Before you make the first cut

Start with a plain paper hinge or parallel pop-up. It needs few materials and makes alignment problems visible. Leave decoration until the movement works.

No. The introductory builds use ordinary paper, card and hand tools. Digital fabrication is optional. A precise machine cannot resolve an unsuitable clearance or an untested route for you.

Allow room for the project, a protected cutting area and your hands. Use a tray to set the build boundary. If tools must balance on top of the unfinished mechanism, reduce the project size or clear more working space.

Tolerance is the acceptable variation in a dimension. Clearance is the intentional space between moving parts. A card strip may vary slightly in width, while a channel needs enough clearance to accept that variation. Test both using your actual materials.

Yes, if it is clean, dry and flat. Avoid contaminated or badly creased material and test coatings before gluing. Corrugated card is useful for supports but its exposed flutes can make a rough rolling surface.

No. These are adult hobby projects, not tested toys. Marbles and small parts are choking hazards, and swallowed magnets can cause life-threatening injury. Keep components and finished prototypes secure. Suspected magnet ingestion requires immediate medical attention.

Check for an upward-facing edge, glue ridge or unsupported channel before increasing the slope. A local repair is often more useful than extra speed. See the marble-run joint test.

Not reliably. Material thickness, glue joints and finger access do not shrink with the drawing. Recheck clearances in a small sample. A mechanism that works in paper may not close in thicker card at the same size.

Choose an adhesive intended for your materials and follow its safety and curing instructions. Test on scraps first. Use ventilation where required and avoid adding heat or solvent products merely to make a small joint cure faster.

Yes. The contact page prepares a text draft to copy or download. It does not send messages automatically. Include the material, the moving part and the exact point where movement changes.