Building Guidelines for Annual Machine Madness Event

On Saturday, November 8, we're inviting inventors to build a contraption at home that can be linked to creations made by fellow participants. The result will be an incredible chain reaction from one end of our Community Room to the other! The sixth annual Machine Madness event is open to people of all ages and mechanical abilities.

Arrive with your machine between 1 and 1:30 p.m. We'll spend about an hour adjusting and linking the machines, and at 2:30 p.m. we will make our first attempt at a chain reaction. Here are a the guidelines:

• Your "link in the chain" should be no more than 2 feet wide and no more than 4 feet long.
• Your machine must begin and end by a string pull. Be sure that it takes no more force than the hanging weight of a golf ball to start your link, and that it ends by pulling a string with enough force to lift a golf ball several inches.
• Your link must be repeatable (you may need to reset it).

 

Need help with your machine? Join us for: Machine Madness Pre-Build Sunday, October 19 12 a.m. - 4 p.m. Bring your engineering skills and creativity and work with other families to create links for this year's Machine Madness event—or bring in the machine you have started at home to get some new ideas to help you finish. Materials will be provided, but feel free to bring some of your own. The classroom will be open on a walk-in basis from noon to 4 p.m. on Sunday, October 19. No registration required. Free with Museum admission.

 

What's a Machine Madness Event look like? Here's a video story about a recent event: