Wood Trick Wooden Marble Run Spiral Electric Motorized - Wooden 3D Puzzles for Adults and Kids to Build - 13x13 - Roller Coaster Mechanical Wooden Model Kits for Adults and Teens to Build

The media could not be loaded. I have assembled many 3D marble run puzzles and this was one of the best. Have plenty of patience and don’t force parts together. They are made to fit well and snug. Save your fingers using long needle nose and regular pliers to push the parts all the way together. Sand all parts especially the front and rear of the elevator boxes and their stems. Wax all parts well that move against each other. Study the instruction pictures closely to get your parts in the correct position. Look closely as there are very small numbers and letters on the parts showing their proper connection to another. With my 80 yr. old eyes I needed a magnifying glass to see these letters and numbers. After proper assembly the puzzle will like all others need some adjustments for the marbles to run through the puzzle without getting stuck or coming off the marble runs. The only thing I really needed to fix was the problem of the marbles coming off the track at the turn at the bottom of the last long downhill run before the marble collection area. The marbles pick up speed on this steep downhill run with some ending up on the floor. As seen in the video I constructed fences out of the scrape wood and attached them to both sides of the marble track before and after the last corner. Using the scrape wood I was able to make these parts and stain them to look like they came with the puzzle. You can use anything to make a fence that will just keep the marbles from leaving the track. Over all this was a great puzzle for anyone to add to their collection. Have plenty of patience, don’t rush to finish it, and you will be extremely satisfied with the workings of this project.

A part broke during construction and the company replaced it at no cost.

I absolutely loved building this wooden 3D marble run puzzle—it was intricate, detailed, and took forever in the best way. The assembly process was a total joy. Unfortunately, it broke the very first time I tried to run a marble through it. I’ve tried to fix it with no luck so far, which is disappointing because I really love this piece. It’s beautiful and satisfying to build, but I wish it were just a little sturdier so I could enjoy it in motion too.

First thing I noticed when I saw this was the stair-step method used to take the marbles upward. That was not only one of the highlights of this run but also the most challenging sections to make run smoothly. I've done several smaller Wood Trick and other puzzles. This was my fifth level 5. I stayed away from this one because of the reviews. Especially when it came to the pistons and the push rods. I over waxed the first try with the steps. I used a 400 grit sand paper. The surfaces were smooth as can be. The first try everything was too tight. The steps would go up but were far too tight to come back down. I removed the wax from the steps,(that was really fun!), and then I sanded the heck out of them all with 150 grit to remove enough of the material so they would sit in the frame and move freely. Once I got that taken care of I was really nervous about the rods jamming or failing as I had read in the reviews. I took the "unit" and just played with it for about an hour or so. I did that till it moved smoothly in both directions. Then I snapped it in and turned the page. There were some tricky sections to work with but none as difficult as the stairs. Once I finished the build I just put it down. I started fresh the next day. It took a bit of tweaking but it was mostly lining things up or a tight area here and there. After about 45 minutes or so it was up and running. I can watch it run for hours. The designers really know what they are doing. The way all of this comes together is amazing to me no matter how many of these puzzles I work on.As usual with this type of "Puzzle", I would not recommend this for a child. As many say the fun is in the build so TAKE YOUR TIME, "the fun lasts longer". If details is not your thing, this puzzle is not for you.While I'm waiting for the soreness in my fingers to go away from working on this thing I'll start looking for another puzzle. This was a great project to work on. I would purchase this again.

This is a really cool project with one exception the lifting arm drops the ball every time before it gets to the top. What a bummer.