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Just now, Darth Max said:

I live in NZ so if you live in Europe or States postage would be equivalent to 35USD

im in Australia so how much would that be?

 

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I just finished my Invisible lift this weekend. This module is a true marvel. Even my wife is impressed. Hats of Akiyuky and of course @Blakbird and @the rebricker for your hard work!

During assembling I had a lot of trouble with friction of the springloaded slids. I was able to solve this issue by splitting the sliding axles ( I can provide details if anyone is interessted). 

Furthermore I modified the output ramp a bit. Now,  everything works very smooth with nearly no ball drops :) 

I love it! 

But one question remains:

What is the purpose of that beam thingy? :

https://i.imgur.com/883fCH2.jpg

Cant figure out where to connect it. 

 

Edited by Frequenzberater

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Regarding friction of sleds, I found out that in some areas a lot of friction occurs, when the axle penetrates the complete frame. Most likely due to fabrication tolerances and slightly bent parts. (I wonder if not anybody else had trouble with it). Therefore I split the sliding axles (red marked) in all affected areas into two parts:

https://imgur.com/o5yAMLB

That works perfectly.

I also stabilized the output ramp by adding a 13L liftarm (11L would be sufficient, but I couldn't find one). See red marking:

https://imgur.com/Ps4L4zU

On the other side it is hold in place by one of these

https://img.bricklink.com/ItemImage/PN/9/32034.png

fixed at the output ramp tower (green marking). The middle support was moved one stud in direction to output, because ribbed hoses were a bit to long.

Now its quiet reliable.

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My Technic spans a lot of years and one thing I have noticed is that the pins have changed over time. The oldest ones have a lot more plastic in them, more recent has a little bit more and current has the least. You can look at the ends and see the difference in thickness. Generally, the thicker ones are stiffer, so if I want a stiffer connection, I use an older pin.

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7 hours ago, Ankoku said:

My Technic spans a lot of years and one thing I have noticed is that the pins have changed over time. The oldest ones have a lot more plastic in them, more recent has a little bit more and current has the least. You can look at the ends and see the difference in thickness. Generally, the thicker ones are stiffer, so if I want a stiffer connection, I use an older pin.

have you been able to get some photos of your layout? 

i also agree that pins can be quite fragile and break easily compared to the older ones

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Layout? The Ball Factory? It is on hold whilst I wait for a reply. I am going to start tinkering again soon. If I don't get a reply, I will go with what I have got and post photos.

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In the meantime, I think I figured out what the mentioned beam thing was supposed to be. From my point of view it was foreseen to connect a strut from the output ramp tower to it, in order to increase the stability. But obviously, it was not finally engineered.

@Ankoku:

Yes, I am aware of those pins. I am 36 years old, and I remember it from the early days :) Could be a feasible alternative, but as far as I know, I own just a few of them.

 

 

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Is it possible to use type 3 turntables for "tilted rotors"? From my understanding, the slightly different gear ratio should not affect the functionality.

Or is the diameter of type 2 and type 3 also unequal?

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8 hours ago, Frequenzberater said:

In the meantime, I think I figured out what the mentioned beam thing was supposed to be. From my point of view it was foreseen to connect a strut from the output ramp tower to it, in order to increase the stability. But obviously, it was not finally engineered.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but the beam thingy was not part of Akiyuki's original design of the invisible lift (you can see this in his video on YouTube). This additional part was added by The Rebricker (reverse engineering) to keep one of the axles from moving. The axle in question was "creeping out" of one of the gears. Blakbird wisely included this in the pdf instructions. I built the invisible lift about 2 years ago and I also added it to be safe :laugh: Never had any issues.

The Rebricker explains why he added this in one of his instruction videos (Invisible Lift - Final Assembly and Timing) around 21:25. He clearly shows how/where to assemble it and how to place the beam between the two 40 tooth gears.

 

By the way, when reading all messages about the ball factory and invisible lift, I really feel like rebuilding them :grin: For sure not the easiest GBCs out there, but it was a challenge and I really enjoyed working on them!

Edited by Lego_GBC_NL

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Ah, thank you! Finally that makes sense :D

Yes, except the trouble with friction, I really enjoyed the build. Definititly the most challenging model for me in 33 years of Lego Technic. 

But I think,  that was just a warm up lesson for the ball factory :D

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So, this, I believe is part of the original design looks like. It also explains a few things I see in the video.

There is definitely these two beams there, length unknown. Below I am using 2x Technic Brick 1 x 15. You can see both in the video, although only 1 at any one time.

This also explains why the bottom Technic Axle and Pin Connector Perpendicular is attached differently to the two above it. For the forward back motion you see in the video, this is not possible with the use of a pin instead of an axle.

The axle you can see here, allows full motion in one direction, but slightly limited in the other, which is exactly what you see in the video.

It is only possible to put the top Technic Brick 1 x 15 in there if you remove the plates from the bottom of the slider. If you look in the Akiyuki video, those plates are not there.

I still don't know how either piston connects to the slider exactly. I am still hoping to hear back on that. That said, these two beams seem to be correct and answers a few questions.

1920x1080.jpg

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14 hours ago, Frequenzberater said:

Is it possible to use type 3 turntables for "tilted rotors"? From my understanding, the slightly different gear ratio should not affect the functionality.

Or is the diameter of type 2 and type 3 also unequal?

i know that @FernandoQ did this on his rotors and it works

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I may be swapping mine over soon, as I need the older style to rebuild an older set...

the newer ones feel a lot smoother (aside from being brand new! :)

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New issue. It seems that the ball dumper is in a different position in the Akiyuki version, than in the instructions.

I was testing the dumper and found that when it dropped the bucket, it did so in a way which was less than ideal. Having watched the video of Akiyuki's machine, I found this was not apparent there.

So this will be the next bit I am working on.

Dumper_Gap.jpg

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Okay, so this answers some more questions.

The area that the buckets slide along for the shifter is actually offset by half a stud in the Akiyuki version. This is not reflected in the instructions.

This answers why the shifter itself is half a stud over the sliding area at maximum backwards reach. I always thought the shifter didn't do full travel, but it does, it is just the sliding area which is misplaced.

Shifter_Offset.jpg

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Wow! Even I'm thinking of dusting off some pieces and building one of these again! Great work on nailing down those details, you are probably having Akiyuki dreams like I was when I was reverse engineering those GBC's. They are such rewarding builds, it feels like a solid accomplishment and a massive project while working on it, but certainly very rewarding! 

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2 minutes ago, TheRebricker said:

Wow! Even I'm thinking of dusting off some pieces and building one of these again! Great work on nailing down those details, you are probably having Akiyuki dreams like I was when I was reverse engineering those GBC's. They are such rewarding builds, it feels like a solid accomplishment and a massive project while working on it, but certainly very rewarding! 

do you still have your ball factory and invisible lift?

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11 minutes ago, 9v system said:

do you still have your ball factory and invisible lift?

All the parts? Yes. Built? No. I live in quite a small apartment, so builds come and go all the time... but the collection never shrinks. :classic:

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Just now, TheRebricker said:

All the parts? Yes. Built? No. I live in quite a small apartment, so builds come and go all the time... but the collection never shrinks. :classic:

maybe nows the time to rebuild, and did you ever post the video of the train car module?

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So, my main issue right now is working out the height.

I am honestly not sure if I need to raise everything up one, or leave them the same height and just move the shifter axles up one, but that then creates other issues.

Anyway, changed the length of the slider my one, so that is now correct.

Removed the plate from the bucket stopper just before the slider, so that is now working correctly and is the same as the video.

Bob now actually aligns correctly with the buckets at maximum reach.

A couple of comments or images from the man himself would solve so many issues, but for now, I soldier on.

1920x1080.jpg

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