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How to Build a Marble Roller

Marble rollers--also called marble runs--are children's toys that utilize gravity to make marbles roll along a set of tracks, typically arranged in a zigzag pattern. A marble roller can be made from a wide variety of materials, but the most common is wood. Plywood is easy to use and makes a sturdy marble roller. Marble rollers are good ways to introduce children to the concept of gravity.

Things You'll Need

1 strip three-quarter inch plywood, 8-by-25 inches
Measuring tape
Chisel
4 strips one-quarter-inch plywood, 2-by-23 inches
4 strips one-quarter-inch plywood, 1-by-23 inches
Wood glue
1 sheet three-quarter-inch plywood, 20-by-25 inches
2 angle brackets
one-half-inch screws
Drill

Instructions

- 1
  Draw a line lengthwise along the center of a strip of 8-by-25-inch three-quarter-inch thick plywood. Use a chisel to cut out a channel along the line that is three-eighths-inch deep and three-quarter-inch wide. Set aside for the base of the marble roller.
- 2
  Glue a 1-by-23-inch-strip of one-quarter-inch plywood to one side of a one-quarter-inch plywood strip 2-by-23-inches so that the 2-inch strip has a barrier along one side. Repeat so you have four strips, each with a barrier on one side. These are the marble tracks.
- 3
  Lay a sheet of 20-by-25-inch sheet of three-quarter inch plywood flat on the work surface. Arrange the tracks, with the side barrier facing out, diagonally across the sheet in a zigzag pattern. Stagger the position of the ends of the tracks so that where one finishes, the one below starts an inch before. This means that when the marble drops off the end, it lands on the start of the track below.
- 4
  Glue the tracks in place when happy with their position. Apply glue to the channel you chiseled out in the base, then slot the bottom of the sheet with the tracks attached into the slot.
- 5
  Position two angle brackets around 2 inches in from the sides of the upright sheet and the base, on the side opposite the tracks. Attach with half-inch screws through the screw holes in the brackets into the upright plywood sheet and the base to finish the marble roller.

Wooden Toys