Find the MAGIC - and bring it forward 

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.

Imagine the giant flywheel was actually a giant Wilson

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

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

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.

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.

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

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!

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 !

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

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

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

Hannes is having hard time believing that Martin isn't just fooling around :P

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!!

I think this whole process is really showing why there’s a design specialist working with an engineer for most product development, instead of one person trying to do all these roles.

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.

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

you should go to Eurovision with this

Man, I love Hannes. It's so fun watching him and Martin having fun with the planning process. He's a great hype man too, and good at telling Martin what he needs to hear, as well.

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.

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.

If you have a light on the front of the big fly wheel to project a big shadow on the wall behind you that would been really cool to see the shadow spinning. Please upvote so he sees.

I must say, this is much more interesting than everything being in one straight line. The angles definitely help.

It's great seeing you enjoy the early design process. I feel like you're recapturing the joy of the first machine in these models.

This is perfect content. Music - engineering - art - humor and genuine wholesome friendship, I love this so much

This process, your chemistry with Johannes, the adorable miniature, the rockin' guitar solo. This was a ton of fun to watch! So happy to be supporting you.

Love the flywheel. Run the numbers on one twice as big. Also, you were absolutely playing.. and it's one of the best things I've seen in months. Playing means you're having fun. If you're having fun, other people will also have fun. That's what this project is all about.

It's good to see you coming back to the 'art' side of things, and having fun again. The technical aspects are important, but this has always been an art project. You kind of forgot that for a while, and it's good to see it coming back.

more martin playing with cardboard!

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.

This video reminded me of Spaceballs, the 1987 movie. A scene where Dark Helmet plays with dolls and gets cought by his second in command...

If you want a large decorative wheel behind you make it it out of light material like plywood so it's less of a danger, there's no reason you can't have the actual flywheel in a safer more secure position and just have decorations powered off it.

I love this energy so much! Sure there's safety concerns that will have to be addressed, and new engineering problems to solve but honestly, the magic is the most important thing and no amount of good engineering can produce something magical without the inspiration of an artist.

At 11:07 , what a nice shot of the marble machine X. Planetary gears are so visually pleasing.

Love how at 10:27 neither can keep a straight face at Martin's claim and they both just lose. it.

Given that the band will be senior citizens by the time this machine is actually tour-ready, Martin should be designing room for their chairs and walkers.

Creations like these are treasures for ever. Hope to see it in my life time

used to have a marble machine "I believe" poster in my room but I start to believe less and less about seeing it live one day.. Please Martin, make it happen

Hi Martin! I've been thinking, what if you add an unexpected twist to your decor with fluorescent marbles? Picture this: they're concealed from view, only to be revealed under a black light. So, during a special song, we could switch off the regular lights, activate the black light, and voilà! A stunning, glowing surprise that will surely captivate everyone.

Be awesome if you could scoop up a handful of marbles live during the show and pour them back into the machine

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.

This has been a really fun video, I was dubious coming into it because I miss the prototyping/fabrication videos, but you've made a beautiful model that looks like it's going to translate into real life in a really wonderful way. Find the magic, and bring it forward, godspeed!

Those flywheels in the back should be very safe. You probably need an emergency break, encapsulate(like having glass walls around it or something) the flywheel so that nobody gets hurt by accidentally getting close to the flywheel, etc...

I want a song called, "The Marbles on the floor". It has to be! 😅

I love that you figured out the need for a catwalk and how that impacts the marbles this early in the process. It warms my UX heart knowing you have a much more solid understanding and picture of what you'll eventually build. You will eventually have to do some compromises further down the road but this at least is one less obstacle for tomorrow and exactly what this type of prototyping is for. Keep it up!

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.

I love that you're acting by following a plan that points to great success. I hope everything goes fantastic in the future so we can all enjoy the collective work that y'all have done.

One of the cool things about the old machines was their compactness + intricacy. You could walk around it and keep discovering new things. PLS don't lose that!

A concert like that would absolutely be the most impressive to watch! Your cardboard approach is an amazing exercise, doing all these iterations in a 15min video exposing various design requirement that otherwise would take weeks to show with real prototyping or CADing

Don't forget to consider kg/cm³ loads for each of the venues on your world tour.

This channel is moving from engineering to madness. What about form form from function? What about modular design? What about intensive module testing? What about top level design based on function? I'll keep on watching, but I gave up expecting a real, working product.

Make big flywheel look like wilson!

I really love seeing just having fun and letting the creative juices flow, letting the machine do what the machine wants

That is an interesting mock-up of the intended layout. Great concepts on display here, if you pull this off, it will be insanely cool.

Just a bit dangerous. Imagine stepping on the runaway marbles, and falling in the giant flywheel. Instant chopped meat. But, actually really spectacular...

I see the artist finally taking precedence over the engineer, FINALLY LET'S DREAM

Ottmar Mergenthaler didn't get the Linotype perfect in the first go 'round either. Invented in 1886 and still being used today in some printshops. It's a marvel of watch-making know how and imagination to this day and doesn't have a single computer chip or piece of plastic on it. And fun to operate, I might add!

I'm loving your energy in these videos Martin! So good to see you exploring freely with these prototype models.

"It's been a deliberate design process" "XD"

I was not convinced by the split marble machine (i loved the intricate, compact, first two machines) but you just convinced me with this simulation. The scene is beautiful ❤

I mean, doing serious work while having fun is the best thing tbh !

It sparks fear, fear of you losing an arm in the giant flywheel.

Consider 1. What will you put on the big screen? How will the camera booms help the audience interact with the machine? 2. Should you put the band on a different stage? Lower? Out on a walkway? Above the machine? 3. In your original video, you had the idea of a black marble that you follow through the machine…. How to have the audience experience the machine? Could you have the machine rotate? I don’t think the cardboard gets to the bottom of some of these questions, you need a cyclic design process, prototype, build, evaluate, prototype. In my experience you can over-plan a project, projects fail most often because of tight monolithic integration. Loose coupling is really what you need my friend. You will never predict and plan all the problems with a marble machine on the road unless you GO ON THE ROAD! (Albeit with a smaller machine). Different stages will have different issues, so you need a system that’s flexible. I think you need a marble recycler that can hook up a lot of different attachments, that way you can go on tour with just the xylophone, work out the bugs, etc. performing brings such joy! Don’t let the perfect be the enemy of the good!

I like this step away from last year's embracement of Elon Musk's philosophy of "Your design requirements are dumb, so make them less dumb," I love that you are embracing that this feat of engineering is also about creative expression and while a design requirement might be dumb, the purpose of the machine is to be aesthetically pleasing, rather than just performing a function.

I know the stuff you were doing here was legit part of the design process, but I like that you took some time to be goofy as well, that's the best kind of video SuperVinlin

Thank you for bringing it back to the marbles, the art, the fun, and the machine. BTW, I love the huge flywheel, it reminds me of the large, slow-spinning fans for ventilation that were common in dark sci-fi.

Put the 2 sides on a curved rail and a U-Joint for power delivery, then swing them out to 30 and in to 45 degrees while they are playing as you walk toward the stage.

I LOVE HOW THIS LOOKS!. I was always here for the engineering, now i NEED to see it live

I'm so glad to see you and Hannes laughing and actually enjoying thd process.

Have you tried swapping the stuff on the left to the right-hand side and the stuff on the right to the left-hand side? That way the 2 marble lifts point up towards the new super flywheel and form a sort of triangle shape. This should also open up the space in the front a bit.

I don't think Martin will read this but I'll try to get the message accross: Maybe before (or after, depends of your perspective) should there be a very light slope so marble floors get out of the way. Stepping on a marble can be a huge hazard for a guy focused in something else. Just an angled plywood would be enough and can be used to place the machine correctly.

I'm here for the steady descent into and through madness.

"Decapitated by giant flywheel during music concert" will be a novel cause of death for the medical examiner's list.

Im so glad you are using cardboard and having fun with rapid iterations, versus building these massive machines that sometimes dont work out lol. Great job!

In the first wintergatan marble machine videos he got almost Half a million of views and the comments were all like «wow!» «love this» «amazing looking machine», but now he gets not even close to that and they’re all like «you should this» «you should that» «this isnt safe». Wintergatan is now a parody of itself.

Yes! Lots of threads you have been pursuing feel to have come together. I love how the band was included.

Hannes the puppetmaster made me laugh so hard 🤣🤣🤣

Not sure it would look best but try putting the whole band in the middle, it would give you more space to move around and i fell like it would look less cramped

Seeing the model, I am thinking this machine might be considered OSHA violation. Hopefully you are going to put protective guards and lockouts on everything.

Martin went from a young spritely man to a worn out grandad and back to a spritely youth again! woohoo xD

10:20 Most serious brainstorming session:

Damn, I did not expect the dropoff in patrons from 10k to 500, that's insane. I get that many might have been turned off by the idea when Martin killed Marble Machine X, but a 95% drop off? That I did not expect. Thanks to all previous backers and an even bigger one to the people who stuck with it. It's thanks to you that I've been able to enjoy this journey since 2016.

If that HUGE wheel doesn't end up looking like WILSON, I am not coming to your shows.

The problem with really big machines is the shipping. When you make everything bigger you have to pay more for shipping

If you are using Bowden Cables from the programming wheel, you can have a different angle from instruments to programming wheel. It is the great part about modular design, it doesn't have to be linear. Just an option.. we believe in you!!

I cant wait to go to a concert and see marbles running around a fancy track

Funnels despite not being very efficient, are very satisfying and beautiful to look at. They are also a staple in all things Marbles related. I cant help but notice a "giant funnel" when i see that plate full of marbles ( 8:58 ). Doesnt it look cool a HUGE funnel

Just building and rebuilding was fun to watch. This is like watching paint dry.

Martin, I have missed seeing you and Hanns having a good time together on screen! I'm loving how this is turning out from a visual perspective, though I'm sure there's plenty still to do on the functionality and (no doubt) safety . I have concerns of a rogue marble bouncing into you mid solo, especially when you consider how many stages flex slightly during a performance (they're often a big trampoline when everyone is rocking out!) Make sure you take that into account for your safety :)

I don't think the big flashy flywheel should actually be used to store energy. Keep that part down below where it can be surrounded by safety barriers. It might seem a bit dishonest to have a purely aesthetic wheel behind you, but it's the only way to do it safely.

You look so happy! I have been hurting to see that.

I think you are on the right track, you are designing a stage show after all so the machine needs to act as the set as well as a music maker. My problem with the whole thing is that you have designed a machine that effectively makes the band redundant. Perhaps you will have sections of the show when the machine is playing and sections where the band is playing and sections where both are contributing. If so then the band needs more space and prominence during the sections where it is just the band. Perhaps consider platforms behind and above the machine for when the band plays along with the machine. Different levels always work well, and the possibility for silhouettes of the band members as they play is also a plus. I say put the band first and design the machine around them and their needs.

The marbles should definitely go the other way, so the step/runaway looks like "tivoli stairs" (I could see them in my mind but had to google a lot to find the name). So the steps widen and the marbles flow round it in smooth curves. Maybe can the instruments be "flipped" to change the catch position for those notes to the outside? I LOVE how much fun you're having and you're energy xx

Im so excited for the first video of this marble machine working

Now make the marbles glow in the dark for a suprise segment in the concert when all other stage light go dark!🤩

There is a universe where 3 months ago before you halted progress and took a step back to design, you kept going and made marble machine 2.0 2.0. So glad you have done this, it's teaching me alot.

I'm beginning to really like the overall design you prototyped here. Love the huge flywheel, because it hits a nice sweet spot between form from function and artistic expression.

Maybe, make a working scale version of the machine? You won't be able to make any music on it, but you can use small ball bearings as your scale, and 3DPrint/CNC a tabletop version of the marble machine that functions, not just paper. This way you can use all the cad you make without having to use significantly more material and time to troubleshoot issues as they arise. And as a bonus, once you get things working at small scale, you can sell kits as merch as the project progresses.

Yo Hannes is looking fit! Nice work man 🎉

With the right lighting, the shadow of the flywheel could be projected on a screen behind, making it look a lot larger visually