[GBC] The Akiyuki Project (2010 - 2020)

[plingboot]

I’m sure this has been asked before, but where’s the best place to source the reflector cups for the cup-to-cup build(s).

i just had a look on BrickLink and the cheapest for a bulk buy of 11 of them comes to £33+postage! Which is a bit steep even if you’re an obsessive.

does a suitable alternative exist?

[Ankoku]

There isn't a cheap way, it just depends on what you want for your money.

In the end, I bought various sets which contained them off eBay.

This set is a cheap one and contains 4:

https://www.bricklink.com/v2/catalog/catalogitem.page?S=6568-1#T=S&O={"iconly":0}

I donated the rest of the set to a friend's kid.

[plingboot]

On 02/02/2016 at 9:26 PM, Blakbird said:

I used non-LEGO pneumatic tubing from McMaster-Carr. This worked and looks great and was really cheap. I was able to just use a long length of each color so I needed very few connectors.

 

Just wondered if anyone could let me know which diameter tubing was used (mm) in the marble run build?

…and does anyone in the UK have comment on what they've used and where they purchased it from?

Thanks

[Berthil]

21 minutes ago, plingboot said:

 

Just wondered if anyone could let me know which diameter tubing was used (mm) in the marble run build?

…and does anyone in the UK have comment on what they've used and where they purchased it from?

Thanks

Please read the posts earlier made, also by me. For Europe there is a source in Germany which tubes have very good dimension but hard to bend.

Edited January 30, 2018 by Berthil

[plingboot]

1 hour ago, Berthil said:

Please read the posts earlier made, also by me. For Europe there is a source in Germany which tubes have very good dimension but hard to bend.

Thanks - just found the link to Modulor and placed an order for 14m of 3.2mm tube. I signed up to their newsletter and received a 5euro discount too…

So… having never heard of either GBC or Akiyuki a week ago, I now have 4x 50L boxes of technic pieces organised into trays, a second hand EV3 smart brick, 14m of tube I never thought I'd need and plans to assemble 5 Akiyuki modules your (Berthil) ball-shooting-marble-run and a couple of feeder modules I've been thinking about. 

[Berthil]

1 hour ago, plingboot said:

So… having never heard of either GBC or Akiyuki a week ago, I now have 4x 50L boxes of technic pieces organised into trays, a second hand EV3 smart brick, 14m of tube I never thought I'd need and plans to assemble 5 Akiyuki modules your (Berthil) ball-shooting-marble-run and a couple of feeder modules I've been thinking about. 

Nice! :) May be heating up the Modulor tubes before bending may help, otherwise it's difficult to get a nice round shape. Also a round pot or similar with the right diameter might help. Good luck and have fun with building.

[Ankoku]

So, I am trying to set the timings on the Ball Factory and when it comes to the piston which slides barrels along, there isn't enough travel for the pistons to work.

When I look at the Akiyuki video, he is using a 5.5L Axel with Stop at the pivot point, where as the instructions I have been following it just uses a 4L Axel.

Is there any reason it was changed? How do I get enough travel on the piston with the 4L Axel? (The limited travel stops the tread part of the chain from clearing.)

[Technic Fan]

I build the Ball factory and it is tricky to get timing right so that everything runs smoothly. I used the 5.5 axle.To assist you, the Rebricker created a complete video on the timing setup for the Ball Factory.

 

Edited February 3, 2018 by Technic Fan

[Ankoku]

That is the video I was using for the timings. The timings aren't the issue.

The issue I am facing, is that the 4L approach doesn't seem to be offering the travel required for the piston mechanism to clear the tread part of the chain. The lack of travel means it jams.

So I am trying to work out why it was changed from 5.5L with Stop Axel to a 4L axel.

Also, with the 4L, is there some technique to get it to work?

[Ankoku]

If you look here on the timing video just after the 5:42 mark, you can hear it clicking and the piston bouncing back a little bit in both directions as the piston doesn't have enough movement to allow the tread to pass without some bending involved.

Considering how you want as little friction as possible across all mechanisms, so as not to tax the motor too much, surely this isn't desirable?

 

 

Does anyone have the instructions/layout for the Akiyuki pivot point?

[RohanBeckett]

interesting.. in the rebrickers prototype video, he has a 5.5l axle in there...

 

[Ankoku]

His pivot point placement is different to that of Akiyuki. I will give it a try. Thanks.

[plingboot]

Quick question about part number 10288 "Axle and Pin Connector Triple" for the Invisible Lift build.

Can this be replaced with a double ended piece - I can't see from the instruction pdf whether the third connection is required?

I'm having problems locating 24 black ones - I've found dark brown ones, but the colour miss-match will urk me - hence the question. 

 

I think I've answered my own question - there's no 120º piece.

Edited February 5, 2018 by plingboot

[Ankoku]

You can buy the black one directly from LEGO if you are bothered about it.

It is from this set: 70163-1 so it should be available from Bricks & Pieces at LEGO.

It is closed over the Christmas period, but usually opens back up in February.

https://www.lego.com/en-sg/service/replacementparts

Anyone know why the link is missing all of a sudden? Normally it is just greyed out over the Christmas period. All of a sudden it is now gone.

Managed to get into it via this:

https://www.lego.com/en-gb/service/replacementparts?chosenflow=3

The part you are interested in is currently out of stock, it might make it back though. I am not entirely sure how part stocking works for LEGO themselves.

[Frequenzberater]

I actually have the same Problem. I am going to build it with brown pieces and change them when the black ones are available again. 

[Ankoku]

So, as far as I can make out, this is the original Akiyuki pivot point.

Quite a few modifications had to be made to revert the design back to the original.

I have used the 5.5L Axel with Stop just like the original. You could probably get away with a 5L, but the connection may be hanging off slightly.

The main piston rod has been changed from 20L to 19L in complete length. I used the "Technic, Plate 1 x 5 with Smooth Ends, 4 Studs and Center Axle Hole" which Akiyuki used, just because I did have them kicking around spare. A 6L Plate would be fine. I have gone with a 11L and 7L lift arm. Akiyuki went for a 15L and 3L, thus far, I haven't seen any reason for using those particular lengths.

One bonus with using the plate to connect the two lift arms, is that the connection is rick solid, so you no longer have the wobble of the altered version.

As you can see on the right, the connect on the end of the 8L axel is flipped. In the ReBricker instruction video, he has it this way round and then adds a later correction to show it the other way around. This way round is the way it is in the Akiyuki video and it is required to make this pivot point work.

Edited February 6, 2018 by Ankoku

[9v system]

very interested to see what changes you have made

[Ankoku]

Here is the piston itself. I have changed it to the original format. This is obviously the left one of the two in the video, as you can tell by the connector end, but other than that, the two pistons are identical.

The crucial change is Technic Beam 1x3 Thin between the two year 1x5 Technic Beam Thick. The reverse engineered solution doesn't have that. That provided the extra travel I was looking for.

As you can see, the connections for the yellow beam on the right aren't as pretty and you lose the symmetry. That said, the new motion is as smooth as butter, which is immensly pleasing in comparison to trying to make the other method work.

 

Edited February 6, 2018 by Ankoku

[RohanBeckett]

where are you trying to upload to?

you can't really upload to the eurobricks forums.. they don't give you much space (this is by design.. they don't have the storage space for photos)
See:  Accepted file types gif, jpeg, jpe, jpg, png · Max total size 0.06MB 

I wish they'd just remove this from the editor.. since it confuses so many people.

 

Instead, I'd recommend going to www.bricksafe.com, creating an account... and using that to store your lego photos

The site will auto resize your images, and you can link to whatever resolution you want.

Edited February 5, 2018 by RohanBeckett

[Ankoku]

Yeah, I created an account on Bricksafe. Certainly not going to use flickr.

Tried creating an account on Brichshelf, but I suspect that site hasn't been taking new users for a few years now.

It would be nice if they removed the upload functionality from the editor, but I suspect it is a limitation of the off-the-shelf forum solution. In fairness, I hate the auto double-line carriage return too. When did it become the norm to end a line with double-space?

[Berthil]

5 minutes ago, Ankoku said:

Certainly not going to use flickr.

Almost the whole AFOL community uses Flickr mostly only for their MOC pictures, you must have good reasons why not.

[Ankoku]

I used Yahoo before Google existed, I got a Yahoo account early on and they screwed me with it. Their support is next to non-existent, so I certainly wouldn't trust them with my images. Also, I do site interface and infrastructure for a living and I really don't like the flickr interface, but that is just a personal preference.

Is there a way to stop this site from merging posts? I basically need to wait for another person to post before I can create a new post which is back on topic.

[9v system]

heres my akiyuki display i had two weeks ago at brickvention 

 

[Ankoku]

Nice collection!

 

I have a question:

Has anyone gotten this part of the PDF instructions to work:

Those two tiles top the yellow shifter from moving all the way back. You potentially could leave the closest tile on, but the inside one stops it from functioning.

Anyone else found this?

[RohanBeckett]

2 hours ago, Ankoku said:

I used Yahoo before Google existed, I got a Yahoo account early on and they screwed me with it. Their support is next to non-existent, so I certainly wouldn't trust them with my images. Also, I do site interface and infrastructure for a living and I really don't like the flickr interface, but that is just a personal preference.

I dislike flickr too.. I find it incredibly slow to browse photos...

Bricksafe on the other hand is miles faster! :)

(I was a Google/Picasaweb user for many many years)