HEXBUG 406-4207-00GL04 VEX Robotics Screw Lift Ball Machine

My 8 year old loved it, slightly fiddly and took a while to build but brilliant.

my 10 year old grandson loved it :-)

Not the easiest of toys to put together . Grandson aged eight who is very competent could not have done it alone without much input fro Dad.

Very nice 👍

The VEX Screw Lift Ball Machine is another fine educational toy that teaches physics. It employs Archimedes’ Screw to lift the balls to the top of the machine and the roll back down to hopper to start the experience all over again. The VEX parts and pieces can be interchanged with the VEX IQ system. This makes these great toys infinitely expandable. Multiple ball machines can be chained together, motors can be added, and if you add the VEX IQ Robotics kit to the mix you can even build a color sorter. All the pieces were designed with the idea to be connected thee-dimensionally. This is completely different than LEGO as LEGO is only a two-dimension brick. The parts are well constructed. The system takes some time to figure out how to put pieces together and take apart again. The pins can be difficult sometimes for little fingers to remove from parts. The instructions provide some very clear illustrations on how to remove stubborn pieces from each other. Also the directions require close attention when assembling. They do their best to call out when to pay close attention to part orientation, which part is needed, and how it actually supposed to fit together.

Riproduzione della famosa vite di Archimede! Il modellino soddisfa appieno le richieste e rende l'idea del principio di risalita senza l'ausilio di un motore. Per chi volesse è possibile, acquistando a parte l'accessorio, collegare un motorino elettrico per dare continuità alle palline nella risalita.... Ma in tal modo vien meno il principio di Archimede!!!

Die Konstruktion ist schwer zu verstehen und das Zusammenbauen hat wirklich viel Zeit und Geduld in Anspruch genommen (Kind 10 Jahre). Leider ist das nicht besonders passgenau verarbeitet. Die Bälle kullern durch die Konstruktion durch und insgesamt ist das eine wackelige Angelegenheit. Interessant zum Lernen, damit man die Konstruktion lernt ist das aber allemal. Daher 3 Sterne.

It was a nice challenge to put this screw lift together. It took concentration, but the pictures provided in the assembly guide were very detailed and helpful. I bought this to demonstrate the principle of the Archimedes screw to my students at school. Everyone enjoyed playing with it. In that setting, I did have to monitor its use so they wouldn’t break it. As it is, they did manage to get something off kilter, but it still works absolutely fine. As a personal toy, I don’t think there would be much danger of breaking it. In all, I think this is a fantastic science toy. I would be interested in purchasing other items of this kind from the manufacturer.

So much fun to build. I wish they had stuff like this when my kids were young. Quite a few extra pieces that had me worried but it works perfectly. I like puzzles and I sometimes build with Legos, so I did not find the instructions to be difficult to understand. It is very relaxing to turn the crank and watch the balls, Building was more fun than jigsaw puzzles and as rewarding as knitting.