3 ms·

Sounds like a pretty authentic engineering experience then.

krasin 5y ago
Yes. But kids like to be exposed to the joy of engineering first. It's otherwise hard for them to justify the pain that's required to get to the joy of success.
- jacobolus 5y ago
  Did you try putting the little “high-friction washers” on the gear pieces?
  - krasin 5y ago
    Sadly, by the time I discovered the community improvements / hacks, my kids lost all the interest. Hopefully, Spintronics would be more reliable, given that the author is well aware of the unreliability issue with Turing Tumble.
    - jacobolus 5y ago
      They shipped the little washers in the box, with the recommendation to use them when connecting 2 gear bits, but leave them off when connecting 3 gear bits. My impression is that the main design flaw with Turing Tumble is the steep board angle, and it would have worked a bit better if designed for a 45° (or something) board. That and using heavier rotating parts with a bit higher moment of inertia. But I think it’s still great despite the occasional malfunctioning part. As for frustrated kids: I think interaction with an adult who could notice parts sometimes malfunctioning (and correct them on the spot) would probably help forestall some frustration. But my kid is only 4.5 so we have to do the puzzles together.
      - krasin 5y ago
        They didn't ship with mine! :) Probably, an update to a later version. I don't know?
    - spoonjim 5y ago
      Where can I find the community hacks?
      - krasin 5y ago
        https://community.turingtumble.com/ https://community.turingtumble.com/ Specific thread that I had read at the time is https://community.turingtumble.com/t/crossovers-dont-work-or-balls-fall-off/1158 https://community.turingtumble.com/t/crossovers-dont-work-or... While my memory is fuzzy, it was indeed crossovers which caused majority of undeterminism, at least in the set I had. There are some alternative 3d-printable implementations if you walk by the links there. I didn't try.

Yes. But kids like to be exposed to the joy of engineering first. It's otherwise hard for them to justify the pain that's required to get to the joy of success.

jacobolus 5y ago
Did you try putting the little “high-friction washers” on the gear pieces?
- krasin 5y ago
  Sadly, by the time I discovered the community improvements / hacks, my kids lost all the interest. Hopefully, Spintronics would be more reliable, given that the author is well aware of the unreliability issue with Turing Tumble.
  - jacobolus 5y ago
    They shipped the little washers in the box, with the recommendation to use them when connecting 2 gear bits, but leave them off when connecting 3 gear bits. My impression is that the main design flaw with Turing Tumble is the steep board angle, and it would have worked a bit better if designed for a 45° (or something) board. That and using heavier rotating parts with a bit higher moment of inertia. But I think it’s still great despite the occasional malfunctioning part. As for frustrated kids: I think interaction with an adult who could notice parts sometimes malfunctioning (and correct them on the spot) would probably help forestall some frustration. But my kid is only 4.5 so we have to do the puzzles together.
    - krasin 5y ago
      They didn't ship with mine! :) Probably, an update to a later version. I don't know?
  - spoonjim 5y ago
    Where can I find the community hacks?
    - krasin 5y ago
      https://community.turingtumble.com/ https://community.turingtumble.com/ Specific thread that I had read at the time is https://community.turingtumble.com/t/crossovers-dont-work-or-balls-fall-off/1158 https://community.turingtumble.com/t/crossovers-dont-work-or... While my memory is fuzzy, it was indeed crossovers which caused majority of undeterminism, at least in the set I had. There are some alternative 3d-printable implementations if you walk by the links there. I didn't try.