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Yeah, I was thinking of the earlier version of the robot arm he did, the 5-axis one.
 

I actually prefer the look of the 5-axis one :P

Found the one I was thinking of at a GBC event, it is at the 1:20 mark:

I suspect it is IceLeftD's robot arm, which is inspired by Akiyuki's 5 axis one.

So yeah, I am not sure if anyone has had a stab at the 6 axis one.

Edited by Ankoku

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This is for @9v system. Nothing too fancy here. Changed the belt pin type and colour.

More importantly for me, I changed the base colour as I am not a fan of either blue or green.

In the end, I will cover over all the the bricks at the bottom with either black or dark bluish grey tiles, which should hopefully hide the colour mismatch of the rectangle in the middle. I will also add white tiles over any white studs at the sides and back.

There is a couple of Plate 4 x 4 at the back, which I may change to Tile, Modified 4 x 4 with Studs on Edge.

Changed the hopper entry point tiles to Tile 1 x 4 with Black and Yellow Danger Stripes Black Pattern.

Also changed a couple of Technic, Pin 3L with Friction Ridges to a couple of yellow Technic, Liftarm 1 x 3 Thick, just so they aren't as noticeable.

Still debating whether to changed black ramps to white ones inside the tunnels.

DSC_1528_v.jpg

The all white net is not by choice, I am currently waiting on getting the old style.

 

My Hockey and Ball Factory will basically have standard colour choices.

Fork to Fork will have a bunch of modifications, colour wise. Mainly just highlight changes. I am currently in the process of working out what parts to order.

( It seems that Bricksafe resizing doesn't do portrait O_o; )

Edited by Ankoku

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I like the new pin type and its colour.

The black ramps cannot be seen easily. I would not change them. Up to you ;)

You should definitely change the red cross pin that holds the white net to black.

Edited by tismabrick

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19 minutes ago, tismabrick said:

I like the new pin type and its colour.

The black ramps cannot be seen easily. I would not change them. Up to you ;)

You should definitely change the red cross pin that holds the white net to black.

Yeah, I am not entirely sure what I was thinking there. I often use the black ones, even when they can't actually be seen.

When I get the replacement net, I will replace the red Technic, Axle 2 Notched to a black one and swap the redish brown Technic, Axle and Pin Connector Triple with a black one.

I am also note sure why Technic, Brick 1 x 6 with Holes are used instead of just a Technic, Brick 1 x 2 with Hole. I can potentially see the use of it at the very bottom. That said, the rest could be just the Technic, Brick 1 x 2 with Hole since it is all clamped together. Would be far less visible holes on the side.

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Finally get to show off the mods I made to the Catch & Release module. Someone said they wanted to see it running.

So, the grabbers are 0.5L shorter, thus they only just touch the base in some areas. This produces less motor strain.

Changed the piece which gets pressed against to open the grabber. This makes the release a lot less strenuous and needs no twiddling with the grabbers. The downside is that it releases the balls closer to the far wall. That said, I am fine with that as it makes it far smoother.

Removed the issue of the far right grabber being unable to pick up a ball directly under it (Something you see in multiple event videos).

Also stopped the far left grabber from ejecting a ball behind it when one of the other grabbers has gotten stuck on top of a ball. e.g. where an axle of the grabber presses directly on the top of the ball and thus pushing the whole frame way from the hopper. The scenario causes torque in the driver which causes the furthest grabber away from the motor to operate at a far greater speed for a moment. This was fixed via driving the grabbers from both sides. You can see the extra gear on the right and another one on the left. It is transferred under the main part of the machine and is done after the limited slip gear. So a jam won't wreck the motor. The ball ejection had a greater chance of happening with my mods, since the ball drops closer to the wall.

Also added two blue Slope 45 2 x 1 Triple with Inside Bar at each end of the main hopper. This is to stop balls ending up in a dead-zone, especially on the right hand side. I think this is a mod worth adding on the right. On the left it is optional. If there are a lot of balls, I think it causes it to take a little more time to clear. That said, with a normal amount of balls, e.g. when it isn't full, it works better with them and you don't get that dead ball just sitting there on the right, waiting for that one ball to make it far enough across to knock it out.

Anyway, it is now rock solid, and very motor friendly, which makes me happy. The new gears on the right is clunky and over engineered, so I will most likely revisit how I house it, but the proof of concept is there.

Obviously, people can leave their's as is, it is a very reliable module, I am sure you know me by now in regards to trying to get things to run better.

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looks like with your combined effort you guys have completely made the akyki ball cleaner. that does beg the question of when/if u will make instructions.

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@Ankoku thanks for showing your modules, i like the pinball module and the small changes you have done to it. i have yet to build the pinball.

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3 hours ago, cuddles10 said:

looks like with your combined effort you guys have completely made the akyki ball cleaner. that does beg the question of when/if u will make instructions.

I still have a lot of work to do on the ball cleaner. I will not make instructions. I will take pictures when the module is reliable. :classic:

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My main loves are the really complicated timing based Akiyuki modules like the Ball Factory and partially the Hockey Stick Lift.

That said, although Pinball is a very simple module and easy to build, it is very satisfying to watch and listen to.

So I highly recommend adding it to the collection. I always enjoy having it running.

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43 minutes ago, Ankoku said:

My main loves are the really complicated timing based Akiyuki modules like the Ball Factory and partially the Hockey Stick Lift.

That said, although Pinball is a very simple module and easy to build, it is very satisfying to watch and listen to.

So I highly recommend adding it to the collection. I always enjoy having it running.

i built 12 akiyuki modules last year, and this is one im building this year along with a few others, last year was also my 10th year of doing gbc, i plan to finish off the full akiyuki project with the berthil rainbow wave, double bucket and ball shooter marble run. i also have the tilting ladder one from @FernandoQ as its akiyuki style with output connector and the steering cup.

Edited by 9v system
typo

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My next Akiyuki build will be Cup-to-Cup, Type 1, mainly because I have most of the parts for it, just need to get some common parts. For the rest of this year, it will most likely be Lifter Triggered by Stuck Ball, Invisible Lift, Bucket Wheel Tower, Ball Sorter and the non-Akiyuki "The Sun".

My main issue is that with each one, I tend to try and correct all the differences to the original, which can take time.

Still need to finish off the changes to the Ball Factory to make it standards compliant and more reliable.

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4 minutes ago, Ankoku said:

My next Akiyuki build will be Cup-to-Cup, Type 1, mainly because I have most of the parts for it, just need to get some common parts. For the rest of this year, it will most likely be Lifter Triggered by Stuck Ball, Invisible Lift, Bucket Wheel Tower, Ball Sorter and the non-Akiyuki "The Sun".

My main issue is that with each one, I tend to try and correct all the differences to the original, which can take time.

Still need to finish off the changes to the Ball Factory to make it standards compliant and more reliable.

nice, after i finish most of the akiyuki ones, i wont be building anymore

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what work is there left to do on the ball cleaner? also wasnt one if u gonna make instructions cuz the people on the thread seem to do that and having instructions would be very nice to have. im looking forward to instructions coming out if someone is making them.

Edited by cuddles10

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Programming the EV3, connect all pneumatic hoses, set the correct timing of the switches. Still need some more light sensors, cables and working out the switch for the up/down gripper movement and pressure switch.

Edited by Juroen

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On 1/9/2019 at 5:51 PM, Ankoku said:

Yeah, I was thinking of the earlier version of the robot arm he did, the 5-axis one.

[...]

So yeah, I am not sure if anyone has had a stab at the 6 axis one.

The thing is that I am interested in this for educational purposes, 6 axis arms are interesting for the maths of the inverse kinematics.

I want to make a lego 6-axis arm with detailed instructions that could be used as an educational platform for robotics, mostly for the software aspect.

 

Edited by Nikopol

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Since I had to take the wheel off anyway, to make the inner ring yellow (I had the pieces to hand), I thought I would take a photo of the fixed wheel wall.

800x450.jpg

You can see there are 3x Technic, Brick 1 x 1 with Hole, two of which are Black and one Dark Bluish Grey. I need to replace the black ones with the right colour :P

There is a Technic, Pin 3L with Friction Ridges going through all 3, to improve stability. Then you have the Tile 1 x 3 placed on top in and offset position, so only 0.5L protrudes out towards the wheel.

You will also notice that the whole off-ramp is 1 plate lower down that the instructions. This now matches the Akiyuki original.

I think I am going to swap the Plate 1 x 1 either side with Plate 1 x 2, which will locked the 3x Technic, Brick 1 x 1 with Hole in place.

I may replace all those plates either side with bricks, as there isn't much need for them to be plates.

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@Nikopol Well, making your own 6-Axis robot arm and doing instructions for it would certainly be a learning experience.

It seems a few other people on here have created their own 6-Axis robot arms:

So you may want to message them.

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My son and I have built a number of GBC modules and have been working on the Akiyuki Pneumatic module for over a month. We have built and rebuilt it a number of times, but no matter what we do, we can't seem to get it to turn the full 180 degrees and click the pneumatic switches to raise and lower the scooper. I would really appreciate any help at this time. Thanks in advance!

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Second test run, seems the axles were indeed bent. Replaced them by straight ones. Everything runs smooth.

 

 

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i took some footage of the modified cup to cup type 2 that was in the gbc layout, as you can see it lowers the top cup by half a stud allowing the ball to transfer better, @RohanBeckett could you explain any other changes you have done? 

 

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still wasn't perfect.. if anyone moved the down ramp, it would also move the top output, which would eventually drop a ball (not every time, but enough to cause issues)

Also, it seems to runs best at a slower speed.. slightly less than 1bps.. so eventually would get overwhelmed with balls.

 

Maybe improving the top output ramp, so it was more structurally solid (less wobble), as well as better bracing for the main upper structure, would help it run at a faster speed

But it did last a day and a half before we took it offline - not too bad

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On 6/1/2016 at 8:33 PM, Blakbird said:

Instructions for Akiyuki's Elevator Module are now tested and complete and are available here along with a Brickstore parts list.

  • 110 pages
  • 1621 parts
494x640.jpg

Most of the credit for reverse engineering this module goes to Courbet who did the work making an LDraw file with instruction steps. I had the easy job of formatting the instructions.

I had a lot of trouble with this module. The trouble did not come from the instructions, but from the switching mechanism. When the elevator reaches the top of the tower, it triggers a switch which is supposed to reverse the mechanism. However, the switch took to long to operate and in the interim the gears would grind a skip like crazy. It was horrible. I stayed up all night changing things. I tried different length strings, different shock absorbers, different timing, adding extensions to the trigger; none of it worked. I finally tracked the source of the problem to the transmission driving ring. If you just manually switch the trigger back and forth it works fine, but once the cable and motor are under load it does not. The issue is friction between the dogs (tabs) on the driving ring and the clutch gear. If there is significant torque in the joint then the tabs do not want to slide and the driving ring sticks. I tried adding some silicone spray to the driving ring and it completely solved the problem.

There is a bit of timing to set here. Everything at the bottom end is self adjusting including the ball gates and the ramp direction. The gate in the elevator hopper is also self adjusting. The small linear actuator at the top can be used to adjust the trigger. Making it longer biases the trigger towards the white hopper while making it shorter biases it toward the yellow hopper. You need just the right balance. The length of the cable is also important. The 1 meter cable is just right and can be finely adjusted by pulling out the 1/2 pins on the bottom of the hoppers which hold the cable in place. You want just enough length that one hopper reaches the top while the other is at the bottom.

Once complete, the module is very tall and impressive. The tower can be easily separated from the input hopper for transport or storage. The tower uses 4 uniform modules in the middle, so nothing is preventing adding more to make it even taller. You would just need a longer string.

Although the module is now finally reliable, it has some problems if you want to use it in a GBC circuit. Most obviously, it has no output ramp so the balls just drop from a tremendous height. The input ramp is also MUCH higher than the standard calls for which means you can't just put any other module upstream of it. There is not really any way to make the input lower without a complete redesign of the bottom end.

Hej!

Do you still have the LDraw file?
I only need a part of this GBC module.

Greetings and thanks
Martin

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Hi,

  • Firstly thank you to everyone involved in this project.  Firstly, Akiyuki......wow....how that mans mind must work I just cant imagine!  Incredible.  And next to everyone else involved in this project, thanks so much.  I have had many hours of enjoyment.  And its cost me a fortune :-).  So far I have built the invisible ball lift (works but drops most balls, ive watched rebrickers timing video which I have followed but its fractions out and random where it drops the balls), strain wave gearing (works perfect with a bit of added strengthening to stop it bursting apart)  and at the moment im on with the ball factory.  
  • Im thinking of the next project which will be the marble run.  My question is I once saw an upgrade to this that shoots the balls back up again with some wheels and gearing.  Thing is I cant find it anymore after a lot of searching.  Could anyone kindly point me to it?

Thanks again

Rob

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