[TC23] Serpentine

[Akassin]

Hi all.
I still decided to take part in this competition, although I had never built GBC mechanisms before and was not even familiar with this direction in LEGO.
I hope that I have not accidentally repeated any of the already existing similar mechanisms in GBC and therefore I will not violate the rules of the competition (if a similar one already exists, please tell me).

So. The principle of its mechanism is to move the ball in a zigzag pattern from bottom to top. The pusher lifts the ball up at an angle of 45 degrees and when it reaches the top point, another pusher picks it up and the cycle repeats:

At the moment, I managed to make several repeating segments of the main mechanism to check its performance.

It is necessary to add a couple more of the same segments and design a ball feed tray. Your feedback and comments are welcome.

[Berthil]

Looks interesting! There are pushers out there but not at this scale and not with this pattern so definitely something new. Good luck with finishing it.

[Akassin]

The work is done.
A ball tray was added (holds approximately 100 balls) and a mechanism for feeding balls to the conveyor.
Slightly changed the design of the main mechanism for more emphasis on the main details.

One L-motor is used
Now the mechanism is made for cyclic operation, but can be configured to serve balls at any distance and height.
Here are some preliminary photos and videos of the work.

 

Edited October 24, 2022 by Akassin

[ord]

I like it. Nice, snake-like movement.

[Berthil]

Nice work! It seems to run slower than 1 ball per second, can it run faster?

[Akassin]

43 minutes ago, ord said:

I like it. Nice, snake-like movement.

Thanks

26 minutes ago, Berthil said:

Nice work! It seems to run slower than 1 ball per second, can it run faster?

Thank you. Yes, it is set approximately so far and any speed can be set. Now done double downgrading 8:24. Before the final video, I will remove one downshift.

[howitzer]

I love it, the concept and workings of are easy to see and understand, but I bet there has been lots of fiddling and fine-tuning to make it work so smoothly. Great work!

[Thirdwigg]

Very cool and hypnotic: the perfect GBC. I'm proud of anyone who can make something for this contest. And coming right after your podium for TC22!

[1980SomethingSpaceGuy]

Really nice!
And a design I'd never seen before. Great job!

[Akassin]

On 10/24/2022 at 7:41 PM, howitzer said:

I love it, the concept and workings of are easy to see and understand, but I bet there has been lots of fiddling and fine-tuning to make it work so smoothly. Great work!

You're right. I adjusted the position of the gears many times until I achieved stable operation at all stages

On 10/25/2022 at 5:38 PM, Thirdwigg said:

Very cool and hypnotic: the perfect GBC. I'm proud of anyone who can make something for this contest. And coming right after your podium for TC22!

On 10/26/2022 at 11:06 AM, 1980SomethingSpaceGuy said:

Really nice!
And a design I'd never seen before. Great job!

Thank you, guys, glad you liked it

 

Now the work is completely finished.
  At first I was going to remove one downshift 24:8, but then I remembered that I had not charged the batteries for a long time 
With fresh batteries everything started to work faster and I changed the 24:8 downshift to 20:12. Now I think the speed of work is normal.

I also had to strengthen the whole structure a bit, because my 2 year old son showed a lot of interest in this mechanism, so I had to often lower / raise / move it to save it after the game 

I am posting the final photos and videos:

 

[Ankoku]

I hope you do instructions for this. The motion is really satisfying!

[Akassin]

On 11/21/2022 at 9:07 PM, Ankoku said:

I hope you do instructions for this. The motion is really satisfying!

Unfortunately, I have no experience in creating instructions. And I do not consider my work absolutely finished to make instructions as for a finished product. Yes, it does show some technical mechanics, but it still needs a lot of design work to look good (primarily using lots of studded bricks). I do not have enough of them, so I limited myself to the studless parts.
I also made many changes when the main structure was almost ready. Therefore, in order not to do everything all over again and be in time for the competition, I had to make these changes not in the best way. Therefore, for a person who would assemble this model according to the instructions, they would seem strange.
But I'll post the .io file when it's finished if it inspires someone to build their own models.

[Ankoku]

IO file is fine.

Consider leaving a version which is still the studless variant. Some people prefer things studless.

And yes, I appreciate your point when it comes to not wanting to release an unfinished version. There is a difference between a version for a competition and a version you will see built by others.

I suspect if you do put an IO file out there at some point, you could well end up seeing this at events which have a GBC run.

[GBCPeter]

Hello

1 photo of the object from behind is often enough to start a rebrick.

mfg GBC Peter

 

[Akassin]

I finished the io file. Here is the link:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1e2rA7jDu8wVZO-pmxUOcZG589lcXNZjg/view?usp=share_link

I apologize if there are some inaccuracies in it. I don't have much experience yet. I will be glad if it is useful to someone.

Also here is a scheme of the main mechanisms:

Well, at your request, rear view from the studio:

[Ankoku]

That is a damn fine looking module!

I will most certainly be building it!

I backed up the IO file here:

https://bricksafe.com/files/Ankoku/akassin/serpentine-gbc-module/TC23 GBC.io

Mainly because the above Google Drive link treats the IO file as a zip file (Which it is) and thus shows you the contents which sit within that, rather than just showing you the IO file.

Thanks for making the IO file available! I hope it does well in the contest! It deserves to!

Edited November 30, 2022 by Ankoku
Went with a larger image!

[Berthil]

I also really like this module. As such the mechanics are not new and sliders have also been used before, but both have been combined into a new and attractive module so well done! Also thank you for the IO file.

Edited January 2, 2023 by Berthil

[Berthil]

Since I really like the movement I had a go at putting it in a design that I normally work with and made a few renders;

Next I plan to build it, improve where necessary and create free building instructions. Is that okay with you @Akassin?

[9v system]

8 minutes ago, Berthil said:

Since I really like the movement I had a go at putting it in a design that I normally work with and made a few renders;

Next I plan to build it, improve where necessary and create free building instructions. Is that okay with you @Akassin?

super interested in the instructions for this one, i wanted to do this as well, your version is excellent

[Akassin]

12 hours ago, Berthil said:

Since I really like the movement I had a go at putting it in a design that I normally work with and made a few renders;

Next I plan to build it, improve where necessary and create free building instructions. Is that okay with you @Akassin?

@Berthil, you've done a great clean design like all the rest of your work. As I wrote earlier, I will be happy if my work inspires other people.

Edited January 2, 2023 by Akassin