Back in 2016, we featured a stunning wooden machine that employed falling steel marbles to play a merry tune. As plans are drawn up for a new version, its builder has looked back to the designs of Leonardo da Vinci for inspiration.
I usually wait for projects to be completed before featuring them on New Atlas, but the early design brief has got me excited about the new build so I thought I'd share what details we have now. But first, a little catch up.
Martin Molin – multi-instrumentalist with Swedish "folktronica" band Winergatan and serial tinkerer – simply floored us almost 9 years ago when he released a video of the completed Musical Marble Machine. A music box made large, the device's cogs, wheels, frame and other components where made from birch ply and arranged so that steel marbles dropped from above hit a vibraphone, drums and even the strings of an electric bass.
The mechanism is hand-cranked to run a fly-wheel. The melodious output is pre-programmed via raised pins on huge rotating wheels that smack wooden blocks to release marbles. And once the steel balls have hit their targets, they're scooped up and returned to the top of the machine to be used again.
The following year, Molin revealed that a new version was in the pipe – a Marble Machine that could be taken on tour and form part of Wintergatan's stage show. This time, Molin assembled an international design team to help him on this project's journey. Tobias Smidebrant took on all 3D printing aspects, design and mechanical engineering students Karin and Olof Eneroth got their hands dirty on prototyping, Dutch student Lois Tonen hit the lathe to produce metal parts, Germany's Marius Kirn took care of welding tasks, and finally, CNC wizard Nathan Skalsky machined aluminum components in the US.
The design, prototyping and build processes for the MMX took years, and if you have a bit of free time I highly recommend sitting back to watch the project playlist on Wintergatan's YouTube channel. Fascinating watch. If you'd rather skip to a live performance, check out the video below for a test involving 80,000 marbles. However, numerous problems with the project led to Molin deciding to end development before the machine was finished – meaning that it never got to have its moment in the spotlight with the band, though the original and the MMX have been exhibited in public.
Plans for the third iteration have been floating around since 2022, and after spending some time and effort researching influences from the industrial revolution (between 1750 and 1850), Molin is now getting to work on a flavor inspired by the mechanical drawings of Leonardo da Vinci.
As such, birch ply sees a return to favor, with many of the components being fashioned from the popular build material. The CAD sketches also reveal a weight drive like the kind used by Christiaan Huygens to maintain power in early clocks. A ring lift system is featured for transporting marbles from bottom to top for reuse in the system. And a governor has also been developed "to keep the music completely tight."
The sketch also shows the drums, cymbals and vibraphone bars arranged over an arc to cater for spent marble collection in one large funnel to the front. Marbles will be hitting the strings of an electric bass again with the new version, with the bass itself being mounted next to the control station, which will sport numerous levers and wheels for adjusting playback parameters.
Rather than cranking the system by hand, the MM3 will employ foot pedals to drive a flywheel that in turn drives the middle wheel of the pulley system at the heart of the Huygens drive. This setup allows the operator to power the machine by busting some dance moves while controlling the music using both hands. At the rear of the contraption is a single mechanical programming wheel, "which is the brain that plays the music of the machine."
Again, the intention with this third build is to create a Marble Machine that can go on tour with the band. It's very early days, and much will likely be changed as the project moves forward. The following video presents an overview of the work so far, and what needs to be done to bring this beast to life.
Some early updates in the MM3 series have also been posted, the first revealing the gears that will likely be used in the machine and the second showcasing the foot power mechanism. We'll be following the project in the coming weeks and months (and years) and will be back with any particularly interesting developments ahead of the completed build, whenever that may surface.
Source: Wintergatan
