Adam Savage Unboxes a Mechanical Marble Run!
Ғылым және технология
Adam unboxes and tests this mechanical marble run that was sent to him from Marbolous, and ends up having to tweak and fix the track on the machine to get the marbles flowing through it smoothly. Tuning a marble run is a delicate task, but Adam enjoys the mental challenge of figuring out how every adjustment affects its operation. Can he get it to run smoothly or will Adam lose his marbles?
Learn more about the Marbolous marble mazes here: www.marbolous.com/pages/shop
Shot by Josh Self and edited by Norman Chan
Music by Jinglepunks
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Intro bumper by Abe Dieckman
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Пікірлер: 799
Manufacturer: "Unboxing video of our product yay!!!" *sees that it's 20 minutes long* "Oh no..."
@tested
3 ай бұрын
Ha!
@gibberishname
3 ай бұрын
For $300 there really is NO EXCUSE for something as simple as this NOT to work out of the box
@rasmusvedel
3 ай бұрын
@@gibberishnameseems you missed a word in there.
@gibberishname
3 ай бұрын
@@rasmusvedel haha, thanks. speech to text fail. fixed.
@blindleader42
3 ай бұрын
@@gibberishname There are more than one kinds of "simple". Having effectively only two moving parts is one kind and it applies to this device... sort of. OTOH count up the number of curves and straight slopes add one for a marble and you have a more realistic idea of the number of moving parts. Now make each of these parts adjustable but adjustment of one changes at least two other parts, and your idea of "simple" becomes a joke. You could make a version of this device that needs no adjustments and works flawlessly every time. It would not look anything like this and would most likely be ugly as sin.
My two cents: the marbles have large enough differences in weight, diameter and "roundness" that tuning this thing to perfection is a wild goose chase
@dodaexploda
3 ай бұрын
In one of the close up shots you can see where Adam is having the problem (16:30). It looks like inside wire is disconnected. It transitions from one wire to another lower wire. I suspect it is causing the balls to bounce and be unstable at that point.
@robinmaurer2645
3 ай бұрын
@@dodaexploda I totally forgot that aspect you are right. My point still stands imo
@keithhogg1963
3 ай бұрын
He lost his marbles😂
@dodaexploda
3 ай бұрын
@@robinmaurer2645 your point absolutely still stands and is a potential issues.
@WinstonfieldQPP
2 ай бұрын
Nah. Marble sizes today are highly accurate, uniform, and void of flaws that would disrupt a run. The problem is not in the marbles, but lies in the alignment of the track rails. They do need to be finessed a lot if they go out of alignment.
I love how the first instruction in the manual is how to open the box… that also contains the instruction manual 😂
@ObsessiveGeek
3 ай бұрын
A lot of instructions have digital versions available to download so customers could potentially see how to open the box before they have access to the physical copy.
@IntelligentChimp
3 ай бұрын
@@ObsessiveGeekYou shouldn’t need instructions on how to open a box. Digital or physical.
@immolationangel4124
3 ай бұрын
Something i learned a long time ago: You can make instructions as idiot-proof as you want, but the joke's on you because an idiot won't read the instructions to begin with.
Hey Adam! Sebastian here, the engineer behind Marbolous. Your unboxing video totally made my day! 😊 Seeing Marbolous come to life like this is awesome. It was definitely a wild ride getting everything just right - those precision welds were no joke! If you're setting it up, that little instruction sheet really is a life- and timesaver. 😉 By the way, we have in the meantime optimized the stainless steel tracks and they run much better now. BR Sebastian PS: Whoever send the MARBOLOUS to Adam (we bet on a KICKSTARTER or INDIEGOGO supporter?) Thanks so much, you are incredible!
@blindleader42
3 ай бұрын
I'm glad you showed up, here. There are an awful lot of early commentors that don't seem to understand that it's kinetic art, not an industrial marble delivery mechanism.
@marbolous_com
3 ай бұрын
@@blindleader42 Hi! Nice to get to know you :-) Indeed we are with MARBOLOUS far, far away from any industrial marble run. For instance our track elements are all stainless steel, laserwelded not any cheap plastic like most available models. If you have ever tried to weld such small parts you do understand how tight tolerancing must be to built a working marble run. Still I guess we need to rework on adjustment instructions. Once understood the adjustment process is easy and fast to handle. But we didn't want to make it too easy for Adam either ;-)
@rondavis3232
3 ай бұрын
I was anxious just watching the instructions being totally ignored
@marbolous_com
3 ай бұрын
@@rondavis3232 :D we too
@underadesk
3 ай бұрын
I almost guarantee he didn't set it on the most level surface ever. Since he rotated the fixture and had different results. Kind of a giveaway
Frustrating trying to troubleshoot something when the failure isn't consistent
@pickledeluxe4636
3 ай бұрын
personally it would be but watching adam do it is quite satisfying
@oneeyedziggy2
3 ай бұрын
given it sounded like the marbles may be "natural materials" I'd see if it was the same marble or two that are slightly heavier or lighter... thought it could be the total mass of marbles on the run changing the geometry a bit
@gfdia35
3 ай бұрын
Story of my life , every single time I try to fix something for someone else, a 5 minute fix turns into an hour or hours ,, it's what the universe gives me for being nice (nice guys always finish last)
@davidbarnett3732
3 ай бұрын
I have to believe that you have a couple of marbles that are ever so slightly larger or heavier.
@JoshSweet
3 ай бұрын
@@gfdia35. Funny how “nice guys” seem to have such a victim mentality….. If you don’t genuinely want to be helpful, don’t fake it and resent doing so later.
I'm losing my marbles just watching this.
@tested
3 ай бұрын
Well done.
@Joetoep
3 ай бұрын
Adam almost lost some too :)
Seeing Adam's face contort as the thought " oooo a problem to solve " hits is amazing.
I love the fact that the instructions on how to safely remove the product from the box is placed inside that box! Genius!
I think it's commendable of Adam to remain enthused by the product, even after its shortscomings appear. However, while Adam is the perfect person to send a product that needs tweeking, I doubt that many would share his enthusiasm
@JCGver
2 ай бұрын
Let's send him a plank of wood and a spool of solderable wire and call it a diy marble run kit. Bet he'll love it.
@1992jamo
29 күн бұрын
Why should he be enthused by something so crap?
For the eternal tinkerer I think the need to tweak this out of the box is probably just as satisfying as the product working... But I don't think more average consumers would be as tolerant
@glenngriffon8032
3 ай бұрын
Honestly i think if Adam has paid money for this thing and he couldn't get a whole video out of him messing with it he probably wouldn't have been forgiving of the product.
@motivsmaras
3 ай бұрын
I buy 250$ failure, and open at birthday party for my friend, everyone have the same problem, dont work. "You have one job", to make marble go down, and not working, i spend so much money 250$, and so much time and effort, CEO of company take millions of $ and give this shame? This is the flop of the millenium, everyone hit like button here so nobody buy and spend money and have embbersement like i have, shame on company DONT BUY 250$ dont work. I want public apologies to everyone and 2x money back, ceo make that for 15$ and take 225$ in pocket, am gonna sue the company, and everyone do the same.
@marbolous_com
3 ай бұрын
Indeed part of the whole fascination with MARBOLOUS should be to interact and adjust it - we think this was always the best back in the good old days once we all played with Marble runs. I assume - and there the blame is on us - we need to improve the instruction on how to adjust the marble run in a structured way. This seems to be the whole "problem" for our point of view
@PilotPhteven
3 ай бұрын
Yea I wouldn't be.. a little tweaking.. maybe.. but it should work as it should out of the box. because 250 bucks isn't nothing, and you're allowed to have the expectation that it should work as normal.. it simply should have better tolerances to be more forgiving to failure for a consumer market
@Lucien86
3 ай бұрын
Its a very common problem with marble machines. I think the real problem is simply that the track is formed out of steel wire which is kind of springy and is left floating too much in the air.
Love how you got more enjoyment out of fixing this than the thing working perfectly.
@petermgruhn
3 ай бұрын
Well, there's not that much joy in it when it works perfectly and tinkering is its own joy. So yeah.
Just watching the problem solving that Adam does here is so calming. This is why I am a member of this channel. If you aren't a patron, you should consider it.
@mh.blue_swish25
3 ай бұрын
Exactly!, 100% agreed. I love watching the way in which Adam's mind works with how he becomes completely focused on a task in order to figure out a solution. It is both fascinating and calming.
I cannot see or say the word "Fragile" in my head without going "It must be Italian."
@HumbleWooper
2 ай бұрын
Same with "ESCAPE"... hey, that's spelled just like "escape!"
"Fascination knows no age" --Insert screenshot of Adam's face when he's working on it 😁😁😁
Having designed one from scratch myself, I found that a source of "random" failures for me was the fact that my marbles (amazon) were not of uniform size. I laser cut a straight track with a slowly widening slot, and ran them down with small bins underneath, thus sorting them by size. then I found the size that worked best and things vastly improved. Your marbles seemed pretty uniform, but worth mentioning for anyone else working on similar projects.
KZread at its best: Watch someone buy something I can't afford and then fix it in a way I wouldn't want to. My brain is happy!
@ArchangelExile
14 күн бұрын
Adam didn't buy it. It was just sent to him for free. No note included or anything.
I love marble runs even tabletop ones like that. Now it makes me wonder. If Adam would ever make himself a simiilar style marble run or one on a larger scale that he could make run perfectly.
@thedman1696
3 ай бұрын
Yeah it'd be great to see Adam make his own. Would show us many small maker skills like soldering and problem solving
@ObsessiveGeek
3 ай бұрын
*David Morrell - Rolling Ball Sculptures* You’re welcome
Funnily enough the fact that Adam had to fix a faulty product probably gave him more fun engagement with it than if he just unboxed it and it worked 😂
So half way through the tweaking, I would hear my wife's voice telling me, "Why don't you read the manual."
Watching Adam having to tune it, and then the smile that comes on his face when it's almost right, but not perfect, so he continues to tweak it. As someone with ADHD and a hint of Aspberger's, the delight is awesome. Now I want one!
I feel like part of the fun is in tuning it correctly. You can tell Adam enjoys it.
I can’t believe I’ve spent 9 minutes watching a dude troubleshoot a marble run toy, and it looks like I’m gonna be spending 10 more
Mine worked perfectly out the box. The manual has simple troubleshooting steps for these issues. You're supposed to pivot the inner/outer bars as opposed to bending the entire track so much. But this actually looked fun troubleshooting
There is so much empathy with Adam watching this.
11:05 That exact moment when the marble from below touches the marble from above and eats its momentum, that's hard to time, nice you got that one on camera.
Love the entusiasm and joy in your eyes when it all works out ❤
Adam Savage may be the only person on the whole planet saying "I don't want a Newton's cradle" while playing with some marbles :D
As an early backer (Kickstarter) and owner of this product, this video was fantastically entertaining to watch. Especially as an "old school" Mythbusters fan as well. A couple of points on the product Adam is testing here: Yes, when I received my copy of the product I did have to adjust the tracks slightly. Interestingly, I had to go through almost the exact same process as Adam did. First, there was an issue of marbles getting stuck. No problem. Found the trouble spot and adjusted the track very slightly to allow the marble to pass unobstructed. I suspect, however, that this adjustment caused the next issue which was marbles falling off the track. Mine only happened to about 1 in 25 marbles though, so I had to really watch closely. Once located, however, I did the same thing as Adam and slightly adjusted the outside rail of the track in order to keep the marble on it. Mine now works with 100% success. I see others below commenting about how easy it should be to make this product better than they believe it is. My only advice is to visit the campaign page and read the project updates. The creators of this product care about so many things and really did their best deliver both their vision and a solid product. So, hopefully as an actual owner of one of the devices I hope this serves as a more solid "review" than the speculators below. :)
Honestly, it’s one of the most interesting and unique puzzles out there.
I saw hints in the comments of a couple of these, but I'd begin here: 1. In marble run v2, make the rails slightly further apart to presumably elimnate the chance that the marble would escape sideways due to excessive velocity. 2. Before shipping out sets of balls, build a device at the factory to sort thousands of balls by size. Ship only CLOSE sizes with a given set to reduce inconsistency. 3. Adam, you went right into bending rails--but what if the center tower supporting everything was the only thing misaligned in the beginning? Seems like the start of an endless chase for alignment. :-) Aside from a bubble level which wouldn't seem precise enough, could there be a one-use leveling jig for the customer to use following shipping? Then have three feet on the base to tweak with screws (or just bend the tower), but I'd still argue this could be corrected with suggestion (1). All this is said having never built a marble run, but I've imagined doing so MANY times! :-)
12:05 - 12:30 Adam starts having a nerdgasm! 😂💀
Not sure if I should feel more or less nerdy that Adam also got excited about the cardboard quality and packaging
What ever heartburn the company may have had with Adam immediately tweaking the thing is completely outweighed by him being fascinated and playing with it. I'm not sure there's an amount of money that could have bought that shot.
To watch Adam in joyful fascination was a lovely moment to see. True to thought, fascination knows no age.
The look on your face at 18:06 after all the persistence and tweaking of the marble run. It just shows. You were _that_ kid. You were me.
Watching Adam get mesmerized by a thing you built must be one of the coolest feelings on the planet
This is so a one day build. So many things to show off, simply remarkable
OMG seeing Adam aged so much reminds me how time flies
To avoid 'Newton's cradle', at any given point on the track there must be slope 'downhill' that will cause a marble to start rolling. A tricky point may be that not all marbles are perfectly round
Hey, Boss. This one I can't fix. - Send it to Tested. But it's not working? - He'll fix it for the video. As a joke? - Sure.
@DavidLindes
3 ай бұрын
haha, indeed. 😂
Frustration knows no bounds 😂
Honestly I think that part of the joy of this kind of toy is the satisfaction of tweaking it until you get it to run perfectly and reliably. It's a fidget toy of sorts
Very satisfying sound of the marbles rolling down the track
I love the enjoyment he gets with problem solving!
What better example of the dichotemy between "good enough" and "perfect". I doubt this could ever be tuned to absolute perfection since tuning for 1 ball at a time might result in multi-ball sticking or the weight of 1 causing another to jump the track, etc. Add in different ball release intervals and the chaos of the real world is shown in all its glory :)
ooh Adam .... i loved watching your eyes back n forth following the marbles! so fun!
Spreading the tracks apart just a bit will help slow the marbles down. That’s a cool piece of art
the look on adams face when it would randomly jump the track was amazing
What a beautiful looking time sink.I love how it is mechanical and not electrical
I think it's because it is such a nice looking object that Adam really took the time to tune it. Nice job.
I'm way more impressed by the plier 9:44 that Adam uses to fix the toy than by the toy itself. now I need those pliers
When I was a kid the science centers and some malls around me had these kinetic pool call sculptures by George Rhoads. I'd watch them for as long as my parents or grandparents patients would last 😂
That machine became a perfect toy for any of us like Adam who likes to manipulate the world and devices around them... :) Making a machine work better, or as perfectly as it is capable of is actually hugely satisfying - this machine went up several notches in entertainment level immediately it had a marble stop somewhere! Cheers from Oz, I really like the manual operation, it's not just a battery powered thing that has no more operator input beyond fitting some batteries - mechanisms that do not use batteries are far too under-rated...
I used to sell these at work and they would always stop or jump the track at the exact same spots as your did. It’s honestly pretty validating watching Adam make the exact same tweaks to it that I did!
Adam, I love your work so much. I think this is one of my favorite videos in the channel, because we can just see your mind working. As a software developer, I just identified completely with what I do everyday
Watching Adam work with this thing is more interesting than actually owning one.
They need to ship him one, let him fix it and ship it back. Then rinse and repeat. He had way to much fun fixing it. lol.
the plier set you where using to adjust the marble run is one of my favorite sets. That set has so many good plier angles to use, worth every penny.
If I had paid for this myself and had this much trouble with it I would've been fuming but watching Adam tinker with it and try to fix it is so entertaining. The duality of content I suppose. Watching it is great, not so much the struggle if it was me.
I NEED THIS... for.. legitimate reasons... That will become evident.
I enjoyed Adam's enthusiasm even while tuning the track, and catching a bit of a grin cross his face as he pushed the lever down to load more marbles on the track.
Adjustment like this is basically what I do for a living on mechanical packing machines lol. Its so frustrating when only one in 100 fail
This was just mesmerizing to watch
Basically, manufacturer sends Adam Savage their product for UX testing, which then involves "Adam Savaging" the product to get it to work. 😂
If there was a video created to make someone want to buy that marble run, this is the opposite. I have never wanted a thing less than I want that after watching this.
The “Hey hey hey … doot” moment really resonated with me 🤣
That thing could keep my cat amussed for hours!
This is the perfect gift for you. You get to problem solve and tinker then enjoy.
I think tuning that marble run would be part of the joy of owning it. Or maybe that's just the tinkerer in me speaking.
I suggest marking some of the marbles that fall off and see if they are always the same ones with issues.
Just like a kid on Christmas morning. Pure joy!!!
Videos like this where you're clearly still a kid at heart are some of my favorite!
I could watch marble runs all day long.
@billted3323
2 ай бұрын
i really can't 😁
That little bit of sticky that is left from the corner that you initially need to peel up is easily removed by using the sticker itself. Put the sticker back over that small spot and quickly peel it back up a few times and it will remove any left over residue without leaving a single mark. You could also use something like Goo-Gone but then you also need to thoroughly clean it with glass cleaner afterwards.
As an engineer, I was (almost) screaming at the screen- No! Not that! Bend THAT!!!"
It is indeed a beatiful object, one that I would certainly enjoy futzing with for hours. Also, I suddenly feel the desire to watch the Marblympics again. Lol.
That awkward moment when you send something to an influential person hoping for a glowing endorsement, and the item craps the bed. So much for that potential sales bump.
I remember having a marble rollercoaster as a kid. You could build it and rebuild it in any pattern you wanted. I could spend hours getting it perfect, just to have to go to bed. In the morning the vinyl track would be out of tune again.
Maybe the glass is there to catch marbles that jump off the track.
@_Jester_
2 ай бұрын
Ya think?
@billted3323
2 ай бұрын
@@_Jester_ I thought it was just to keep it dust free
Because he is who he is, I bet he had so much more fun with it than he would had it come in perfect working order
i think this might be a masterpiece
They should have made a mechanism where you wind it up and each marble reaching the bottom would trigger the elevator to start the next one
Did I just watch Adam Savage play with a desk toy for 20 mins? Of course I did 😂
Adam tinkering with this marble run is very much up his alley
Your patiente to troubleshoot that is admirable!
Was also thinking about the marketing department going trough all the emotions watching this
Good to see you Adam..! 😊
I can see Adam playing with this for hours on end
Surprised the micrometer did not come out. I'm holding out for the glow in the dark marbles but still fun. Looks like Adam had more fun adjusting than just playing with new toy.
Thank you
Couldn't stop playing with my marbolous while watching this video!
Great job. Thank you 😊
often an objects purpose and actions coincide. For instance, if the goal was a distraction tool for your desk, it works as you were definitely distracted from your primary job. However, if the goal was to create a calm atmosphere for your mind to wander, it may not have reduced your tension level.
How many others of us watched to the end waiting to see Adam take the whole thing apart and make a better one with lights
The slow motion feature built into the camera on your phone could have probably helped you identify where the problem is without relying on the naked eye. You could probably even bank all the corners so the marbles go really fast. That is a very cool gadget.
The purrrfect toy for Adam... one that he must tinker and fiddle with to make it work how he wants.
Maybe the endless adjustment process is the product. It's like a puzzle!
Really nice to see something like this that doesn't require batteries.
*picking fragile sticker off* "S*&%t, i broke the glass" 😂😂
Perpetual motion machine - this machine you will be perpetually fixing 😂