2025 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

In this poster, I present a maker project that is also an educational tool: a perpetual spiral marble machine. This tool is designed to introduce students to cardboard, foam, and woodworking basics. Through the process of building this machine, students can explore their creativity, develop design skills, and discuss physics principles. This project consists of four major sections:
1. Students cut, sand, drill, and countersink a wooden backing disk of any convex shape. As part of this process, they must measure and mark their part. Students may be introduced to jigs, calipers, chalk like reels, and other measuring tools. Then, they learn how to safely use a bandsaw, a sander, and a drill press.
2. Students learn several ways to cut, bend, and attach cardboard as they make a spiral marble track. They also learn utility knife safety.
3. Students transfer their cardboard skills to foam and foam core, creating a stable base for their spiral. They also learn about 2D to 3D manufacturing and how to create a study structure. At this point, instructors may choose to introduce physics concepts and equations related to structures. Students also learn about motors, motor mounts, circuits, and energy. This brings their spiral together but does not complete it.
4. In the last section, students are given a design challenge: create something that returns the marble to its initial location. This challenge is intended to develop students’ creative design skills, reinforce newly developed skills, and build confidence through engagement in the design process.
Through this project, students create a fun device while building new skills and kick starting their confidence as makers.