Aaaand this is a quick note to remind everyone that the Solar Marble Machine is now fully available for purchase from our website. Enjoy!
We always enjoy seeing our products being modified, revamped and DIY-ed, as well as the results of these transformations.
Our customer Vera Kark provided us with some thoughtful feedback on adding mechanical tweaks to improve our Solar GraviTrack build and documentation. She also painted the brown MDF of the machine. She used tempera paint on the wood components still in panelized form, and the GraviTrack's performance seemed to be unaffected.
The GraviTrack looks great in vibrant jewel tone colours, however, we do not recommend applying paint to the hand mechanism itself. You can paint the base and the rails, avoiding the hand mechanism completely. The moisture and the thickness of the paint might affect the precise tolerances of the moving parts, and will interfere with its proper functioning. Another relatively safe option might be felt tip marker since the moisture from alcohol evaporates quickly.
Photos & video by Vera Kark
P.S. Also, a particularly bad idea is painting your GraviTrack after the assembly is completed. Even though we were using a very watered down acrylic paint, the mechanism seized up the moment the paint became sticky. Don't be like us. Take care of your GraviTrack.
A portrait of a sad stuck GraviTrack
Aaaand this is a quick note to remind everyone that the Solar Marble Machine is now fully available for purchase from our website. Enjoy!
Wowwee sent us some information telling us a bit more about the upcoming Bio Bugs that Mr. Tilden is working on. It includes an image showing some of the finished prototypes, and more "Official" stats on these upcoming toys! Check it out! Read More...
Lights. They're so purdy. Whithout 'em, we'd have one heck of a time to find things that would hypnotize us so effectively. So this week we have a few different LEDs that we're now carrying as well as... A NEW KIT! That's right, we're releasing a brand-new Solarbotics item with built-in blinky light technology. The […]
We've just got in our newly-machined RW2 hubs & tires - and they're better! Instead of the old 1/8" axle hole that didn't quite fit the GM11a-14a series correctly (they were too loose), these new ones fit perfectly with their 3mm hole!
Solarbotics, Ltd. is not responsible for misprints or errors on product prices or information. For more information, please see our Terms and Conditions.
Warning: This product contains chemicals known to the State of California to cause cancer and birth defects or other reproductive harm.
Please visit www.P65Warnings.ca.gov for more information. This item was manufactured prior to August 31, 2018.