[EV3] Tiny Fork Lifter

[Lok24]

Hi all,

here I want to describe the working of the fork lifter shown in the picture below – the small orange one beneath the silo…

and a little closer

And that’s what it looks like when it’s working:

Complete mechanism (inhouse)

How it works: under the ramp a carriage is running from right (silo) to left (trailer). When the barrel is unloaded it falls down into carriage which takes it back to the silo. The fork lifter is also taken by the carriage.

Unloading the barrel

Barrel rolling from carriage to lift

and with original LEGO parts of course …. ;-)

See how it looks inside the house:

The EV3 is used to control the speed of the fork lifter and, with two white plates and the IR-sensor, it stops exactly at the end positions. Also the complete process (driving, stopping, pause, lift) is controlled by the EV3.

I showed this MOC at the BrickCityDays in Saarbrücken, Germany, at the end of August ’15, and the fork lifter did much more the 500 cycles – with very few errors, when the barrel wasn’t in place.

Hope you enjoy this little toy.

cu

Lok24

[Pat-Ard]

Very cool...

[efferman]

pure genius

[Victor Imaginator]

Smallest scale fork lift ever)

[Zerobricks]

Just simply birlliant, and a great idea to use cloth to slide between bricks!

[Kelkschiz]

Beautiful piece of work.

[MajklSpajkl]

That's a true all-in-one model!!! Mindstorms, amazing design of technic mechanisms and beautiful system cover, this is just mindblowing!!! Congratulations on the idea and execution!

[Technic Jim]

That is definitely the smallest fork lifter I've ever seen. That mechanism is also very ingenious and very precise-500 runs without any errors is impressive.

[Edwin Korstanje]

Outstanding technical solution

[TinkerBrick]

Outstanding display and ingenious engineering.

[BusterHaus]

This is great! I love that it's just a single barrel being transferred all the time. Congratulations on the reliability, too - I wasn't sure how long a cloth guide would hold up.

[Subix]

I belive majority of spectators at the show had no clue how forklifter itself is driven. Great idea and execution!

[Lok24]

Hi all,

thanks for yout comments.

Please let me explain some details:

500 runs without any errors is impressive.

Much more than 500 in 2x7 hours - but with few errors, in most cases the barrel didn't roll properly, due to the slope is very smooth.

But perhaps 5% error - not that bad.

I was surprised how precise the EV3 and the sensors stop.

I wasn't sure how long a cloth guide would hold up

This is why I used the card like shown in the first picture for the exhibition. But the "Cloth Curtain" from the T1 Camper works fine as well, it's kind of a thin foil.

I belive majority of spectators at the show had no clue how forklifter itself is driven

There were some kids, perhaps 10 or 12 years old, who explained it to me...

They got a litte reward: I then removed the complete building to show them the assumed mechanism.

cu

Lok24

Edited September 7, 2015 by Lok24

[paul_delahaye]

I love display pieces like this, I always love to see moving displays, I think it adds so much more to the display, and in cases like this, where you end up wondering how it works, is even better.

I'm surprised that the tiles don't pinch the sliding card piece on the forklift.

It's a really clever piece of engineering, and simple when you know how.

Paul

[Lok24]

Hi,

in cases like this, where you end up wondering how it works, is even better.

I'm surprised that the tiles don't pinch the sliding card piece on the forklift

Here is the solution:

the ramp is separated into two parts, the one in the background is fastened normally, as you can see here

The other half, in the front, is placed on pillars, which can be moved

So there is a very small gap for the card, for the curtain it can even be smaller and is nearly invisible.

cu

Lok 24

Edited September 8, 2015 by Lok24