course site:

Or as a single zip file:

Sample files are provided on the assumption that students will go farther given a stronger foundation, so these are provided for you to examine and use as starting points. But if you use one as a template, please be mindful that you add meaningful development, not just tweak it trivially.

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Example of a marble fidget toy. The design includes entry/exit ports on all four sides. This version was drawn using only 2D cut and extrude operations. The track sides are vertical and a ball can fall out the top.

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Example of a marble fidget toy. Similar to the first example, but the track is defined by a swept cut using a planar cross-section and planar path. The top track opening is smaller than the 3/8 inch marbles and so a ball is captured in the track or can ride along the surface.

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Another marble fidget toy example using track formed with swept cuts.

Material and Tool Constraints

  • The device should be 90 mm square. Entry/exit ports should be located at the midpoint of top and bottom edges.

  • The example tiles have a height of 15 mm with the 11 mm diameter side ports vertically centered.

  • We will use 3/8 inch steel marbles. A 11 mm track width is recommended for generous clearance.

  • For details on STL file preparation and submission for printing, please see the IDeATe 3D Printing Guide.

Deliverables

  1. Live in-class demo of your device.

  2. A short report posted to the course site including:

    1. a zip of your SolidWorks files

    2. a brief video (less than 30 seconds)

    3. a short text statement reviewing your intent and outcomes