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Some K'Nex 'Slot' Machines

Posted: Fri Mar 01, 2019 10:29 am
by oldvic
In 2010 I was at a car boot sale (here in the UK) when I spotted a box of interesting pieces which a boy was selling for £10. It was the construction toy K'Nex, which I'd never heard of.

I did some Googling and found out all I could about it. It was apparently the second most popular construction toy after Lego, but tiny in comparison. It's big in the US and Holland, not so much here.

As the owner of more than 30 old slot machines I decided that the first thing I'd make was a fruit machine! This enabled me to learn all about the techniques needed, but there were plenty of things which were clumsily done.

Here's a video of that first machine (the quality is awful, because I was using what was then a 10-year-old digital camera which didn't have a proper video function). It was loosely based on a Beromat mechanism:



I subsequently made an amusement machine:


and a coin pusher:


and then another amusement machine:


and then a smaller fruit machine:


and now I've just finished an even smaller fruit machine, using all the knowledge that I had acquired over the years.


As you can see, the word 'Slot' in the heading is in quotes because the machines actually work with balls!

Who knows─this might inspire some of you to do something similar!

Re: Some K'Nex 'Slot' Machines

Posted: Fri Mar 01, 2019 11:27 am
by treefrog
F@&k Me :shock: :shock: :shock:

That is extraordinary, wow wow wow. I know people make machines with Meccano, and remember posting some years ago, but this stuff...my nephew used to make machines with it years ago like giant fairground Ferris wheels...

Love the last bandit, sooo smooth like the Beromat....excellent, well done !!THUMBSX2!!

Re: Some K'Nex 'Slot' Machines

Posted: Fri Mar 01, 2019 12:08 pm
by arrgee
Oldvic that is incredible, well done it must have taken hours to construct those - my grandchildren play with k'nex and it's interesting how all those different shaped pieces can be joined together.

Absolutely great job, a lot of time and skill gone into those
**xXx** !!THUMBSX2!!

Re: Some K'Nex 'Slot' Machines

Posted: Fri Mar 01, 2019 1:55 pm
by john t peterson
In an earlier era, Vic, I think you could easily have been a head engineer for one of the leading slot/amusement machine companies.
Amazing job. Well done, Sir. !!THUMBSX2!!

J Peterson
Inventor appreciator, USA

Re: Some K'Nex 'Slot' Machines

Posted: Fri Mar 01, 2019 3:12 pm
by 13rebel
Oh wow! I'm gobsmacked, speechless and amazed. Congratulations sir on such achievements. Great that you kept us informed as to game play and operating procedure in an understandable manner. The only disappointing thing is that they make my collection look quite pathetic.

Re: Some K'Nex 'Slot' Machines

Posted: Fri Mar 01, 2019 8:18 pm
by gameswat
Awesomely mental! Lots of ingenuity going on with all your machines that really are more art than anything else. I especially like the sound of the 2nd video shown, the Ball game, the gentle click clacking reminds me of the kinetic sculpture wall piece in the shag pile spaceship of a certain Barbarella! I've always wanted to build one much like it but never seem to have any spare time.

Re: Some K'Nex 'Slot' Machines

Posted: Fri Mar 01, 2019 9:00 pm
by moonriver
Fantastic! Amazing and creative that make you want to play.

Re: Some K'Nex 'Slot' Machines

Posted: Tue Mar 05, 2019 2:29 am
by cait001
I'm blown away by these.

Re: Some K'Nex 'Slot' Machines

Posted: Tue Mar 05, 2019 7:05 am
by oldvic
Thank you all for your kind comments.

At the risk of revealing the degree of my nuttiness, photos and further details of the constructions can be found here.

Re: Some K'Nex 'Slot' Machines

Posted: Wed Mar 06, 2019 5:37 am
by bob
Absolutely stunning. Not only are the machines so ingeniously well made and work so well with the balls but the videos are also, with clear and well placed captions to make them easy to follow.
I'm totally blown away by these, impressive work beyond belief. And nice to see the progression over the years. Do keep us informed of future developments please.
It's great to know that there are people out there making stuff like this and also the original creations of luckystar and that these can be seen on this forum.
Keep up the great work and if there's anyone else out there building these sorts of machines do let us know about them on this forum, they are a joy to behold.