Marble Maze
Project by
Volume Studios
General Information
A modern take on the classic labyrinth marble maze that you can make on a Carvey. Create multiple custom mazes in Easel with easily swappable and reversible top surfaces. The base features a rounded bottom for tilting the maze, but uses materials efficiently to keep production time down.
Project License
Attribution 3.0 Unported (CC BY 3.0)
Open in Easel®
HDPE Top
Cut the "Elephant Maze":elephant top out of 1/2" thick HDPE, any color. We used the "light blue HDPE":hdpe from the Inventables store.
[elephant]http://easel.inventables.com/projects/fLt3DnOfUamD-y9dpsr-bQ
[hdpe]https://www.inventables.com/technologies/blue-hdpe-sheet
Design your own maze
Optional: Design your own maze in Easel or use "this one":circlemaze and cut it on the reverse side of the Elephant Maze. No need to cut another through-hole for the marble - the one from the other side will work.
[circlemaze]http://easel.inventables.com/projects/qn7Opyr88nBKlKGv0UXmSA
Bamboo Ply Base Part I
Cut the first set of "Bamboo Base":bambooA parts out of 1/4" thick Bamboo ply from the Inventables store
[bambooA]http://easel.inventables.com/projects/CkwNeANWBx0TmCg7V0qIRw
Bamboo Ply Base Part II
Cut the second set of "Bamboo Base":bambooB parts out of 1/4" thick Bamboo ply from the Inventables store
[bambooB]http://easel.inventables.com/projects/h-vXMI45N8FU4BzoxSGZrw
Build The base
Clean up the bamboo parts and interlock them to create the round-bottom base. If the parts fit loosely, add a dab of wood glue to hold everything together.
Drop the top & get rolling
Place the HDPE top on the bamboo base. We used a "1/2 Stainless Steel ball bearing":bb from McMaster-Carr for our marble.
[bb]http://www.mcmaster.com/#9291k54/=11kvknf
Try some different materials
Create a custom Marble Maze by playing with different materials for the top and bottom. We did a version with a Bamboo Ply top and white .25" ABS base
My maze piece outline cut made it through in some parts but not others. Any thoughts on how I could finish it up?. I'm tempted to tried to knock it out, but am afraid I'll wind up cracking the whole piece. Thanks for any help, and really appreciate you sharing this great project!
Brian Addison
Hi Brian, I used tabs on it that should be relatively easy to get through with a sharp X-acto or even a band saw or jigsaw. Is there a way you can share photos? It's hard to picture what you're having a problem with. Thanks!
Volume Studios
Thanks for the quick reply. Good news is I'm all set! I just started to give the piece some back and forth pushes to realize I wasn't going to risk cracking it, and from there was able to pop it out pretty quickly.
Brian Addison
Very nice. One could recycle HDPE (/2\) (bottle caps, ..) to mold into sheets or directly into parts. The resulting HDPE usually has marbling of colours. http://www.openbuilds.com/resources/how-to-recycle-hdpe-bottles-caps-etc-into-sheets-blocks-to-cnc.170/, YouTube, etc. for more information.
Serge Ecoiffier
Fantastic! Would love to hear how you made the path for the ball. Also, what is the purpose of the short section of isolated line, and the "J" part next to it?
Ryan Lenz