[GBC] The Akiyuki Project (2010 - 2020)

[RohanBeckett]

Firstly.. welcome to the world of GBC! :)

As someone who has done GBC for years now.... I too, also have an Akiyuki Ball Factory completed... but not yet timed/tuned

..as eager, and as keen as I was, several years ago, when I first accumulated all the parts for it.... I can warn you now, it is NOT a GBC for beginners!

It is a complex, finicky build, highly dependant on certain parts working super smoothly (a slight bent axle can cause havoc), and if you discover some section is off, you will often have to go back and re-time several sections all over again

By all means, collect the parts... 

But I would really advise at cutting your teeth on ANY other of Akiyuki's Modules first, before tackling the Ball Factory... 

In my honest opinion, you'll have a more enjoyable learning experience - learning how 'live' technic works... how to tune, and tweak things.

Catch and Release, Fork Module, Lift Triggered/Stuck Ball, Fork to Fork, and Planets are all great modules that are challenging, but much easier to 'succeed' with..

 

If you go back in this thread - to around page 50 or so (earlier this year), you'll see that @Ankoku has made a LOT of great modifications to the Ball Factory, ultimately improving on @TheRebricker's groundbreaking reverse engineering.

It's on my todo list to go back and re-read all the posts, and see if I can finally get mine up and running! :)

But for now.. I keep getting distracted at building smaller, more manageable GBC's! ;)

Edited August 31, 2018 by RohanBeckett

[Berthil]

I subscribe to Rohan, including the welcome :)

I have build the Ball Factory as my first GBC just to see if GBC was something for me, it's fun but can also be frustrating. It's not a module to do events with.

If you look at the modules of Akiyuki you see a certain design theme. So when buying parts for the Ball Factory (which is grey and most others from Akiyuki are black) keep that design theme in mind and already buy bricks for your next GBC if you plan to make more. This will save on shipping costs and waiting time, especially if you want to start to design your own GBCs. I also bought two Excavators on sale for parts, it is an excellent part donor but with lots of light and dark bluish grey, no black.

Edited August 31, 2018 by Berthil

[Ankoku]

There can't be two ball factories alike out there. e.g. even Akiyuki's isn't the same as it was in his video.

What I have done is the closest to his version, but even I have made some modifications and if you make it, you will too. Ultimately, it is an unreliable machine. Fine for personal use, but not GBC event reliable. That is my ultimate mission, but it isn't finished yet.

As an example of how different these things can be:

Interestingly, he has 3D printed the cups.

As for parts.

I never bought all the additional tiles, as I wasn't interested in having the base smooth. Which also meant I didn't bother with the random coloured plates to mark out where everything should go. (They do make life easier though.)

I have been doing Technic for decades, but with the ball factory, that isn't much help, as most of the parts are traditional LEGO bricks.

My main recommendation, is to buy additional dark bluish grey bricks and plates of all sizes. Either just round up the number or buy X amount extra. Ultimately, what you don't use now, you will most likely use in other Akiyuki machines. He likes that particular colour.

Once I had corrected the instructions to make it the same as the original, it meant the return conveyor no longer worked. So I actually cannibalised that for some parts.

I think the best advise I can give, is to buy the stuff, make the machine, but do so, knowing you will most likely want to make some changes, so some more parts will need to be bought along side whatever else you are buying for your next build.

One thing I have always done, is buy the odd extra Technic set, not to build, but for spare parts. The Bucket Wheel Excavator - 42055 is a good example. You can often buy it at about 2/3 of the retail price and even at full price, it is a good price-per-part. That would provide you with a good starting supply of spare Technic parts.

Edited August 31, 2018 by Ankoku

[rskamen]

Wow, thank you Rohan, Berthil,and Ankoku for your prompt responses and outstanding information and advice. I think that buying The Bucket Wheel Excavator - 42055 for parts is an outstanding idea. I have seen it on sale and will continue to track the pricing.I saw on the PV-Productions website that they made a GBC strictly out of the parts from that set, without adding anything extra. I have the Lego Technic Crane 42009 in my closet (unopened) and all of the extra parts to build the MOC 5509 Groove MKIII crane. That is my fall project with another grandson. Once I see what leftover parts I can use for the Great Ball Factory, I will order the balance of what I need. The Ball Factory will be a winter/spring project for me. But living in the Palm Beach, Florida area, winters are pretty nice! I might try to build the Fork - to - Fork with wheel lift first. I think I can incorporate that into the delivery system of the Great Ball Factory right where the balls come off the last conveyor and back to the staging tray to be brought up in the spiral lift. Everyone on the forum is amazing. BTW, one of my sons had a ton of red Lego bricks leftover from his childhood. I scavenged what I could, therefore, I will be building the Ball Factory in red, with lots of black and yellow technic pieces. 

Edited August 31, 2018 by rskamen

[Ankoku]

That is very red. Could be tricky getting a red L PF-Motor as shown in the image :D

As a point of note, the ReBricker version works. So just getting those parts and building it, will get you a working machine. I am a bit of a purist when it comes to trying to be as close to the original as possible and also making it as smooth and reliable as possible.

I class the ball factory as being in a league of it's own really. It is generally the one that inspires people the most. The complexity, variety of mechanisms used and the timing of everything are all things which made me choose this as the first GBC I did. The downside of that, is that it is a very daunting project. You have to get very comfortable with pulling bits apart and rebuilding bits, resetting times etc. I was foolish enough to walk into doing it, thinking I could just get the bits, build and go, but even going with the standard design, it is quite the project. In the end, it has taken up countless hours and ended with me getting in contact with Akiyuki more than once.

I am about to do the Pinball module and next will be fork to fork. Since some bits can be tricky to get, when ever I buy stuff from a seller on BrickLink or Owl, I am always checking their inventory to see what else I can buy for other modules. e.g. with my pinball order, I bought the needed antennas for fork-to-fork and some of the bars for the bucket tower. I am continually collecting for invisible lift.

So yeah, building is fairly easy, syncing can be quite daunting and then getting it to run smoothly and reliably is the task you may be doing until the day you die.

Am always happy to take any additional photos.

The main thing to remember, is that everything should run as smooth as butter and it is best to make sure each bit does, as you build it, rather than completing it all and then wondering which bit is causing problems. If each component of it isn't smooth, it is not going to be a happy machine or motor.

I spent a lot of time running it, by hand cranking it without motor, so I could feel where issues were with my fingers.

At the end though, you have to run it at full speed to see if it is working correctly or not. Some parts work different at slower speeds.

[djm]

I agree wholeheartedly with @RohanBeckett, @Berthil and @Ankoku, building the Ball Factory as your first build will likely be somewhat challenging. The other thing to bear in mind if you are going to build it in red is that one to two parts may be pricey compared to other colours. Writing as someone who built their Ball Factory in red, the price of the Technic 1x14 brick can be a bit eye-watering.

Good luck, enjoy your building and welcome to EuroBricks.

David

[Ankoku]

@djm Have you got any photos of your red one?

I have seen quite a nice looking white and purple/pink one.

[Oliver 79]

@rskamen, I can wholeheartedly recommend building the ball factory. It's the only gbc I've made. I'm no lego expert but the whole process of sourcing parts, building it, sorting the timing, spending hours getting frustrated it doesn't work, etc, etc is brilliant.

I don't have it assembled at the moment but I made a yellow version, 

I'd say go for it and have fun! 

[Ankoku]

Wow, that is vivid. Awesome!

Yeah, I would never discourage anyone from doing it. It is an awesome thing.

That said, if someone is planning to do other Akiyuki modules as well, then it might be good to do one of those first.

e.g. I miss just being able to run one. Which is why I am building the Pinball one at the moment.

 

Makes me wonder how many Ball Factory owners there are out there. I have seen a few where it is easy to see they have been doing some reverse engineering of their own in regards to not following the ReBrickers instructions exactly.

Also, it is a good time to thank The ReBricker and Blakbird for all their work. It is daunting getting the factory going as is, I can't even imagine trying to reverse engineer it from scratch like he did. Such a mammoth task.

It is only with Akiyuki's design and their work, that we are here today owning and tinkering with it.

[rskamen]

Thank you all for your advice, encouragement, and warnings. If certain parts in red are too expensive, I may just use black or yellow as substitutes, as long as the overall color scheme looks pleasing and relatively symmetrical. I am finding that doing the research of the project, scouring websites, watching videos, and reading building manuals, is rather enjoyable. I am not easily frustrated and look forward to building this one module at a time. Testing and running one module at a time. And, integrating additional modules, one at a time. I think this will go a long way to understanding how each module functions, and it's timing and relationship to the modules in front of or behind it. Using a gray L PF motor is fine. I would not pay extra for a red one. I am not that much of a purist just yet. I think that the judicious use of alternate colors (black and yellow) will also help highlight some of the individual working components. I will continue to watch everything posted and continue to educate myself on the terminology, process, and outcomes. Stay tuned for more questions from me.

[Ankoku]

Remember to take photos of any modifications, issues etc. that you come across, so others can learn from your experience!

Also, for other owners of the Ball Factory on here: Post photos of your reliability mods etc.!

[Ankoku]

This is the white, purple, pink and aqua coloured ball factory I mentioned.

 

You can see it at the 7min mark.

As you can see, it is quite heavily modified. I like the extra conveyor at the end to get it back up to GBC standard height. They also rotated the spiral tower to gain the space they needed at the other end.

[Ankoku]

New Akiyuki module!

 

 

[tismabrick]

And this time you can buy instructions.

No need to reverse engineer :)

[Ankoku]

With the latest train stuff, he provided the instructions for free.

I really like this though. It lets you support his work and the price point is great.

I also love how you can get the parts list before buying the instructions. It is a nice touch.

[Berthil]

I like the new module but not the fact he is selling now. Of course it's up to him but it does not benefit GBC in general. Also to TLG he is now considered a commercial party, not just a GBC builder.
And this module can be build just from the video, no instructions needed.

Edited September 2, 2018 by Berthil

[Ankoku]

Well, people can still reverse engineer it. They have the part list and there are plenty of images on the blog.

[rskamen]

A few questions about powering the Great Ball Factory. All instructions call for a PF - L motor.

1. Can I use a PF - XL motor for more power and torque?

2. If so, does the speed of the motor drastically change how the factory operates?

3. Would it require different gearing to keep to the 1 ball per second, and what would that gearing be? Trial and error?

[Ankoku]

I have used both. The XL one isn't needed, as the whole thing runs smooth enough to be happy on an L.

Speed wise, you basically run the machine at the speed you are happy with. So it doesn't really matter. My comments about speed is more to do with running it very slow and running it normally. Rather than the difference you would see between L and XL.

[Berthil]

It doesn't need more power or torque if build well, but here is Sariel gear calculator including PF motor selection

[rskamen]

Thanks for the quick responses. Amazing how dedicated and helpful this community is. I will look at the gear calculator.

[djm]

On 9/1/2018 at 9:03 AM, Ankoku said:

@djm Have you got any photos of your red one?

I have seen quite a nice looking white and purple/pink one.

Unfortunately not. The photos that did exist for it were from a public display run by my LUG. Somewhere along the way, the LUG photo galleries were lost during a web site upgrade. I had dismantled it and used the parts for building other things in the meantime as I couldn't get it running reliably enough for use in a public display.

 

8 hours ago, Ankoku said:

With the latest train stuff, he provided the instructions for free.

I really like this though. It lets you support his work and the price point is great.

I also love how you can get the parts list before buying the instructions. It is a nice touch.

I agree that the pricing is reasonable. Considering the time it would take to reverse engineer and then create the building instructions, I'm happy to to purchase the instructions (and have in fact already done so). As your subsequent post says, one can always reverse engineer the build from the video.

David

Edited September 2, 2018 by djm

[RohanBeckett]

I think AUD$10 is more than reasonable for a small GBC like this - especially from a builder we know so well.  I'm well aware of the time and effort it takes to not only design things..  but also to digitally build, and create instructions (although that's getting a LOT easier with Stud.io's Instruction builder! :)

 

have just ordered some Hockey Sticks.. and I think I actually have all the other parts on hand - there's nothing too unique in it

 

But will have to wait a while.. currently rebuilding my whole lego workshop!

[9v system]

i also like the new module, but its missing the black thing on the end.

[Ankoku]

Yeah, have bought my hockey sticks too, before they become hard to get.

I doubt he is going to make much off sales, but it may be enough to cover the time and effort to make the instructions. I think he got someone else to do the instructions for the train stuff, but this time, the instructions seem to be by him.

With Blakbird not doing GBC stuff for the most part any more, this is, in many ways a welcome development.

It will be interesting to see where TLG is with it all. e.g. they were paying him to do videos not too long ago.

There are some people who love the digital design stuff, but I am certainly not one of them. So if I was in his shoes, I would want some sort of motivation to actually make the instructions too.