Sodor Quarry Loader

783Merlin

i bought a sodor quarry loader and it will be here tuesday

Super

That is a pretty cool and active set Merlin, hope you can keep track of the little balls. 🙂

leylandvictory2

if you lose them, I suppose you can use play duh or stick tag? as replacements.

Densha

We accumulated enough pieces to assemble one set. All the mechanicals seem to work as I would expect. The problem is that there were no balls.

I printed some balls that more or less work but I wonder if anyone who has the originals would be kind enough to measure the diameter and approximate weight of the official balls. Are they steel, plastic, glass, ceramic or something else?

Thanks

leylandvictory2

Densha plastic

Super

leylandvictory2 Thank you for the input Leyland 👍

sunhuntin Hi Sun,,,long time no see 😃

chrisjo Thank you Dr Chris for the help 🤗

Although I have no experience or ever had any of these balls, I always thought that another avenue to replace or add to the ones included in sets is to check out a Craft Stores (like Michaels, JoAnn Fabrics or Hobby Lobby here in the States) bead section for similar size balls or some other section that might have something that would help.

sunhuntin

they are the same size as those used in big loaders. i successfully used balls from rubiks 360 ball as replacements when doing public events, just so the balls were easier to see and a little more interesting.

chrisjo

They are not perfectly spherical, the diameter varies between ~~10.6 and 10.8~~ 9.6 and 9.8 mm.

So 0.5 gm apiece. They are hollow plastic.

Densha

Thanks to all, particularly chrisjo. That’s what I need to adjust the size of my printed balls (they were slightly bigger). Also knowing the size makes it easier to choose beads or marbles of the same size (but not weight). These products are smoother than printed spheres and should roll better, assuming the correct diameter is available.

chrisjo

Densha That’s what I need to adjust the size of my printed balls (they were slightly bigger).

I’m sure everyone has noticed that I read my micrometer incorrectly, and that the diameter is close to 10mm, not 11mm. I have edited my post above accordingly.🤦