My new blog. My only blog. Forgive the simplicity of design and lack of photo.
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Bookmarked.
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So before I start reading, can I just say I love love love the 1950s olde fashioned typeface you chose for the headings? Gorgeous and full of character!
And simple is good in blog land. Simple is very good. Much better than all the super-busy blogs with far too many plugins.
Okay, off to read!
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But thereās nothing to really READ yet, lol!
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So for once Iām all caught up! 
Looking forward to the posts though. Love the topic.
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It bears repeating. 
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What IS that?
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Feeping creaturitis -> Creeping featuritis. The tendency of projects to accumulate new features (to the detriment of core functionality).
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For months now, Iāve been following a dream (or compulsion, whatever) to build an animated model of an early helicopter, for my soon-to-be (ha) model train layout, which has a theme of humor and strangeness. The machine in question I first saw when I was a kid, and always remembered it, because it is SO silly:
Here is my version. It takes a bit to get going.
ETA: The mechanism I built to animate it is a monstrosity. Anyone gazing upon it will turn to stone.
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I donāt see whatās so dangerous abouā¦
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Ah yes, the wonderful world of the RSN (Real Soon Now) train layout.
I have the trains (I inherited the BNSF trains after my father passed) just no room or time or additional funding to devote to yet another hobby
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Iām doing a Facebook Live Call at 4 pm EST from my Facebook Page today on How to Write Your Helpful Book in 7 Easy Steps.
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A project for later:
Not only is that a neat mechanical computer, I think it would be possible to recreate it fairly simply in timber. Just a bit of routing for the board, some heavy ball bearings for the play pieces and a very simple linkage between the trigger and the ball release.
Could look quite nifty if you did it in decent timber.
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I had one of those as a kid. One made of wood would be awesome!
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As youāre an experienced Dr Nim expert 
, a question:
If you take out the trigger/ball release mechanism (instead just having the human player manually release another ball when necessary), itās much simpler to make. The most obvious ways to make the trigger require a return spring, and springs are a fiddly nuisance.
How much did the fun of the game rely upon the automatic ball drop? Would a manual ball drop detract significantly from the āspooky mechanical computerā aspect?
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Have you seen this article yet? No pictures of the back, alas, but it explains what all the flippers are for.
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Alas that was a half a century ago. I donāt really remember the details. But in the last month or two I read about someone making a replicaāmaybe it was at TOP. Google would know.
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Neat, thanks.
(the following is basically just me thinking aloud; I assume yāall already understand this)
The mechanism is straightforwards; the flippers are basically a base four counting system that controls a two-path gate selection. The open flipper closes itself when hit and opens the flipper to the right; the interlocking layout prevents all except the leftmost from opening when hit while closed.
The marble is always directed left if it hits the leftmost flipper (open or closed), but goes right otherwise. Which means left on balls one and four, right on two and three. On the human turn, left or right both go straight to the catch tray; on the machineās turn, the turn selector flipper redirects right balls (two and three) to the ball release, and is itself deactivated by left balls (one or four).
The auto-release mechanism isnāt required for the computing function; itās more of a special effect.
Iād like to avoid springs because I canāt make them myself and it would be tricky to buy a spring that was just the right power.
I might be able to do something with fishing line on wooden pulleys connecting a pair of gates and a counterweight āspringā. Or a direct mechanical linkage based on wooden levers and wire pushrods instead of pulleys.
But itād be very fiddly to get it working reliably; too much spring and the gates donāt open, not enough spring and they donāt close fast enough. And the need to get both gates tuned at the same time means that the power and friction in the system has to be balanced.
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I might be able to build a rotary ball release that removes the need for a return springā¦
Two horizontal four blade paddlewheels connected by a pulley, basically. Perhaps with a weak magnetic stop.
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