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Posted (edited)

It has always been my wish to build a working elevator which can be incorporated into my creations, and if you search on Google or YouTube there are hundreds of solutions, ranging from simple “Pulleys And Strings” systems to ones controlled by LEGO Mindstorms NXT components (which I tend to avoid as they have a relatively large physical size, making it harder to incorporate into a small building or structure), sometimes even with automatic doors. After a brief investigation, I decided that the first solution was the best option for me. However, a brand new challenge appeared: as I often use LEGO Digital Designer (LDD) to build my creations digitally, I had to develop a working elevator in LDD. The main issue here is related to LDD’s limitations: you can’t do anything with the Strings provided in LDD (such as tying them up and placing them onto Pulleys) or even attach all of the Gears and Pulleys to make the system work completely. As I was planning to build a digital house with a working elevator included for a friend a solution had to be developed.

After a more in-depth search I stumbled upon the following video on YouTube.

The above video showed a simple shopping mall with a working elevator. As it did not involve any Strings or Pulleys it was my answer, even though it was only working manually. However, the creator did not show us exactly how he built the elevator, and quoting his response to such a request: “I can’t, I tore it down, and I’m selling all of my Lego bricks at a yard sale.” As a result, I started to study the video carefully in order to find out exactly how it was built. Very soon something popped up but there was still a small error. After refining my design a few more times I have finally successfully uncovered the manually working elevator in LDD!

https://www.dropbox.com/s/rv78x4w95imzri0/Elevator 1.png

https://www.dropbox.com/s/wiuyb9ytg4n3ebg/Elevator 2.png

Let’s start with the elevator itself. As shown above, it’s a simple 8x8x7 box (height of a floor) with a 6x6x6 space for the minifigures to stand inside, while the computer screen at the back represents all the buttons they have to press. The door is a Lattice Door (Part 60621) as it’s easy to manipulate and has that look of an old style elevator [I could have easily created sliding doors like modern ones but a Plate W/Gliding Groove (Part 30586) is only in 2x8 which is too wide for my type of elevator, and there are also no narrow frames plus doors/glass present to fit into such Plate; plus the Elevator Shaft needs to be specially adapted for the sticking out bit of the Sliding Plate, making it harder to insert the Elevator Doors on the Shaft itself on each floor]. The vertical Black 1x2 Plate is supposed to show the floor which the elevator is currently on. On top the elevator it is attached to a String W. Knobs 30M (Part 63142), which equals to the Chain present in the video (due to restrictions in LDD I could not attach it as the creator did in the video).

Next, we come to the elevator shaft. Shown below is the entire elevator shaft, where the most important thing is that my shaft is four floors tall, with each floor being seven bricks tall plus one brick present in-between each floor, and more bricks above the third floor for the important joint. The elevator actually sits at the same level as the bottom of the elevator shaft, which was placed there with the help of a plate beneath it. That plate was later replaced with a series of Flat Tiles so that the elevator is only attached to the top of the shaft. Note that I have also used Lattice Doors attached to the shaft on each floor (to prevent a minifigure from falling into it).

https://www.dropbox.com/s/gocv7m2drbgy8qr/Elevator Shaft Overview.png

The top of the elevator shaft is shown below. As you can see there are two covers opening in opposite directions, which makes it easier for a minifigure to carry out repairs (open either cover or both then climb down/inside). The second image contains the important joint which answers the most important question: how does the elevator work?

https://www.dropbox.com/s/zdji7jiyylja7js/Elevator Shaft Top 1.png

https://www.dropbox.com/s/nn0c10lxiomv9v1/Elevator Shaft Top 2.png

Below are three screenshots of the important joint.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/ukqliy1nvzrh4sj/Elevator Rotating Joint 1.png

https://www.dropbox.com/s/nq5v0urnbz5hjgp/Elevator Rotating Joint 2.png

https://www.dropbox.com/s/o1tmufxqox869jt/Elevator Rotating Joint 3.png

The joint is attached to the elevator shaft one brick further out than the shaft wall, on top of a 2x4 Brick with two inverted 2x2 Roof Tiles beneath it. The joint itself consists of an Angle Plate 1x2 / 2x2 (Part 44728) placed on top of two 1x4 Bricks, covered on top (a 1x4 Flat Tile) and the two sides (two 1x1 Plates). A Turn Plate (Parts 3679 and 3680) is placed before the Angle Plate with two 2x2 Round Bricks further above, which are then connected to the middle of a Plate 4x4 Round W. Snap at the back. The theory is that once we attach the String W. Knobs 30M or other bricks such as Chains onto both the elevator and the end of the Plate 4x4 Round, we can then rotate the Round Plate 4x4 for the String/Chain to coil itself around the two 2x2 Round Bricks and raise/lower the elevator, which is exactly how the elevator in the video is moved (but that joint and shaft seems to use a more complicated construction method)! In reality, the turning functions will be carried out by a controlled motor instead of the Turn Plate, but to make the manual turning process easier, I have inserted two Clamps 1x2 (Part 2432) and a 2x4 Flat Tile to cover the remaining space on the Round Plate 4x4.

My only question left is related to how exactly will the String/Chain coil itself around the two 2x2 Round Bricks. As you can see in the third screenshot above, I have created a gap of two Plates between the String and the Round Plate 4x4 so that the String being near the middle of the two Round Bricks there will be enough room for the coiling to happen. However, if someone can prove that the gap is not necessary I will modify the design to exclude or shorten (by one Plate) the gap both by the joint and directly above the elevator itself. I hope that this tutorial has been useful to everyone building digitally or wants to build a very simple working elevator.

P.S., As an added bonus below is a screenshot showing what a minifigure needs to do in order to enter the elevator (in theory).

https://www.dropbox.com/s/m4pagkirdd6znsu/Elevator Door Opening Sequence.png

A minifigure presses the button on the right and the elevator either arrives or is already there, then he/she pulls the first door towards him/her. Next, the elevator door is pushed forward and the minifigure steppes inside, then closing the first door behind him/her. Once inside the minifigure closes the elevator door and presses the button for the required floor, causing the elevator to move. When it arrives on the floor, the minifigure gets out by reversing the entry process (without pressing the button), but both doors must be closed after him/her to ensure that everything will work fine.

Edited by suenkachun
Posted

It seems that there is some problem with dropbox and direct links.

I suggest you to avoid dropbox (we ran into some problems in the past) and use brickshelf or bricksafe.

Posted
  On 7/17/2016 at 6:10 PM, Calabar said:

It seems that there is some problem with dropbox and direct links.

I suggest you to avoid dropbox (we ran into some problems in the past) and use brickshelf or bricksafe.

Thank you for that. Although the images can still be viewed by clicking on the links I'll try to update them as soon as I have sorted everything out.
Posted
  On 7/17/2016 at 6:43 PM, suenkachun said:

Thank you for that. Although the images can still be viewed by clicking on the links I'll try to update them as soon as I have sorted everything out.

You could try flickr or imgur, thank you for this btw!

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