Laser-Cut Marble Tree

If you have a small child, you will want this toy. Frankly it has a ‘coolness’ factor for all ages, but it is absolutely irresistible for 1–5 year-old children. Place it in front of the child (with marbles in the tray), and in less than a minute the child will have figured out how to use it.

I had seen marble trees for the first time over a decade ago at a friend’s house. I immediately decided to build one at home with a table saw and a scroll saw. In fact, I built several of these for various nieces and nephews (our own kids were already out of the prime age). Several years later I got access to a laser cutter and started to wonder if you could build one using ONLY a laser cutter. Obviously, you can easily cut the leaves and the base with a laser cutter, but the trunk was a challenge. After some thought I decided it was possible by having a central ‘spine’ on which ‘tiles’ could be hung. Here you see all the pieces after laser cutting but before assembly.

Pieces after laser cutting	Finished marble tree

The long pieces on the left of that photo interlock with each other and give the center stalk its strength. The photo on the right is the finished tree. There are over 40 tiles that are ‘hung’ on the spine to simulate a solid center stalk with groves that are cut into the faces at a compound angle (tipping each leaf up but also tilted so a marble on the leaf will want to roll around the stalk). The fact that you could make this using a laser cutter (that only can cut thin material and only at 90 degrees), is very surprising (at least to me).

The result is quite attractive. The central spine does show through as small boxes at the center of each tile, and the burnt edges left by the laser cutter give it a rustic vibe.

The result is quite unique and is a wonderful gift for children of all ages (including some decades old).

The xylophone-like sounds it makes are just enchanting, and your biggest problem will be taking it away because you want some quiet. These two short films show it running.

One marble.

Many marbles.

Because it uses marbles, and marbles are a swallowing hazard, you have to supervise young children until they can be trusted not to put marbles in their mouth. In my experience, the toy tends to be interesting enough that kids would rather put the marbles on the tree. Still, please supervise.

Vance Morrison