Marble Run Stepped Hoist

It was great, fantastic!!

The Marble Run Stepped Hoist was great fun to build and operate. The mechanism is delightful. Congratulations, UGears on your creativity and kit execution. I’m hooked!

This is a brilliant model! It works beautifully. I built it in odd moments over 6 weeks, taking my time and making sure I sanded and waxed parts exactly as in the instructions. Assembling it is quite addictive but also surprisingly restful. The pictorial instructions are very clear and emphasise where extra care is needed. Once it was completed, it needed a few minor adjustments to make it fully reliable, but that is true of all complex working systems, and is part of the fun! I play with it every day, fascinated by its three marble routes: a fast marble hammer, a medium zig-zag and a slow spiral. I have put 3 other Ugears models on my Christmas list. Great job Ugears!

I had a lot of fun building this kit, and it works really smoothly. I’m impressed by the precision of the laser cutting and the way it clicks together - though occasionally a bit of force is required to get the joints fully home.

I was a bit confused by the marbles - the instructions indicated that the counterweights were 16mm diameter but I couldn’t see any obvious difference between them, certainly not without calipers )which I don’t have). Are there different sizes? If so perhaps a gauge hole to identify them would help.

I’m thinking of building another (or maybe 3!) to work together. Are all 4 different designs compatible in any combination? And when they are connected does a single handle operate them all?

Thanks for these incredibly creative models!

Fabulous marble run kit with a great variety of obstacles for the marbles to get through and clever mechanisms throughout. The included wax “crayon” is very effective at reducing friction between the wooden parts, and I was surprised by how smooth it all moved at the end! However, I’d just like to point out that, at the bottom of the run where the main lift picks up the marbles, the stopper that prevents marbles from running off the track isn’t very effective and simply knocks them off the run (an issue that could have been solved had an extra wall been placed to the side of that stopper piece). I ended up doing just that by taping a spare piece where it needed to go, which now practically lets it work almost flawlessly. Almost.

Looks nice, fun to put together, but does not work. Also after sanding and putting grease on gears, there is too much friction. Would not recommend this kit.

Just finished this model, my third. The step hoist doesn’t rise high enough to deposit the marble for the downward run. I’ve studied the assembly in great detail and everything looks correct. Any suggestions?

Several hours of gentle releasing parts, waxing, snapping together and I have a finished model....and it works!! Excellent step by step guides, incredible complexity for such a simple idea and surprisingly smooth operation for an entirely wooden marble run. It was fascinating watching it all come together as I was building it. I'm now off to build the chain hoist model and then stick them together. Hoping for 2 more variations in the range to get a full 4 runs going. Incredible design skills in your team!

This was our Christmas present together with the the chain hoist one. They’re both amazing and work great. I can understand they’re advanced to build but we’ve built a few models from you before and can confirm they work marvellously if instructions are adhered to. Thanks for making the holiday season special and bringing people together. Our kids love these machines.

I bought 2 complimentary marble models and gave them as Christmas gifts to our son and granddaughter. Both are tech-ys and I thought that they'd enjoy doing these together. I haven't polled them yet to inquire how they made out. I should do that soon, right??? lol But I'm confident that they had a great time assembling them.