ROKR 3D Wooden Puzzle-Mechanical Model-Wooden Craft Kit-DIY Assembly Toy-Mechanical Gears Set-Brain Teaser Games-Best Gifts for Adults & Teens Age 14+(LG504-Fortress)

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.

This is a the 4th item I have bought from ROKR. I absolutely love their products. They are really fun for people that like puzzles.

This was my first 3D wooden puzzle and I built it during the Cove-19 "Stay Home" period which helped fill a few hours! My wife called me a genius as she watched it operate after completion, though it was built for my grandson's 9th birthday. I found the challenge of following the excellent illustrations with no words to help actually a good metal exercise, though I had to use a magnifying glass to double check positions of the pieces. I crossed off the drawings when I was sure I was through with them which also allowed me to know where I left off. I glued a few of the tiny pegs and an occasional joint when, while putting the gear assembly in place, a pinned part came undone. Fortunately I could get to it with a glue tipped toothpick without disassembly. My real boo boo came when, after completion and trying it out, I found I had put the "lift wheel" in backwards! Tricky to correct because of the shims in place, but I laid it on its side and managed to get the shaft back in without dropping the shims. Again, a good brain-teaser. I'm going to recommend that my son-in-law buy another to put together with my grandson...I can't imagine a better father/son project for these "new normal" times! I'm now looking at the pendulum clock as my next project, or, since my wife loves puzzles, maybe this will work as a project for her! Or maybe not. Once she sees how easy it is, she won't be calling me a genius any more!

This is my 5th or 6th puzzle of this type. I think there's multiple companies making these now that they're popular. It's not the hardest one (that would be the gramophone or the movie projector - look them up, they're great - or a clock, not that great) but not that easy to put together either. It mostly works, if you don't apply too much force. Mine broke in 2 days, I have an energetic 10 year old who couldn't wait to play with it so here you go. I have an impression that the design is either unfinished or they simplified it to cut costs or whatever. In one of the segments or the maze, where the balls fall down on a ramp, the ramp is very flimsy (two thin pieces that are attached to the rest of the structure only in one place). There's another piece of the maze right next to it which has a hole to get another piece to attach it to the ramp to make it more sturdy, but I couldn't find anything in the manual or the drawings. So they either changed the design at some point or decided not to bother. Of course the ramp is the piece that broke under the weight the balls falling on it. I think I can glue it on to fix it though. Other than that the puzzle works great, and I enjoyed putting it together with my kids' help. Also, the steel balls are the same size as for the other similar mazes/3D puzzles, so if you have one already and lost some of them, you can use them there too.

This kit is amazing! Pieces are precisely cut, easily marked with part number, fit together well. Instructions are pictorial and sometimes need to be figured out. Works like a charm! We put it together as a family a family which took an afternoon. Not recommended for small children. Can't wait to do another.

We had so much fun building this as a family. It’s fun for all ages. Some of the wood pieces were hard to get out but we did get them out with out breaking the pieces with the tool. The marble moves just fine going up the ramp then coming down the slide area. Would build again.

I’ve become quite addicted to these toys and this one was the most challenging yet. While the pieces press fit nicely I would not rely on this while assembling the raceways. Instead I sand and shave the pieces slightly and glue them into place. This prevents placing too much pressure on the raceway supports. The wood takes stain nicely. I painted the gears and raceways with acrylic paints and finished with an enamel gloss. If you take the time to sand and prep each piece the result is very nice.

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 away 2.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.

Quality and challenging product. Purchased for retiree and was enjoyed.

Excellent - instructions clear and concise and all parts fitted perfectly. Final product providing much enjoyment

We gave this as a Christmas present to a family who is very mechanically and building inclined with older teenage kids. We received a text over the holidays about how intricate it was, in an enjoyable way. They were spending a lot of time building it, but enjoying the process. I’d call that a success!

As advertised

Nice time killer during quarentine. I ended up breaking a couple pieces but there ended up being replacements pieces for all the ones I broke! Overall enjoyed myself building it. Reason for 4 stars being that some pieces dont sit exactly how they are supposed to so the marble doesn't roll smoothly.