Knex Ball Machine

K'nex Ball Machines are Rube Goldberg-like contraptions where balls go up lifts and back down through a variety of different paths.

Lifts
Lifts are the motorized mechanisms used to carry balls up.

The earliest known K'nex lift was in the Big Ball Factory, where a chain with claws for picking the balls at the bottom of the machine was connected by pairs of gears, powered by a motor. Sometimes a third pair of gears is added to a chain to prevent it from shaking. There are many more diverse lifts designed by K'nexers. When is more than one lift working to get a ball to the top, it is called a "network". When a ball machine has multiple networks, that means that from one network, a path could lead the balls to another network entirely, and more paths. Here are some more lifts.



Paths
Paths are the ways the ball gets back to the start of a network.

Paths consist of tracks connecting "elements", such as a spiral staircase of a full loop made out of tubing. Elements are the most fun part of a ball machine, but difficult to construct. Here are some more elements.