I Made Some Enhancements to the Quadrilla Marble Run Block System

[Frank Pellow]

(post 1 of 6)

For those of you who may not know it, Quadrilla is a marble run construction kit and game that is designed and distributed by a Swiss company called Hape. The components are all made of wood and are of good quality.

Three years ago, I purchased blocks and tracks for three children; that is Isla (my granddaughter) was 7, Leah (my granddaughter) who was 6, and Melanie (my honourary niece) who was 5.

Here are a couple of examples of marble runs that I constructed: in order to test things out:

[attachimg=#1]   [attachimg=#2]    

I said "test" but I must admit that I also "played" with the structures.  :-[  Hape claims that Quadrilla can be enjoyed by anyone between the ages of 4 and 99 and I certainly agree. There are lots more runs and other information to be found at http://quadrilla.com/ (and you will get to practice your German   ).

I mixed and matched blocks and tracks from various sets for the gifts, so the boxes that I bought the Quadrilla in were no longer suitable for storage. The obvious solution to a woodworker (hey I'm one of those  [big grin] ) is to make some custom boxes with compartments and to allow for expansion. So that?s what I did.  

 

[Frank Pellow]

(post 2 of 6)

Here is a finished box with the cover off showing the blocks, tracks, marbles, etc, in their compartments:

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The box sides are made of 12mm Baltic birch joined at the corners via a joint made with a small drawer lock bit (Lee Valley catalogue #16J76.72) :

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It?s the first time I used such a joint and I found the single router bit used on both sides of the corner but with a different orientation worked easily and perfectly. The glue up was among the easiest that I have ever done.  When gluing and clamping the corners of one side, the dry-fitted piece for the other side locked in place to keep everything straight.
The top, the bottom, and the dividers are all made of 6mm Baltic Birch. Here is picture of
the box with two of the dividers removed:

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The dividers are held in place using drawer divider support brackets (Lee Valley catalogue #00S11.20). They are dead easy to install and don?t cost much.

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[Frank Pellow]

(post 3 of 6)

The box bottom was simply nailed and glued into place. The box top slides in a routed groove as shown in the picture below:

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The letters are walnut, again purchased from Lee Valley (catalogue #41K08A, etc.). The box parts were finished using Helmsman Spar Urethane -three coats on the exterior surfaces and one coat then lightly sanded with 220 grit paper on the interior surfaces.

And, finally the case can be carried using a 7 inch leather handle (Lee Valley catalogue #01A29.01).

[attachimg=#2]

I made three identical boxes (with different names, of course) to hold Quadrilla.

When we were playing with the Quadrilla set that I gave to Isla on her 7th birthday, one annoying thing was that, at the end of the run, the marbles spilled out onto the floor. I solved that problem by making some marble catcher ?corral-blocks? that sit at the base of the appropriate towers and capture the marbles as they pour out. Here are a couple of pictures:

[attachimg=#3]  [attachimg=#4]

I made seven of these, two for each kit that I recently gave as a gift, and one for the small set I have kept for myself to do some prototyping of extensions.

For anyone who might be interested in making such a corral, the dimensions are 12 centimetres by 12 centimetres by 5 centimetres and the thickness of the bottom is 12 milimetres (the same as the base blocks supplied in Quadrilla kits). The hole is 3 centimetres in diameter (again the same as the base blocks supplied in Quadrilla kits). It is made of 12mm and 6mm Baltic Birch then finished a coat of water-based dye mixed with Varathane Diamond Wood Finish followed by two clear coats of the Varathane.

 

[Frank Pellow]

(post 4 of 6)

Three years ago when I built the boxes and the marble catchers, I expected to make additional enhancements fairly soon. But, I have not gotten around to doing so until now.  :-[  This week I built what I call tower-bases.

The idea for tower-bases came when I was making a Quadrilla marble run with Jamie (my 5-year-old granddaughter) a couple of weeks ago. We ran out of blocks but still had available rails. More than half the blocks that we were using served no purpose other than to hold up the towers. This is somewhat of a waste because each of the many Quadrilla blocks is built to serve some other purpose as well.

It occurred to me that it would be easy to manufacture some blocks whose only purpose was to support a tower. Once I started talking to Jamie about such a block, we came up with two ?extra? features for it. First, the blocks can incorporate a wide base in order to make the towers more stable and second, the blocks can be built in multiples of the standard 6 cm height.

I have been storing some 2x10 Avodire wood in my garage for a few years that is idea for this project: 

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Avodire is a medium-hard hardwood, the is almost white in colour and is straight and knot free.

I started by cutting off a chunk about one metre long, Then proceeded to rip strips that were slightly wider than the Quadrilla blocks. Then I set the fence on my table saw using a Quadrilla block as a ?story stick?: 

[attachimg=#2]  [attachimg=#3]

and ripped several pieces to the same thickness as the blocks.

Next a chamfer was routed on the corners of all the pieces to match those on the Quadrilla blocks:

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The round pegs on the Quadrilla blocks (as seen on the orange block in the above picture) are a little under 30mm in diameter and about 12mm in height. To accommodate the pegs, 30mm holes were drilled 14mm deep into the top of each of the tower bases:

[attachimg=#5]

 

[Frank Pellow]

(post 5 of 6)

The vertical piece was glued to a 11cm x 11cm 12mm thick piece of Baltic Birch and a pair of 18mm thick L shaped pieces were glued around the vertical piece in order to add support. Here is a photo of the glued and clamped assembly for one tower base:

[attachimg=#1]

Before the glue-up, the pieces were sanded with 120 / 150 / 220 grit paper in order using my Festool Rotex sander. After assembly and between coats of finish sanding with 220 grit was done using my Festool linear sander. In the photo below, I am about to remove some dried glue:

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The tower based were finished using three different colours (one for each height) of water based aniline dye.

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I mixed one quarter teaspoon of dye with one half teaspoon of water to form a paste then added this past to one quarter cup of water-based gloss Varathane.

Each tower-base received a coat of the stain followed by two coats of straight Varathane with light sanding between coats: 

[attachimg=#4]

 

[Frank Pellow]

(post 6 of 6)

The picture below shows some completed tower-bases, some Quadrilla blocks, and some parts:

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The green tower bases are 180+12 mm in height, The yellow ones are 240+12 mm, and the red ones are 300+12 mm.

Finally, I got to test things out.

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The bases work exactly as I expected them to. They certainly add stability to the marble towers.

 

[PeterK]

Thanks for posting this Frank.
I have never seen or heard of this product before. Really cool!!! Will check into it for my grandkids.
Pete

 

[mhoy]

Wow! That looks really great.

I wonder how much interest this would hold for a 8.5 yr old boy and 6.5 yr old girl....... hmmm...... 

Mark

 

[John Stevens]

Frank, that's great!  My son has that set, and the towers would really make it much more fun.  (Although like you, I probably ought to test them out a little before I give them to him to play with, just to make sure.)  The ply boxes you made were really nice.  The cardboard box that comes with the set is so well made for storing the items that I would never have thought to make a wooden replacement.  After having seen yours, I feel like an neglectful father.  Very nicely done.

Regards,

John

 

[bruegf]

Very cool Frank. 

I'd been tempted to try making Brio style wooden track for Thomas the Tank Engine, but thankfully my son has out grown that before I got around to attempting it.  That saved me $100 bucks worth of router bits.

Fred

 

[Frank Pellow]

Thanks Pete, Mark, John, and Fred.

Pete, if your grandkids are anything like mine, they will love it.

Mark, A LOT I amk certain.

John, I hope that you do make (and try out) some tower-bases.  They help a lot with the stability.

Fred, I hope that I have convinced you th purchase some Quadrilla.  That's a toy that children do not get too old for.

 

[Les]

Frank your love for your grandkids is shown again with another loving project. Great work. [big grin]

 

[Bill Wyko]

Shoot, I wanna play with it. Cool stuff for kids to use their imagination. Nice work.

 

[Frank Pellow]

I gave some of the tower bases to my granddaughter Leah on her ninth birthday a couple of weeks ago.  When I visited her early this week, I found that she has already put some of them to good use:

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It is very gratifying seeing something you have designed and built being put to good use.  [smile]

 

[Dave Ronyak]

Another fantastic project, Frank.  It's very clear that you love your family members.  They are very blessed to have you.  And so are we members of FOG!!  Thanks for posting.

Dave R.