In this project we’ll show you how to light up your marble run and motorize it with an Adafruit Crickit.

 

The tracks are fully 3d printed and designed by Tulio Laanen – It uses a worm style elevator to lift ball bearings up the the top of the tracks.

 

This impressive design is 3D printed in a single part. We design a base to fit the electronics and components! 

The Adafruit Crickit drives a gearbox DC motor to turn the elevator, while the LED strips illuminate the tracks and animate different effects.

 

You can also use the on-board sensors to trigger other components like additional servos, solenoids or even electromagnets. We can it interactive using sound, temperature and more!

 

 

Prerequisite Guides

There's resources in these guides that go beyond what's covered in this tutorial. MakeCode guide is all about setting up your Circuit Playground Express board. TheCircuit Playground Express introduction guide walks you through all of the pinouts, sensors and everything you need to know.

Parts

You can find the list of all parts used to make this project linked below!

 

Top down view of a Adafruit CRICKIT for Circuit Playground Express with a circular board connected.
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Out of Stock
A Black woman's manicured hand holds a round microcontroller with lit up LEDs.
Circuit Playground Express is the next step towards a perfect introduction to electronics and programming. We've taken the original Circuit Playground Classic and...
$24.95
In Stock
TT Motor All-Metal Gearbox
These durable (but affordable!) gearbox motors (also known as 'TT' motors) are an easy, low-cost way to get your projects moving. This is a TT DC All-Metal Gearbox...
$5.95
In Stock
Angled shot of 3 x AA battery holder with 2.1mm plug. There are three AA batteries in the holder.
Here's another addition to our growing family of AA battery holders. A holder for three (3) AA batteries!...
$2.95
In Stock
Adafruit NeoPixel UV LED Strip flickering all LEDS
What new iteration of NeoPixel strip is this? Roll out the black light and disco ball! It's an Adafruit...
$19.95
In Stock
Angled shot of Premium Male/Male Jumper Wires - 40 x 3 (75mm)
Handy for making wire harnesses or jumpering between headers on PCB's. These premium jumper wires are 3" (75mm) long and come in a 'strip' of 40 (4 pieces of each of...
$3.95
In Stock
Panel Mount Extension USB Cable - Micro B Male to Micro B Female
Check out this handy MicroUSB extension cable, which will make it easy for you to enclose a device that has a B type (micro USB host) port. Great if you need to extend the USB...
$4.95
In Stock
Breadboard-friendly SPDT Slide Switch
These nice switches are perfect for use with breadboard and perfboard projects. They have 0.1" spacing and snap in nicely into a solderless breadboard. They're easy to switch...
$0.95
In Stock
Filament for 3D printers in various colors and types stacked together.
Having a 3D printer without filament is sort of like having a regular printer without paper or ink.  And while a lot of printers come with some filament there's a good chance...
Out of Stock
3 x M3 x 6mm
Crickit enclosure mount screws
2 x M3 x 25mm
TT motor Screws

Prerequisite Guides

If you're new to Adafruit CRICKIT, Circuit Python and soldering, take a moment to walk through the following guides to get you started.

This guide was first published on Sep 05, 2018. It was last updated on Mar 08, 2024.

This page (Overview) was last updated on Mar 08, 2024.

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