How to Make a Rube Goldberg

A Rube Goldberg, a machine or invention of some kind that takes a number of usually complex steps to accomplish a simple task, can be a fun idea to enter into a school science fair, or simply a fun way to spend your time during the summer.

Difficulty: Moderate

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Large particle board
• Toys cars
• Toilet paper tubes
• Yo-yo
• Marbles
• Scissors
• Weeds
• Mouse traps
• Wood scraps
• Glue
• Nails

1. Decide what you want the Rube Goldberg to do. Do you want to catch a mouse, light a match, crack an egg or cut a weed? You name it; just make it simple.

2. Set a goal for how many steps you want this Rube Goldberg to take. The current World Record is 354 steps and took 3000 hours to build. Can you beat that?

3. Decide on a theme, if you like. For instance, you may want a "toy theme", meaning everything you use to initiate steps and progress it towards the final goal has to be a toy or toy related. Picking a theme will force you to be creative.

4. Write down your ideas and begin drawing the design. Be as creative as possible. You can start by pushing a car down a ramp, maybe the car hits a marble and the marble rolls down a toilet paper tube. At the end of the tube it drops into a cup attached to a string. Under the weight of the car, the cup sinks to the bottom, knocking over a domino that sets off all the other dominoes, which, at the end, tips over a bottle of juice that pours into a cup. The ideas are limitless.

5. Get particle board from a lumber yard. Make sure it is big enough to hold all of the steps, yet easy enough to transport.

6. Begin building your idea, making sure you start at the very corner and zig-zag back and forth across the board until you end in the opposite corner. That way you will have all the space on the board you need.

Tips & Warnings

• Do a search online for Rube Goldbergs. Colleges have official contests every year and you can get great ideas for them. Mostly, they are just fun to watch.
• Be careful to build it one step at a time, going in order, and testing those steps out before continuing. You don't want to finish it only to have it not work halfway through.