Fortress

This was an incredible project. The laser cut ply board is some of the finest plywood I have worked. Their precision laser cuts are spot on. As I built the kit I continued to be fascinated with the engineering that goes into mechanical kits like this one. It is fun, it is rewarding and most certainly will boost your confidence level. My neurologist prescribed this EXACT kit to help work my fine motor skillsI am a wheelchair dude that has a serious neurological disease. My hands shake and parts fly! My wife picked up so many TINY parts off the floor. My point is if I can build it.... you can as well.

Quick Summary: Terrific sturdy contraption that is a feast for the eyes. Build will be lengthy but with patience comes its just rewards.I'm a big fan of building contraptions and having gadgets that you can see work before your eyes. This ROKR 3D Wooden Puzzle-Mechanical Model-Wooden Craft Kit is a perfect contraption for kids and adults to own and enjoy watching. It's completely hand driven (no batteries) so if built correctly, you'll be able to watch this contraption run as long as you're cranking the winch. The entire build is made with wood and the material is sturdy, and it measures approximately 8"x9" give or take.During the build process, I unfortunately broke one part but it was a tiny piece the size of a grain of rice and luckily they have plenty of spares; probably assuming users might break this part a lot so better to have extras than only one piece. The build did take a LONG time and it does get pretty tedious with the tiny parts, especially when inserting many tiny pieces in. They provide all the material you need and you don't need any of your own tools to help build this. They also provide some wax as a lubricant in some of the gear pieces so it can run smooth as well as a piece of sandpaper to carefully wipe away any splinters, so that's useful. Your nails will get a bit sore overall but once you have it all complete, it is totally worth it.Once it was complete, running the contraption was a piece of cake and enjoyable to watch the balls run continuously over and over. Depending on how you build, you might notice sometime that the ball stops but just adjust the piece that is not positioned correct and it'll fix the issue no problem. Running it for a couple minutes had no issues with anything breaking and is a perfect eye catcher for visitors. An interesting thing about this contraption is there's actually multiple routes the balls can go so every time a ball passes through, it'll change every time.If you're a fan of building and even Rube Goldberg-like contraptions, this gift is a perfect gift for you or your family builder.

Awesome design, beautiful engineering, excellently machined. I had fun putting it together and the finished product is a nice shown piece. Fairly relaxing to watch it run. Couple of points:1.You need to do it slowly and patiently, if you are the sort who gets easily frustrated, stay away2.Follow the instructions carefully. They are all visual instructions which could be printed a bit larger. I placed one slab in a flipped position in the base and had to disassemble a bit to correct it. As an aside if a part of the construction is not fitting, it is because you made a mistake.3.The accessible support videos could be better, they are very fast and not easy to play slowly.Never the less it is a good challenge leading to a nice show piece.

To date, I have purchased and constructed three of the ROKR 3D mechanical puzzles: The Locomotive LK701, The Marble Parkour (Marble Run) LG501, and the Marble Climber (Marble Run) LG504. I have also been given the Pendulum Clock LK501 which I have yet to assemble.The description provided for these kits states, “Best Gifts for Adults & Teens Age 14+”. To provide my perspective as I started these projects, I have retired after a working life as a civilian Instrument Mechanic (Optical) / machinist working with the US Navy. So, I am not totally unfamiliar with mechanics and the construction of physical items.1. The quality of the detailed cutting of the pieces for these kits is excellent. Removing the pieces from their sheets was easily done, as was the cleaning of the minor tailings from where they were attached.2. For the most part, the assembly was easily done as well. The instructions for most of the steps is clear. Some of the more intricate steps were not so much. With help from the YouTube videos available, I was able to figure out what was to be done. For some reason, I was not able to find the assembly videos that were promised to be available at the ROKR website. For this reason, I believe that giving these kits for a Teen Age 14+ to assemble without assistance would be optimistic.3. Many of the pieces require a significant amount of effort to push them together. This would not be a problem except for the fragility of some of the pieces. This combination leads to some breakage. While some of the parts on the sheets have duplicates, the ones which I broke during construction were not duplicated.4. After assembly, the models work well once “tuned” properly. They are somewhat fragile however.Suggestions: Were I to attempt another build of one of these kits, as I will at some point with the Pendulum Clock, I would make a to scale paper copy of each of the part sheets. If / When one of the pieces breaks, it will then be possible to reconstruct the part using the left-over part sheet material. For example, I was forced to make some “freehand” pieces of the lift mechanism for the LG504 “Tower Coaster” in order to get it to work.It would also be advisable to have a tube of super glue to repair some of the pieces which fracture upon assembly, and to hold pieces which are not quite as snug as they should be.I have much enjoyed assembling these kits, and with the caveats above being considered, would recommend them to anyone who enjoys working with their hands and constructing fun things. I hope that this summary of my experience is of help and interest, and that those who choose these kits have as much fun with them as I have had.jef steele

The project was time consuming and a good way to make you think.The pieces don't always go into place easily though.