DIY: Dominoes setter is hypnotically simple and brilliant
When the stresses of the world prove to be too overwhelming, I try to center myself by meditating, communing with nature, or watching a homemade machine placing dominoes in a perfectly straight row. YouTuber Matthias Wandel has created such a device with little more than wood, ball bearings, rubber bands, a small motor, and some ingenuity. The outcome is a marvel of DIY creativity and the epitome of soothing repetition.
According to David Grossman for Popular Mechanics: "This isn't the first time Matthias Wandel has figured out how to get his dominoes just right, he's also done so with Legos. But this project introduced a whole new level of difficulty. While the magazine and slider work on the first go-around, Wandel had to build out a straightener for the pieces and alter the speeds. With Legos this requires adding and subtracting pieces, with wood it requires power tools."
About the Author
Alexis GajewskiAlexis Gajewski
Senior Content Strategist
Alexis Gajewski is a manufacturing writer and editor with nearly 20 years of experience covering the people, practices, and technologies that keep industrial facilities running. For more than a decade, she served as Senior Content Strategist for Plant Services, creating content for plant managers, engineers, and maintenance professionals on a variety of industrial topics.
During her tenure, Alexis worked to develop the brand’s digital strategy and helped launch and produce Great Question: A Manufacturing Podcast. She also created The Lighter Side of Manufacturing, a weekly blog that explored the inventive and sometimes humorous side of the industry.
Alexis co-founded Influential Women in Manufacturing, a recognition program that honored 49 women in its first two years, earned an industry award for Best Product Launch, and received a proclamation from Illinois Governor JB Pritzker and a commendation from U.S. Senator Tammy Duckworth.
She also led newsroom operations and development at a large media company where she set editorial standards, developed training curriculum, and helped support AI adoption for more than 150 editors across 80+ brands spanning manufacturing, industrial processing, automation, and more.
Additionally, Alexis works as a freelance writer and editor, and her areas of interest include continuous improvement, the skilled workforce, and the role of emerging technology on the plant floor.
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