Find the MAGIC - and bring it forward

I was emailing with an Industrial Design engineer from Apple who told me:
"One thing I've learned that can really make a product great is to find the magic and bring it forward."

I really love that concept and i think it´s essential for the Marble Machine that i allow the whimsical, artistic, non-engineering parts of the project blossom. Giant flywheel? YES!
Combine this with a more strict more deliberate design process should bring us closer to our goal this time.

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Video edited By Martin and Hannes from the Trainerds YouTube Channel:

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[rodcappon]

I have suggested it before and I am going to say it again. The weights that drive the machine should be up high and behind you. That way it shows how much energy has been stored and is left in the machine as you play it. I would use a water filled tank as a counter weight. The big advantage is it could be as heavy as you need it but it would be very light for transportation. Hauling 500 LB of weights around will very quickly become a pain. Especial when you have to lift it up on to the stage because you do not have ramp access.

[kerradeph]

With that much energy in flywheels, you'll probably want to make sure you protect yourself from the mechanisms, especially if people are going to be walking around near them such as the marble lifts and the flywheels themselves.

[dazley]

Not sure how safe this all is...
giant flywheel in your back, narrow path infront with a bunch of tripping hazards...
Yes I'm a German, if you couldnt tell xD

[IER]

Martin, while you are thinking about stage layout, somthing to consider; to design a machine which completly removes the possibility of floor marbles is extremely difficult (and you will spend months of hell trying to do it) so rather than having to employ several stage hands to slowly chase after floor marbels during the concert consider the idea of a wetroom shower, the floor is gradually sloped towards a 'drain' point so that all the water flows into the drain and you can have an open shower without watering your house. If you put the stage design with a slight bowl underneath the machine those (hopefully rare) marbles can slowly roll to a single point and be collected without worrying about the stage becoming a ball pit!

[dustydrums]

I love how he spent several build days making sure a flywheel is safe to be around… then tossed that all away to plan for a flywheel that could cut a person in half lol.

[Waldohasaskit]

"Fooling around" is an important part of any design sequence

[vincentdesjardins]

With a big 1.5m diameter full of kinetic energy steel meat grinder rotating like crazy just feets behind Martin (and his fingers, hands and arms...) we gonna have to adress obvious safety issues !

[wccwy]

Love how he continued to feature his guitar playing like his mom asked him to.

[ucubing]

Imagine the giant flywheel was actually a giant Wilson

[LuvLikeTruck]

Instead of pointing the "two sides" inward towards the center, they should point outward instead. This will allow a space in the center where the band can be together in the "heart" of the machine.

I think this will make the stage feel much less cramped and allow options for the whole band to interact with the machine

Also there could be a wall of mechanisms behind the whole band

[modalmixture]

I'm starting to get it. What I loved about the first two machines was their compact thing-ness: an intricate machine that hints at but does not fully reveal its complexity. But it seems Martin is now thinking of something different and equally compelling - what if the machine were deconstructed, blown up, and you could walk around inside it looking at all the parts? If the goal is live performance, that definitely makes for a more compelling spectacle on stage.

[Pixelarter]

You can build the large flywheel just as a lightweight prop to communicate with the audience. This way it is safer to be around, and can even have additional safety mechanisms to disengage in case someone trips into it.

[nilsdock]

Add an oversized governor as well since they look cool. and bigger isn't worse.

[qummeil]

A few months ago a small flywheel was in a metal cage for safety reasons and now it is huge and open and ready to crush bones and skulls. Way to go Martin, more cardboad.

[DJMonky]

Plexiglass catwalk! That way you can walk on the river of marbles!

[stevesomers]

Martin, some special high intensity, small spotlights aimed strategically onto the marble machines and return tracks will act like a mirrorball, so to speak, and create a lot of moving sparkles flashing toward the audience.

[brigbjones]

"No, sir I didn't see you playing with your dolls again."

[andresferrandon]

As a professional Industrial Designer, I’m so happy to see you adopting prototyping and ideation techniques that take some of the precision out of the earlier stages of development that a lot of engineering ways of thinking will cage you in.

We call it the Christmas tree of design process. Start at the log (the brief), exploration and refinement help narrow your focus (the zig zags of the tree getting smaller as you get closer to the top), and then the star on top is your final product!!

[MastrWolf]

You should paint the programming wheel and the flywheels so that the rotation is more obvious to the crowd. That and cool patterns moving would be quite awesome.
You could also have lights shining through any gaps in the mechanism, casting moving patterns on the walls.

[deisum]

Having the whole band flanked by marble machine could be a great look, especially if you can hand off power & controlling the machine between members. It could really help dispel the 'Martin & his amazing machine and also a band I guess' vibe.