K'Nex Extended Ball Zigzag 1

This K'Nex element is designed to slow down the progression of the ball. This was inspired by the "Multiple ball zigzag" by Dragonfire and the "Fall-Through" by collinjo12. Parts of this drop is from each of these two elements with some modifications.

This Instructable includes four levels, two going each way. This could have any number of levels. If you need the ball to come out of the other end, have an odd number of levels.

This is the first of a few Zigzag ball drops. Each of the others will be wider, or have a longer path for the ball. One end of the path is narrower and gets wider which causes the ball to roll towards the wider part. The other end of the path widens further which allows the K'Nex ball to drop down to the next level.

The pieces needed are listed here.

Rods:

• 20 grey
• 30 blue
• 8 white
• 16 green

Connectors:

• 40 yellow
• 16 purple
• 2 red

Put all of the purple pieces together in pairs. Add all of the green rods at an angle to four of the purple assemblies. Add four yellow connectors at an angle to each purple assembly. Connect all of the white rods to the yellow connectors. This should make the purple assemblies sturdy.

Put one blue rod on the centers of two yellow connectors. Put one blue rod on the centers of two purples paired, do this twice. Add four grey rods to the connected yellows to make a long "H" shape. Put each of the purple pairs on the ends of the long "H" to close the ends. This should finish the base.

Put one blue rod on the centers of two yellow connectors, do this to make eight "rungs". Add two blue rods to each of these rungs. Add one of the rungs to the purple connectors on each end of the base. Stack and connect each of the other rungs keeping each side equal. This should make four levels on each end of the base.

Click one blue rod onto two yellow connectors at an angle. Make three of these end/stopper assemblies.

With the blue rod on the upper side, click one of these onto the lowest rung. On the next level up, click of these assemblies onto the blue rod on the other end. You should now have one end/stopper assembly on the end of the bottom level and another end/stopper assembly on the next level up but on the other end of the zigzag. Put the third end/stopper assembly on the same end as the first one but two levels above it.

Click the two red connectors onto the blue rod on the top (or fourth) level, on the same end as the second-level end/stopper assembly.

One end of the zigzag should have end/stoppers on the even levels and the other end should have end/stoppers on the odd levels. The top level should have the red connectors. All of these connectors on the rungs need to be as far apart as possible.

The blue rods on the upper ends of the end/stopper assemblies help keep the ball within the element. Sometimes the ball can go fast enough to fall out of the end unless these blue rods are in place.

Add grey rods to the purple assemblies from step 1 which will make one level's ball path. Put one end of the path through the lowest rung without an assembly one it and connect the other end to the lowest end/stopper assembly. Repeat this for each level including the top. All of the paths should now be placed.

Be sure the width is the same on all levels. Click the loose ends of the paths onto the yellow connectors of the rungs. This should complete the assembly of the Extended Ball Zigzag.

Note: These Zigzags do not work with balls from the Big Air Ball Tower. These are slightly larger than the normal K'Nex ball. An easy way to tell the difference is that a normal K'Nex ball has a hole through it and balls from the Air Ball Tower do not.