UGEARS Marble Run

Today I am reviewing the UGears Chain Hoist Marble Run. I love building marble runs, I find them fascinating. I purchased this one from Amazon; UGears, a Ukrainian company, offers a very large assortment of wooden model kits to choose from, including a number of intriguing Marble run projects.Starting with the 55 page instructions, they were in a book rather than poster-style format, which I prefer. Overall, this was a pretty premium building experience with excellent direction given by the large and detailed instruction booklet. What is very nice is they give you a finished look after each step so you can have the best look at whether you put the parts together right. The parts numbering on the wooden frames was all over the place so UGears very nicely provides a picture of the wood frame at the start of each step, showing where the parts are located on the frame (Show picture). As I mentioned, UGears appears to be a Ukrainian company(Show flag) and they offer a number of languages in the build instructions, including Ukrainian, English, Spanish, German, Japanese, Chinese, Italian, French, Korean, Portuguese and Polish, making this kit accessible to a wide array of people.AssemblyThis was a very challenging build with a number of tricky constructions to put together like on page 18 where you had to fit the build into a number of different connection points. The parts went together well but were very tight, so I had to take a break sometimes to rest my fingers and hands. I didn’t have any parts break during assembly but there was a large amount of chipping of the parts as I removed them from the frame and when I filed them down to remove the burs. For this kit, I recommend filing the part in the direction of the edge rather than perpendicular to the part. White glue wasn’t necessary during this build due to the tight fit.Operation:There was definitely a break-in period with a whole lot of issues to start out with, but after a few minutes, things improved greatly. They give you TEN 16mm multicolored glass marbles to use in the run. A handle cranks the chain hoist mechanism very smoothly, though there is occasional catching in the mechanism that I will detail more later. The wooden chain rotates and elevates the marbles smoothly to the top of the tower. As the balls get to the top of the run they have three different paths to choose from once released from the chain hoist. First, the marbles can fall down a chute where they finish in a loop-da-loop before heading back into the return path. Second, they can take a route that takes the marble around to the front of the tower, where the marble is handed downward from one pivoting marble holder to the next until it reaches the base platform. Finally, the marbles can land in a mechanism that collects 3 marbles before releasing them to take three short pathways back to the base platform.The marbe run works pretty well, though I had a number of problems. The first problem involved the lifting prongs . The marble can actually get jammed against the inlet hole and the lifting prong . Secondly, the lifting prongs are sometimes caught as they pass through the marble-presenting platform, though fortunately, this doesn’t occur frequently. Assuming they make it past this, sometimes the chain will catch because it doesn’t insert into the sprocket teeth the way they are supposed to. Here is Tip #1: file the teeth of the sprockets before assembly to give them a little bevel so they are more likely to guide themselves into the chain links. In this picture, I show you the area you should file or sand though here’s Tip #2 DO IT BEFORE YOU PUT THE PARTS TOGETHER! At the top of the marble run, I had occasional issues with the marbles getting caught under the lifting prongs because they didn’t start down into the marble run quickly enough (Picture). The next area of problem was the mechanism that chooses the next pathway for the marbles. The marble is supposed to drop down into a catch that then drops the marble down into its next pathway; sometimes, the ball doesn’t readily drop down to where it is supposed to and causes the marbles to back up (Picture). Along the second pathway, I had a backup occur when the handoff mechanism didn’t pass the marble down the way it was supposed to (See picture). Along the third pathway, I had another backup because a swinging wooden piece didn’t catch the marble correctly, so the marble couldn’t go down into the next stage, causing a backup (see picture). Also, along the third pathway a marble chute was too narrow and the marble got lodged in the third most distant chute; this was corrected by tugging on the wooden sides of the chute, giving them a little bit more space (see picture). Occasionally, a marble does get kicked out of the machine with the primary place being the forks on the chain, perhaps filing the inside edge would help the marble seat a little better.So Final Thoughts…:What I liked: The instructions were in a large booklet-style format, mostly clear, and provided a finished look to each step. The instructions showed you where to find the parts on each frame. The parts fit tightly and I didn’t need to use any white glue to hold anything together. The operation of the machine is exciting, with a loop-da-loop and several other novel mechanisms to get the ball down from the top of the run to the base platform. The marble run can be combined with up to 3 other copies of the Chain Hoist Marble run to make a more enormous conglomeration of marble runs and I may try this if I can get the marble run operating more smoothly. They provide you with some parts to make interconnections rather than buying a separate kit.What I didn’t like: The first thing I didn’t like about this kit was the puny amount of wax they give. They do let you know you can use candle wax as long as it isn’t lit! 😂 Sometimes, the instructions didn’t give you the best advice on how to use the wax to lubricate the parts. The instructions didn’t tell you to wax the sides of the gears that rub directly up against the side of the supporting structure. On page 38, there were three almost identical parts. I made an error here as I thought they were the same when, in reality, one of the parts was just a little different, and I ended up putting it in the wrong place and had to take it back apart. The instructions here should have warned you to look out for this variation in the parts. They give you ten marbles, but three are consumed in the build. I would like to have more marbles, though sometimes too many can cause problems. UGears has an excellent YouTube channel showcasing their many different wood projects.Would I do it all over again? You betcha! I like this marble run, and I am looking forward to someday getting at least one, if not three more, to see what they look like combined. If I do, I’ll put it on camera. If UGears sends me free kits, HE asks shamelessly, I’ll do it right away!

Viene bien esplicado todo el montaje, es muy entretenido pero algo caro

Well thought out model to build. It's not the easiest, putting some parts together requires "fingerspitzengefuhl": press hard enough to make it fit, but not so hard that it breaks. For me nothing was broken, but one has to be careful. Fortunately the manual is very good, pointing out those parts where you have to pay attention to the shape of a part. It took about six hours to assemble. The wood is good quality. I also like that they put the part numbers next to the part, so that after assembly you just see the wood. Disadvantage is that you need to keep track of what part is what number. Other kits have the number on the part, which makes that a bit easier, but results in the numbers visible after assembly.

I bought a pair of these so that I could link them as advertised. This linkage works very well, but is the only flimsy element, and care is need in moving the complete assembly. Otherwise I have nothing but praise for this complex and ingenious construction. It's certainly very complex, and therefore not at all suitable for a beginner in this type of thing, but as long as you take care in sanding down the odd break-off point where a piece is detached from its framework, and use plenty of candlewax (supplied) to grease the moving parts, it goes togther very well indeed. The intructions are very clear indeed, and highly commendable, and the accuracy of the design is awesome. .Best of all, it comes from the Ukraine, and therefore buying it will help to support their industry and their economy - I hope that both survive the attempt to destroy them. I've already bought other models in the series and am looking forward to getting stuck in.

Zum Weihnachten habe ich beide Murmelbahnen von UGEARS bestellt. Diese Bahn hier war mein erster Versuch überhaupt, ein UGEARS Set zu bauen.Die Anleitung ist sehr übersichtlich und in 12 Spachen. Man muss sie genau verfolgen und aufpassen, so dass alle Teile so wie dargestellt verbaut werden. Ich habe ein Rad umgekehrt eingebaut und dann musste ich eine Stunde lang die fertigen Details auseinandernehmen und korrekt setzen. Das Ding ist kein Lego, man kann das Set nicht beliebig oft auseinandernehmen und dann wieder bauen. Alle Teile sind gut geschnitten und passen gut zusammen, trotzdem muss man bei der Trennung und dem Bau vorsichtig sein und nicht zu viel Kraft einsetzen. Wichtig! Alle beweglichen Teile müssen gut geschmiert sein! Sparen Sie nicht den Wachs! Überprüfen Sie immer wieder ob das Getriebe richtig funktioniert. Man kann auch im Nachhinein das Getriebe schmieren aber das ist viel schwieriger, wenn die Bahn schon fertig ist.Drei Teile habe ich gebrochen und bei UGEARS nachbestellt. Sie landeten bei mir kostenlos zwei Wochen später. Ein hervorragender Kundendienst, von dem Liefertermin abgesehen. Die Lieferung erfolgte übrigens aus der Ukraine. Mit der zweiten Bahn war ich wesentlich vorsichtiger, ich habe kein einziges Detail gebrochen und alles schon beim Aufbau gründlich geschmiert, dann läuft auch die Bahn geschmeidig und problemlos.Diese Bahn lässt sich nur in einer Richtung kurbeln. Die andere funktioniert egal wie man die Kurbel dreht. Beide Bahnen kann man verbinden, so dass die Kugeln von einer Bahn in die andere und dann zurück laufen.Fur eine Bahn benötigt man ungefähr einen ganzen Tag, 6 bis 7 Stunden. Ich persönlich habe es genossen und viel Spass gehabt. Wie schon gesagt, muss man vorsichtig und geduldig arbeiten, deswegen ist das set für Kinder und Jugendliche eher nicht geeignet.Im Ganzen ein grossartiges Produkt das ich nur weiterempfehlen kann.