Gravitrax Compatible Cable-Car

thingiverse

This creation is a "cable-car" expansion module designed for the Gravitrax Marble Run Game set. The idea behind this invention was to enable marbles to reach distant areas without sacrificing height or wasting space on bridges. To achieve this, I developed a cable-car model that utilizes a 2mm section aluminum wire as its guide. This wire can be easily obtained from online retailers like Amazon. The performance of the cable-car is optimal with aluminum wire due to its unique properties. It's soft and easy to bend into curves while remaining stiff enough to handle the weight of the marble and car combined. Feel free to experiment with other materials if you find something that outperforms aluminum wire. Besides the wire, all other components are fully 3D printable, and most don't require supports. Please refer to the Print Settings section for more information on optimal printing settings. Assembly of the cable-car does not require glue but can be challenging due to the need to force plastic parts into place. To make assembly easier, I recommend heating the black arm piece under hot water until it becomes flexible. This allows you to fit the pulley and then attach it to the car body while it cools down. The rest of the assembly is straightforward, but you'll need decent printer precision for the clip in the pillars to hold the wire correctly. If printing goes well, you shouldn't encounter any issues with the clip. However, if you experience problems, heat up the clip and shape it around the wire to achieve a more precise fit. Printing parts containing the word "pillar" is not strictly necessary unless you plan on making large bends or using very long cable-car wires. Please note that each pillar will require printing one of my 6-Exit Basic Tile designs for mounting purposes. I'm providing two different pulley models, one with a narrow bed and one with a wider bed. The narrow pulley guides the car better but requires more precise printing of the pillar clip, while the wider pulley is more forgiving but may cause the car to wobble slightly. It's up to you which model to use, and I recommend experimenting with both. If you only have a straight wire and don't plan on using pillars, I'd suggest the narrow pulley. You can see this cable-car in action by watching my slow-motion video.