K'nex Ball Machine Maze Mania W/ Instructions

Hello! After building many ball machines from this site, I have finally created my own. This ball machine is about 2 feet 2.5 inches tall (0.67 meters tall) and 1 foot 1.5 inches wide (0.34 meters wide). This took about a day and a half to create. Maze Mania has 2 paths, each that have a maze in it. (Get it? It's called Maze Mania because all of the elements are mazes.) This is my first instructable and my first custom ball machine. If you would like to build this, then proceed to the next step. Make sure to follow all image notes, as there is some important information in them. If you make this, post a picture in the comments and I'll add it to the last step! Also, if anything isn't clear or if you have any questions, leave a comment and I will try to respond as soon as possible. I hope you enjoy!

You can't build this without all the pieces, can you? Here's the list of parts you'll need. All pieces are listed in the color I used, but you don't need to follow the color-code.

Rods

Blue Rods: 293

Yellow Rods: 112

Green Rods: 155

White Rods: 82

Red Rods: 7

Connectors

Blue 3-D Connectors: 106

Gray 3-D Connectors: 178

Green Connectors: 1

Orange Connectors: 32

Gray Connectors: 5

Purple Connectors: 23

White Connectors: 19

Red Connectors: 32

Yellow Connectors: 70

Special

Chain Links: 49

Black Y-Clips: 6

Blue Clips: 5

Tan Clips: 2

Red Gears: 6

Motor (Newer Green One): 1

Purple Flexi-Rod (Optional): 1

Blue Spacer: 24

Silver Spacer: 23

Older K'nex Balls: 2

Grand Total

1,333 Pieces

This is the easiest part of this ball machine. Just build what you see. Keep the connectors in picture 5 open! (This allows the chain to pass through them.)

Phew! That was a big step! Give yourself a pat on the back if you finished this step. You deserve it! Make sure to read all of the image notes here, because there are a lot of things to pay attention to. Now, onto the next (and a smaller) step!

A quick step. The final connection of the chain on the machine is a bit tight, but if you add a link the chain can't carry the balls. Only 1 more step before the paths!

This is another big step. But now it's time for the paths! Yay! If you roll a ball down the path 2 return track now, it might fall out of the ball queue. This problem is fixed later. Onto the next step!

At last, it's time for the paths! Path 1 is a maze that the ball randomly falls through. This was first used on the Trampoline Tower, but since I don't have that set, I used instructions from Sorunome's project Fab.The 2 wheels are optional. If you choose to use them, you need to manually push them away from the edges of the maze. If you try to fix them in 1 place, the balls will get stuck. Now it's time for the last step!

This is the last, but coolest, path on the machine. On this path, the ball rolls through the Plinko Board and then onto a track that takes the ball back to the return track. I bet you're wondering what those orange connectors are for. I'll tell you: At first with this board, I had nothing where those orange connectors were, so the ball fell through at times. I attempted to fix this problem, but the ball would just get stuck every time. I thought that the ball was just going to have to fall through, but when I put the connectors on, they pushed the ball back onto the track without the ball getting stuck. I call it the Tassel Block because they look like tassels and it blocks the ball. I'm sorry for the blurry pictures in this section. But, you just finished! Great job!

Great job on completing Maze Mania! I would like to thank any ball machine builder that saw some of their work here. If you have any questions or if something's not clear in the instructions, just leave a comment. Also, if you build this, put a picture in the comments and I'll add it to this step! Thanks for viewing, and I hope you enjoyed!