[GBC] The Akiyuki Project (2010 - 2020)

[Juroen]

@Lego_GBC_NL @Ankoku I will not make instructions. Will take a lot of photo’s along the way though.

I’m aware of the external compressor Akiyuki used for the ball cleaner, but I want to try to build it from Lego.  I was thinking to rebuild the compressor by Quanix in an ‘Akiyuki-style’. But let me first complete the Ball Cleaner. 

[Lego_GBC_NL]

2 hours ago, Juroen said:

@Lego_GBC_NL @Ankoku I will not make instructions. Will take a lot of photo’s along the way though.

I’m aware of the external compressor Akiyuki used for the ball cleaner, but I want to try to build it from Lego.  I was thinking to rebuild the compressor by Quanix in an ‘Akiyuki-style’. But let me first complete the Ball Cleaner. 

Great, sounds like a solid plan! The compressor by Quanix would indeed be an excellent starting point I think, easily to extend (as shown in his video) and would be awesome if adapted to / integrated into Akiyuki style.

Good luck with the reverse engineering, hope to see your next post/picture on the progress soon!

[9v system]

12 hours ago, Doug72 said:

Which 2L connector are you using inside the red driving ring.
A ribbed or a plain 2L connector ?

A ribbed one requires a lot of force to move.

plain the rubber dampers on the ends of the axle stop the shiftier moving when the train is running

[Ankoku]

Okay, so I have been modding the Catch & Release module.

I switched it over to a worm gear, but I don't think it makes any difference. It was for my own curiosity more than anything.

That said, I did change the grabbing arms from 12L to 11.5L to stop them from hitting the tiles below and pushing against the supporting frame.

Amazingly, with half a length less, they still basically touch the tiles. You could potentially changed it down to 11 for a really simple change and it still work.

Okay, just checked. 11L really does not work. 11.5L works perfectly.

[Ankoku]

Found that the smoothness was being unsettled when the balls are released.

Moving the Technic, Axle and Pin Connector Perpendicular 3L with 2 Pin Holes up a bit works, but I wanted to find a solution which didn't involve things being very precisely positions.

So in the end, I went with some Bionicle 1 x 3 Tooth with Axle Hole and they work a treat. Smoother operation and still releases the balls without issue.

Just noticed. Bricklink etc. doesn't distinguish between old black and new black. e.g. you have Dark Bluish Grey and Dark Grey.

I feel as though there should be Bluish Black and Black. You can certainly see the difference between the two Technic, Axle and Pin Connector Perpendicular 3L with Center Pin Hole.

As you can see, quite a bit of my LEGO is rather old. I have three different thicknesses of pins.

 

[9v system]

5 hours ago, Ankoku said:

Found that the smoothness was being unsettled when the balls are released.

Moving the Technic, Axle and Pin Connector Perpendicular 3L with 2 Pin Holes up a bit works, but I wanted to find a solution which didn't involve things being very precisely positions.

So in the end, I went with some Bionicle 1 x 3 Tooth with Axle Hole and they work a treat. Smoother operation and still releases the balls without issue.

Just noticed. Bricklink etc. doesn't distinguish between old black and new black. e.g. you have Dark Bluish Grey and Dark Grey.

I feel as though there should be Bluish Black and Black. You can certainly see the difference between the two Technic, Axle and Pin Connector Perpendicular 3L with Center Pin Hole.

As you can see, quite a bit of my LEGO is rather old. I have three different thicknesses of pins.

 

 

interesting, do you have a video of this in action? thanks

[Ankoku]

Will do one when I get enough of the Bionicle part to do all 8.

[9v system]

@Lego_GBC_NL are you able to show me all your akiyuki modules?

thanks

[Juroen]

I’m looking for the part no. for the black tubes, used for compressed air. Can anybody help me out?

https://bricksafe.com/files/Juroen/building-tech/1C31D366-19AB-4399-9637-8C8D062B6ABE.jpeg

Cheers!

[Lego_GBC_NL]

36 minutes ago, Juroen said:

I’m looking for the part no. for the black tubes, used for compressed air. Can anybody help me out?

My best guess would be those are rigid hoses, BrickLink part # 75c01, 75c02, 75c03 etc (they come in many sizes). In contrast to the flexible pneumatic hoses, the rigid hoses are non-flexible and thinner (3mm instead of 4mm), so they can easily be attached to / inserted in other parts (like 4274 Technic, Pin 1/2 or 2555 Tile, Modified 1 x 1 with Clip). I have one old Lego Technic set from 1992 that uses both hoses (8868 Air Tech Claw Rig). In the instructions of set 8868 you can see that the rigid hoses are used to connect pneumatic hoses, similar to what Akiyuki did for the Ball Cleaner.

https://www.bricklink.com/v2/catalog/catalogitem.page?P=75c05&idColor=10#T=C&C=10

https://www.bricklink.com/catalogItemInv.asp?S=8868-1

13 hours ago, 9v system said:

@Lego_GBC_NL are you able to show me all your akiyuki modules?

thanks

Unfortunately not (anymore)... I built around 10 modules over the last years, but due to lack of space and spare parts I decided to take apart some of them (Train module with crane loader, Ball Factory etc.). I didn't make pictures of all of them, just made once a poor quality video of an Akiyuki layout containing 5 or 6 modules. Nothing special by the way, all built using the instructions provided in this thread

[Juroen]

13 minutes ago, Lego_GBC_NL said:

My best guess would be those are rigid hoses, BrickLink part # 75c01, 75c02, 75c03 etc (they come in many sizes). In contrast to the flexible pneumatic hoses, the rigid hoses are non-flexible and thinner (3mm instead of 4mm), so they can easily be attached to / inserted in other parts (like 4274 Technic, Pin 1/2 or 2555 Tile, Modified 1 x 1 with Clip). I have one old Lego Technic set from 1992 that uses both hoses (8868 Air Tech Claw Rig). In the instructions of set 8868 you can see that the rigid hoses are used to connect pneumatic hoses, similar to what Akiyuki did for the Ball Cleaner.

https://www.bricklink.com/v2/catalog/catalogitem.page?P=75c05&idColor=10#T=C&C=10

https://www.bricklink.com/catalogItemInv.asp?S=8868-1

Thanks! I was not sure if those rigid hoses could be inserted in pins. 

[Ankoku]

As requested.

I managed to find some transparent red and blue of the right piece. Ugly, but allows it to run.

Smoothness for me, is mainly about hand cranking it and seeing if there are any torque peaks. I am pleased with where I have gotten this to now.

 

And yes, that is Technic propping up an orchid which was grown into a rather unfortunate shape.

[Ankoku]

This shows an phenomenon with the Catch & Release that I have encountered myself. Where at the 12:45 mark, the far right arm has trouble grabbing the orange ball.

It only manages to grab the ball on the 4th attempt.

I thought this was an issue I had created with the shortening from 12L to 11.5L, but it seems not. I don't seem to notice it with the other 3 arms.

Have yet to work out what is causing the issue though. I thought it may have just been elastic band placement.

 

 

[Ankoku]

Just now, I managed to reproduce it once.

If you look at the video above, I think it is the ball which is back and right which is causing it somehow.

e.g. when I reproduced it, it seemed to be down to the balls around it. The moment the offending ball was removed, it grabbed it without issue.

[Ankoku]

Okay, it is not a ball placement issue. I think it may be a bracing issue.

That one arm, isn't braced at the back like all the others. So I have extended the bracing to include it and it seems to have pretty much cured it.
Will run another test, but I need fresh eyes to watch that many more balls.

Anyway, the bracing makes sense to me and answers the issue as to why it is just that one arm.

The L lift arm isn't necessary, It was just a piece I had with me at the time and kept it all braced since no single lift arm is long enough to do all of them.

The important bit is the left hand red circle.

[JimDude]

I only have your movie above to go on, but it looks as if the problem is simply that the one of the "grabber-axles" couldn't extend all the way down since it got squished between the orange ball it was trying to grab and the white ball which lodged itself in the corner of the box.

I'm guessing the actual issue would be solved by allowing the balls in that corner some more space. By adding bracing, I fear you may have worked around the problem by making the arm stronger (so the axle does push down in between lodged balls), which will have the unwanted effect of additionally wearing down that part of the module (or perhaps even the motor itself).

[Ankoku]

The main thing to remember is that the additional bracing only brings the far right arm (left in the image above) inline with all the other arms. So it evens it all out.

I managed to replicate the issue with only 1 ball being present. It is a really weird thing to see.

With the version in the Maico, the grabbers are pressing against the base, so it is not as though they could go down any further. It seems to be that there is enough give in 2 axis for the arm to move when it comes against resistance, that it fails to grab the ball.

It is really weird how it can grab without issue most of the time, but then suddenly decide that one ball is kryptonite.

[Ankoku]

I also now know why Akiyuki added a ratchet to force it to only go in one direction.

At a reasonable speed, especially with the changes I have made, in the direction opposite to what is allowed, there is a far greater chance of the balls being flung back into the machinery.

The difference between one direction and the other is quite pronounced.

[RohanBeckett]

that's strange.. I've run mine in both directions.. and behaviour is always the same... I will admit, that I have geared mine down a bit, so it runs slower.. since it's such an amazingly effective module at clearing balls, no one can see it in action!  so running it slower allows people to enjoy its action!

 

I've taken a bunch of new photos too.. will upload to the same bricksafe folder later tonight

[Ankoku]

Yeah, I am running it at full speed for testing purposes.

The Ball Factory is the same, some parts of it behave very differently at different speeds.

[Ankoku]

Does anyone have the Akiyuki Bucket-wheel Tower running smoothly? I haven't built it yet, but I plan to.

My worry is, every video I see of it running, other than the one in Akiyuki's video, has it running far from smooth.

 

I think this is @Frequenzberater video and you can see it wobbling a bit here:

I have seen it far worse at various events.

Anyone know what it is struggling with?

[Frequenzberater]

Yes this is mine. There are two issues with the bucket wheel tower:

- The whole tower is wobbling during operation 

- The rotation of the bucket wheels slightly struggles from time to time 

 

Because of the first Issue I found a way to decouple it from marble run. Also I think a wider base would bring some improvement. 

The second Issue is mainly caused by slight interferings between the wheels itself. I believe its all a matter of fine tuning. Apllying some lubricant to the gears could also help. 

Unfortunately I had no time to test it yet. 

Edited November 29, 2018 by Frequenzberater

[9v system]

42 minutes ago, Frequenzberater said:

The second Issue is mainly caused by slight interferings between the wheels itself. I believe its all a matter of fine tuning. Apllying some lubricant to the gears could also help. 

 

i have also had the same issue and yes it requires some fine tuning

[Ankoku]

Thanks for the info!

[Juroen]

If it is not too much trouble, can anyone help me identify the 3 yellow parts and the gray axle part? 

https://bricksafe.com/files/Juroen/building-tech/88BFBBDC-2ECE-4D6E-8B3F-915ED55CD0A1.jpeg

I am waiting for my ordered parts, next week I will post an update on the ball cleaner.

Does anyone have the original EV3 program by Akiyuki?