Marblatron

thingiverse

The Electropulse device produces a dazzling burst of light, indicating the arrival of a metallic sphere from the radiant Aether. This sphere spirals downward mainly due to gravity's effects. Until finally it vanishes back into its origin. A bright glow emanates from a 24-LED Adafruit Neopixel ring situated in the cap piece, with a ribbon cable running down through access holes in the riser sections to the base. The Arduino Nano housed at the base runs the Neopixels and ball sensor. A pair of wires located atop the screw section serves as the ball sensor, detecting contact when a sphere is ejected onto the track. In response, the Arduino produces a bright pulse of light just before the sphere pops out. At other times, the Electropulse simply generates a rotating pulse of yellow light to aid gravity. Instructions: Assembling this device involves some straightforward steps. Start with one riser section and build upwards from there. You'll need one more riser section than the number of risers you've printed, along with "screw" sections and hex connectors. There's a small notch inside each screw section that prevents the hex connector from falling into the hole. This is on only one side of each screw section, located at the top. The three dimples in the top of each screw section serve as an indication for assembling this device correctly. For effective operation, place two bearing shafts on either end of the assembled screw sections. The bottom shaft fits a gear that's inserted into the gearbox first, then placed inside the bottom screw section with its teeth pointing downwards. Make sure to drill out the motor gear slightly if necessary to get it on the motor shaft - it was designed as a tight fit for this very purpose. Assemble all other components according to the following instructions: 1. Risers attach to gearbox with small tabs, but you might need to sand down these tabs when disassembling so they don't break off. 2. Two rail sets are needed per riser section (a total of four), along with some additional rails for both ends. You should insert these rails into holes in the riser sections - where two meet, it will fit wide enough to accept two side-by-side. When working on this device remember that alignment might be a challenge so don't force the pieces too hard because they can break.