# Real Progress! Marble Machine Weekly Recap

## Метаданные

- **Канал:** Wintergatan
- **YouTube:** https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gRv1B8pp0Qg

## Содержание

### [0:00](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gRv1B8pp0Qg) Segment 1 (00:00 - 05:00)

Welcome to Vinton Wednesdays, where I recap the marble machine progress every Wednesday. Last week was truly great. We started daily live streams and it proved to be really productive. For years, I've been stuck editing videos and the machine barely moved forward. But with the live stream format, I made actual progress on the machine while having a ton of fun. The live stream format isn't for everyone. So we are bringing vinton Wednesdays back. So every Wednesday I will be summarizing the biggest breakthroughs in a concise format. And this week we have to start with the master part method. I have developed my understanding of the master part method and the resulting CAD is so much better. Previously I struggled constantly because every time I moved something the whole model would break. But with the master part method, we're using a single part studio as the brains of the entire machine. Simple blobs like basic shafts or boxes control everything. And then the real parts are derived from these blobs using reference geometry. So now I can drag the programming wheel, I can shift the Higgins drive or widen the base of the machine and the entire marble machine master assembly updates instantly without anything exploding. So, for the first time, I actually feel I'm in full control of a CAD document that can help me design the machine. One of my design goals is to have an exposed Higgins drive. I want to give the Higgins drive the attention it deserves. The beautiful Higgins drive used to be hidden away deep inside the machine, which took away from the whole mechanical beauty. So, I pull the weights right out into the open here on the bottom left side of the machine to lean fully into that vintage skeleton clock aesthetic with everything being super visible. So, now you can actually see gravity working its constant magic here in the die train and the Heaggan's weights have become one of the most striking features on the machine. I'm inspired by this image. I would love to make the weights look something like this. Next, I wanted to place another striking feature, the flyball governor, and this led to the flyball governor debate. The placement of the flyball governor turned into one of the longest live debates with the audience, dividing everyone on two teams. I wasn't sure whether to put it high and vertical for maximum beauty or lower and inside the machine for maximum simplicity. On steam machines, the flywheel governors are most often placed on top of the structure and vertical. But this is a what and porter style type of governor and it's using gravity which leads to their vertical positions. The horizontal governor used in gramophones and here in my prototype is springloaded and not using gravity and that's called a heartell governor. A Hartnell governor placed horizontally is faster in response time and lends itself better to precision adjustment of the speed of a drivetrain like my drivetrain for the marble machine. A heartell governor can also be placed vertically. But if we do that, its flyballs is affected a bit by gravity making its response slower. So the flyball governor bait is a classical marble machine trade-off between beauty and simple functionality. After testing the two positions with the audience chiming in, I decided to go for the ambitious placement, high and vertical like a chimney. The vertical spinning would provide exactly that dramatic look I always wanted and it would show off how this machine works in a fantastic way. However, I think the final word hasn't been said in the flyball governor debate because if I always take the more ambitious road, I'll never finish the machine. So, what will it be? Do I kill my darling flyball governor or do I spend some more time fighting in the design to make it work on top and vertical? H I think it's okay for me to leave that decision a bit open-ended right now because we are so early in the design process, but it's a tough one for sure. Another tough one is the marble loop. I started the marble loop by creating these placeholder counterweighted funnels and then I made them more beautiful by adding this arc picking up the arc of the vibrophone resonators. These funnels give way when hit and will kind of play the melody that the marble machine is playing. I love the look of that. And then they deliver the marbles down to ride on this sweet arc down towards the conveyor belt picking up spot. Next, I added a blob drop off point and a blob marble divider at the top of the machine. Some placeholder marble gates and small little kinetic fingers that will enhance the visual of marbles being dropped. Oh yes, kinetic fingers. Don't think I spent 9 years to then omit the kinetic fingers. They are a strict design requirement. All right, the kinetic fingers is a running joke on this channel because I started developing them before I had solved all the other

### [5:00](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gRv1B8pp0Qg&t=300s) Segment 2 (05:00 - 08:00)

much more important problems. So that's the joke. The joke is on me. This time around, we're doing the important stuff first, but I'm allowing myself to dream about some kinetic fingers meanwhile. All right. The way I'm working now is fully embracing the philosophy of make it exist first and you can make it good later. So, first I'm making the marble loop exist, but obviously we need to make it great later. Even though the CAD looks horrendous currently, it's completely built within the master part system. So, I can keep on improving on all these parts because they are built on a very solid CAD structure underneath. But I do really love the animus look of these funnels on this arc. I need to ask Derek Vanalen how to CAD nearly identical objects like these cascading funnels without doing all of them manually. And I will ask that question exactly on a special upcoming live stream with Derek this Saturday, March 28th. I think that live stream is going to be a gold mine. Details in description. Next, I started on the frame for the machine and I wanted to have a skeleton clock frame. Up until now, all parts have been floating freely in space. And we need to start introducing the framing in the cat model. So, I drew inspiration from classic skeleton clocks and created two parallel frames with curved legs and large feet. I think we can find a lot of wisdom in the skeleton clock design tradition. And I plan to use as much as possible from that for the marble machine. They have the exposed gears and elegant thin framing that is part of the beautiful looks. Even though this frame is also just a make it exist first, let's make it good later kind of placeholder. I do like the look and how the frame makes the machine feel like one coherent sculpture instead of scattered parts. But yeah, this is a CAD structure placeholder to be redesigned many times over. I think of the marble machine as five big subasssemblies. one instrument, two drivetrain, three marble loop, four frame. And now when I had the first four sub assemblies in the CAD document, it was time for me to add the fifth and last one, the controls. I wanted to add everything that I need to operate the machine. Levers that I pull, wheels, I turn, church organ stops, which actually was a suggestion from the chat, etc., etc. I also added other types of control elements. For example, the placeholder readers that scan the programming wheel. I kept everything very blocky and symbolic. I just want a visual representation at this stage so I won't forget these elements when I later write the full design requirements. All right, that's the progress we made in the last live streams. I had such a fun time and I'm in full control of this CAD document and bears repeating nothing you see in this CAD is final. I won't build a single little part from this CAD. All this is placeholders and I'll keep refining and beautifying them. But the foundation of the document is solid and the live streaming has been a huge success. Thanks for tuning in to this weekly Marine recap. I will update the progress every week here on Winter Wednesdays. So you can stay up to date with the progress in this concise format. So see you next Wednesday. But before I go, I want to say a huge thanks to the Vintatam backers. Your support is making all this possible. And for everyone who wants to join in on the live streaming, we'll be streaming already tomorrow morning. And you find the stream schedule in the description below. We are multistreaming to YouTube, Twitch, and X. So you can catch the build live on the platform of your choice. I believe

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*Источник: https://ekstraktznaniy.ru/video/42348*