Adjustable Spirograph V9 by PG52

[Blakbird]

I can think of a couple of possibilities.  My first thought was that you were not logged in.  If you drop a PDF file into a window it will simply open the PDF file.  If you are logged in, it should be running a script though and should work as long as you drop it directly into the upload rectangle, not just anywhere in the window.  If it is still not working, it may be that your browser does not support the scripting language.  What browser are you using?  Another possibility is a corrupted file.  Does it work OK on your computer?  You can always contact Nathan, the owner of Bricksafe.  He is pretty responsive.  If you get desperate you can send the file to me and I will try to upload it.

[1963maniac]

17 hours ago, Blakbird said:

I can think of a couple of possibilities.  My first thought was that you were not logged in.  If you drop a PDF file into a window it will simply open the PDF file.  If you are logged in, it should be running a script though and should work as long as you drop it directly into the upload rectangle, not just anywhere in the window.  If it is still not working, it may be that your browser does not support the scripting language.  What browser are you using?  Another possibility is a corrupted file.  Does it work OK on your computer?  You can always contact Nathan, the owner of Bricksafe.  He is pretty responsive.  If you get desperate you can send the file to me and I will try to upload it.

Thanks Blakbird, I copied the files onto a thumbdrive and uploaded to Bricksafe from an old laptop. I don't understand why it worked that way. I used chrome both times. I was able to upload to Rebrickable just fine from my new PC. Anyway be watching Rebrickable for this MOC. It should come through soon.

[1963maniac]

Here it is folks: https://rebrickable.com/mocs/MOC-7530/1963maniac/adjustable-spirograph-v9-by-pg52/?utm_medium=email&utm_source=newmoc#bi . I have modified mine with Bucket Wheel Excavator gears with 140 teeth, part  24121  to move the tablet and 60 tooth turntable gears 18938 &18939 to move the arms. These three gears being powered by 12 tooth gears. This  definitely produces smoother lines. I'm still trying many of  the possibilities. Enjoy it!

[teflon]

Dear Sir,

Thank you for this. The Spirograph v4 was quite a hit with kids but I am sure this will be even bigger. The combinations of gearing are incredible. I will have tough time building it but it will be great showing it to kids.

Thanks for the effort!!

[PG52]

Wow, those instructions look very professionnal ! Thanks and congrats for your work :) 

[1963maniac]

PG52, I was wondering what the two shifters closest to the paper do? The middle one changes the rotation speed of the paper. The other two change the rotation speed of the arms.

[TinkerBrick]

Success! It works. I just finished building it.

First, @1963maniac thank you very much for you tremendous efforts in creating instructions for the v9 Spirograph.

I'm a great fan of the v4 version which has a place on my shelf ever since the instructions were created in a great collaborative act in this forum.

I'll spend the next days trying out the different settings and will report back with my impressions.

[PG52]

1963maniac, those two shifters are making the little offset which produces the shape of a drawing. If you block the axles, you obtain the same pattern indefinitely :)

Basically, what this mechanism makes is adding X1 (=1, 2, 3 or 6) full rotations of one arm while the other one substracts X2 (=1, 2, 3 or 6) full rotations of the other arm, for one full rotation of the paper.

The arms can also rotate at 1/2, 1/3 or 1/6 of the max speed → the speed reductions are V1 (=1, 2, 3 or 6) and V2 (=1, 2, 3 or 6).

The important number is X=V1*X1+V2*X2.

If X is an integer, then this will also be the number of "shapes" or "petal" (I don't really find an accurate english word ^^ Let's name this a petal).

If X is not an integer, which is impossible with the V9 but could be obtained with another design, then the number of petals will be X*Y with Y the number of full rotations of the paper necessary for the pen to reach the beginning of the line.

Therefore, if X=0, the you get no petal at all, just the same pattern repeating indefinitely, just like on my first spirograph.

I hope this can help :)

Edited April 24, 2017 by PG52

[1963maniac]

PG52, Thanks for the explanation, that is what I suspected. The number of petals is affected, which is what it seemed like it was doing. I call them petals too. I've done some modifications.  I also have made an extra turntable using BWE gears and replaceable gears for under the arms: 28t, 36t, 56t turntable, 60t turntable. When using the BWE turntable, replacing the blue axlepins with the new black 3L axlepins is required. Also, I changed some pins on my model to make that replacement easier.  I didn't change anything on the building instructions. I tried to keep everything the way it was. I only changed the order of parts and added steps, rotation steps, and submodel steps. This project was only my fifth attempt at building instructions. I did learn more about it through this work. I've made some interesting graphs. One of them had 19 petals. That seemed like an unusual number. I don't know how you get to 19 with this math. Your explanation helped my understanding. Thank you!

[MichaelWareman]

Hello 1963maniac:

On 2017-04-01 at 6:49 PM, 1963maniac said:

Here it is folks: https://rebrickable.com/mocs/MOC-7530/1963maniac/adjustable-spirograph-v9-by-pg52/?utm_medium=email&utm_source=newmoc#bi . I have modified mine with Bucket Wheel Excavator gears with 140 teeth, part  24121  to move the tablet and 60 tooth turntable gears 18938 &18939 to move the arms. These three gears being powered by 12 tooth gears. This  definitely produces smoother lines. I'm still trying many of  the possibilities. Enjoy it!

I have been building your spirograph, a marvel of engineering and gearing! I would like to use the bucket gear pieces but I am not sure how to modify the base for the different gear setup. Do you have some pictures or instruction notes that would help with the required modifications?

Mike

[1963maniac]

On 5/10/2017 at 1:32 PM, MichaelWareman said:

Hello 1963maniac:

I have been building your spirograph, a marvel of engineering and gearing! I would like to use the bucket gear pieces but I am not sure how to modify the base for the different gear setup. Do you have some pictures or instruction notes that would help with the required modifications?

Mike

Hey Mike, Sorry it took so long. Here is the link: https://rebrickable.com/mocs/MOC-8705/1963maniac/mod-of-spirograph-v9-by-pg52/#comments for the BWE gear modification.

[MichaelWareman]

5 hours ago, 1963maniac said:

Hey Mike, Sorry it took so long. Here is the link: https://rebrickable.com/mocs/MOC-8705/1963maniac/mod-of-spirograph-v9-by-pg52/#comments for the BWE gear modification.

No problem! I am so happy that you are willing to share your creations, and more importantly, make building instructions. I will try your modifications out this weekend. Hopefully I will have a great image to share.

Mike,

[MichaelWareman]

Finally had a chance to try out the modifications to the Spirograph machine. Are there any tweaks or alterations others have done? I am experimenting with extending the point where the arms attach to the turn table. My thought is if I extend it than the image gets bigger. I am also wondering about where the two arms need to be when the Spirograph machine first starts - both pointing towards each other, opposite directions, or same direction. The large turntable catches once in a while and the gears catch. I am attempting to find those spots. Does anyone have any thoughts on where I might want to look or consider places that need special attention?

Here is one of my better creations.

 

[GBC Master]

On 3/5/2017 at 5:11 AM, 1963maniac said:

The building instructions are done. I just have to build it tomorrow, to make sure they actually work. After 4 long days of work, MLCAD crashed and took all my progress away. It took 2 more days to do it again. 8 more days and I'm done, maybe. It's kind of strange to make building instructions for something I haven't built yet. I was thinking of posting this on Rebrickable (with credits to PG52 and GBC Master) and post a link to it here. Sound good?

For some reason, I didn't get any notifications in my inbox and only came back here after someone at Brick Mania Antwerp was asking for a digital model/instructions. I just looked at your instructions, and you really did a great job on that. Thanks!

 @PG52  The model has been continuously running on several exhibitions, and I'm just amazed how little (close to none) maintenance the spirograph requires! 

[PG52]

Well, I'm happy to hear that ! I think mine ran during 2 or 3 exhibitions without any problem. There are so many gears though that moving parts might get harmed on the long run... At least I tried to keep the stress and strain as low as possible in the drivetrain.

[1963maniac]

On 7/22/2017 at 10:29 AM, MichaelWareman said:

Finally had a chance to try out the modifications to the Spirograph machine. Are there any tweaks or alterations others have done? I am experimenting with extending the point where the arms attach to the turn table. My thought is if I extend it than the image gets bigger. I am also wondering about where the two arms need to be when the Spirograph machine first starts - both pointing towards each other, opposite directions, or same direction. The large turntable catches once in a while and the gears catch. I am attempting to find those spots. Does anyone have any thoughts on where I might want to look or consider places that need special attention?

Here is one of my better creations.

 

It does make a difference where the arms are pointing. I usually just make a note of it for myself. If you make the arms longer, you may also have to enlarge the paper table too. It's kind of fun isn't it!!

BTW, I have not received notification of these latest posts either.

[Big Roy]

On 10/2/2016 at 8:53 PM, legolijntje said:

Now, if only someone would make a full LDraw model of it, we could together make instructions for it, just like we did with V4. That was some great teamwork back then 

Am trying find V4 as am curious what the set look like as I had build basic one at pv-productions.com so can any1 direct me where can I find v4

On 4/2/2017 at 4:35 PM, teflon said:

Dear Sir,

Thank you for this. The Spirograph v4 was quite a hit with kids but I am sure this will be even bigger. The combinations of gearing are incredible. I will have tough time building it but it will be great showing it to kids.

Thanks for the effort!!

Where can I find V4? 

Edited August 4, 2019 by Big Roy

[1963maniac]

It's on Rebrickable.

[Maoie86]

Hi 1963maniac! 

Awesome job on the instructions! :D thanks! Would you happen to have instructions for the whole spirograph v9 with your mods included? 

[PG52]

Just a quick note there. I've been slowly working on a new version these last weeks, and thinking back about the V9, I discovered the simulator (impressive !!) and found 1963Maniac's mod on Rebrickable. I now understand something I didn't get back then : the gear ratio of the modded version is 12t/140t (3:35) while the gear ratio I was using is 8t-160t (1:20). I'm now sure that this is the reason why you can only get drawings with 7 petals or a multiple of 7 : the 1:20 ratio is compatible with the 1:5 ratio just before the arms (leaving 1:4, which is a dividor of 1), whilst the 3:35 leaves a 3:7 ratio behind which is not a decimal number : compensating the difference requires 7 rotations of the plate or requires the adjustment gearboxes to match this number.
In my new one I'm using the banana gears, and to acheive the 1:7 ratio I made custom differentials using the 56t turntable. I'm willing to document this V11 better than the previous ones, it has some new possibilities and the drawings I'm getting look quite nice. (V10 was a semi-fail with some new ideas implemented, mainly bad ones ^^)