Doug72

Fast Swing Loader for GBC Train System Completed. Now speeded up and trip cycle time is 46 secs with 33 balls. and EV3 program for Motor A set at 100% Other speeds are possible by changing the 3 gears that drive the the two turntables & Swing Arms. IMG_8251 EV3 Motor A speed to alter to obtain desired trip time. Some small adjustments made to input box to ensure all balls roll into the train hopper. Short Video showing trip time of 46 secs between train arriving & departing.

Hop over to the Lego Train Tech forum to see more examples of circuit cube use.

Train GBC Swing Loader (WIP) Improved trip cycle time. Trip times hard to consistently achieve as train car batteries run down. As the EV3 drive motor A was set at 100% I could not increase this to reduce the loading cycle time to meet the 1 ball per sec. GBC requirement. So a mechanical solution was required. This was fairly easy without a major re-build. The drive unit to the swinging arms had a gear reduction of 3:1 to turn the worm gears that turned the two turntables that swing the arms. Original drive 3:1 using two 24T clutch gears driven by an 8T gear. Clutch gears possible slipping. IMG_8244 New drive: 1.66 : 1 using two 20T double bevel gears driven by a a single 12T double bevel gear. IMG_8243 This meant the EV3 program had to be revised. Ball input box can hold & empty 33 balls and Overall trip cycle time now well below 60 seconds.

Many thanks,

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This works for both blue gear and red gear. The gear racks have to be mounted on an 8 x 1 plate. Blue Gear - axle ball as the spacer. Red gear - 1/2 pin as the spacer. IMG_8238 This is shown on page 12 of this book, which has many solutions for problem builds there is 2nd book for cars and contraptions

GBC Train Swing Loader - Update The module was found to be running too slow to be GBC compliant. The video shows the coding for EV3 operation is set at 75% for Motor A which is too slow to reach the 1 ball per second. EV3 coding adjusted so that Motor A now runs at 100% speed. Dwell time for loading balls reduced from 6 secs to 2secs. Input Box is able to hold 33 balls and can empty into the train ball carrier during the shorten dwell time. Freshly recharged batteries put into EV3 hub and module tested. From Train docking to undocking is 58 seconds and now more than meets GBC standards of one ball per sec. New video to be made and will be posted later.

Lego Con:- There was a 10 min gap in the middle of the live show due “Technical Problems” Items discussed as far as I can recall. The Full size lego House / Full size LEGO Technic 42115 Lamborghini Sian FKP/ DOTS / Flowers / Hogwarts / Star Wars / Space shuttle / Friends, / Lego ideas /Mindstorms / other non Technic themes.

Lego Con is well named, be prepared to be disappointed !! It's 2 hours long and the first & only mention of a Technic product is for the Volvo 6 x 6 Dumper truck !!! NO MENTION OF ANY FORTH COMING NEW TECHNIC MODELS.

Watching it now in the UK.

Thanks for the info, those parts might be usefull for GBC use if they are strong enough.

Can anyone advise is the part number and how long is it ? Does it come with the “nut”, & part number.

Now built a Left Hand version of the @HRU_Bricks Train Reverser module. It was relatively easy to do the conversion. Main change was to position the trip rotor section to line up with the middle of the trip beam on the train car. The gear ratchet lever to assist train departing is in the same position as on the Akiyuki version. Each 24T gear has an output (Red 2L axle connector) to drive to other modules IMG_8212

If the PF switch has the small pole reverser switch it is an easy fix. If a PF switch without the pole switch is used then only way to make the train work correctly to move the train side beam would have to done by changing the final bevel gear on both axles to the opposite side I managed to buy two of the old type PF switch with pole reverser recently for spares.

Now built your improved version of the Train Reverser module. Instructions were easy to follow up to page 38 / 39 / 40 which are all identical and had me baffled for awhile. Pages 41 to 63 all OK. Testing:- without rubber bands in place and train reversed by hand. Train arriving & departing OK and is much smoother. Testing with rubber bands in place on reverser: Trains would not depart, tried with all my train carts with same result. Had me puzzled for a while then came the eureka moment. Your version is Right Handed whereas the Akiyuki version is Left handed. Solution changed the small black pole reverser switch to other position on the PF switch and now reverser working correctly. Therefore all the train reverser in a set up have to be either RH or LH. As I have several LH reverser modules I will adapt your build to make it LH. IMG_8209