Redesigning the Candy Crane Rotation stock (Lego Mindstorms)

[Hanso]

Background

With some colleagues of mine, I am working on a fully automated train layout. You can read more about this at our blog: siouxnetontrack.wordpress.com.

The layout is always demonstrated on Lego World in Utrecht. We gave a demo at another event, as can be seen on the following Youtube video.

One of the items I have been working on, is the Candy Rotation Stock. I made a working version, as can be seen on the next video:

Redesign of the Candy Rotation Stock

After building the final version of the Candy Rotation Stock, I transported the object to our office to integrate it with the other parts of the track. I found out that the CRS was not robust enough and it took some time before it worked again. Although the concept works, it was not good enough to run for a couple of minutes without problems. And I needed it to work for four days at Lego World!

So I took the difficult decision to redesign it. In this thread you can follow the progress.

The redesign will be based on the conveyor belt that I found on Youtube (user ssugawara1955):

And this is my proof of concept:

I have ordered some extra parts to make a complete square and two switch points: one switch point that will lead to the Crane Pickup location and one switch point where new containers can be inserted to the rotation stock.

Some more photos of the progress can be viewed on flickr: https://flic.kr/s/aHsk8h6MAc .

Enjoy.

/Hans

Edited August 29, 2015 by Hanso

[Balrog]

Interesting solution.

I have one question: Is there a technical reason to use 16T and 16T idlers in changing order as double rows on the conveyor?

[Hanso]

I have one question: Is there a technical reason to use 16T and 16T idlers in changing order as double rows on the conveyor?

There is not a particular technical reason to use the double rows. There is a however a reason that I use the 16T instead of the 8T (as used in the solution of ssugawara1955): for the original version, I bought a large number of 16T gears. And I found the double row good looking, especially since you see the gears at each axe turning in the opposite direction. If you see it the first time, you wonder how its works. I hope that the visitors at Lego World will also be surprised by the technique behind this conveyor belt.

In the past weekend I have managed to create the turning table, see our Flickr page for photos: https://flic.kr/s/aHsk8h6MAc.

Enjoy.

/Hans

Edited August 31, 2015 by Hanso

[Balrog]

So that is in fact a technical reason to have the double rows of 16T gears. True, now that you mentioned it, it totally makes sense. I didn't realize that from just the video, but, to be hones, I didn't put too much thought into it.

Edited August 31, 2015 by Balrog

[Hanso]

Most people that I have shown the prototype so far, have the same questions:

• why using two gears
  
• how can these two gears turn in the opposite direction on the same axle
  

And that was exactly what I intended when I designed the double row of gears .

/Hans

[Balrog]

Most people that I have shown the prototype so far, have the same questions:

• why using two gears
  
• how can these two gears turn in the opposite direction on the same axle
  

And that was exactly what I intended when I designed the double row of gears .

/Hans

I didn't realize it right away, that's why I asked. It makes perfect sense from a technical point of view. Also, 16T gears work a lot better/more reliable than 8T gears ;)

[Hanso]

New pictures have been added to the Flickr page: https://flic.kr/s/aHsk8h6MAc .

Enjoy, Hans

Edited September 3, 2015 by Hanso

[Hanso]

Some new photo's have been added to our Flickr page (https://flic.kr/s/aHsk8h6MAc). As can be seen on the photo's, the EV3 motors have been replaced by the much smaller PF medium motors. They have been built in into the track, saving much space on the inside. Because they are less powerful, I used six of them. The design is now much nicer.

I am now busy with adding the color sensor and the stop mechanism (only the right color is allowed to enter the turntable). That is again a nice challenge to design.

Enjoy.

/Hans

Edited September 7, 2015 by Hanso

[Hanso]

New video added at Youtube.

Please let me know what you think.

/Hans

Edited September 18, 2015 by Hanso