Berthil

Idea is nice although using roads, conveyor belts and tires as ball shooting mechanism in GBC is not new. It also doesn't seem ready for events, LOTS off balls get spilled.

This seems quite old and not 100% mechanical. Have a look at the Akiyuki train system and how with a group of enthousiasts we have continued developing it:

Indeed nice work Doug! Does a train with track fit between lower axle and upper bridge support? It seems the lower axle is now higher because of 24t at the end? Cycle time is almost 45 seconds I see in the video, that's long for a GBC circuit as theoretically it should load a maximum 45 balls at once with one ball per second. If people intend to use this in my compact track layout, I have a little 4 stud offset when loading the train which this mechanical scissor lift does not have. Coming weeks I'm going to work on a quick running vertical and train driven belt in Akiyuki style according to your idea as backup of the pneumatic scissor lift.

I assume to keep the train in place as it could jump of the lift if forces get too high. I did not have it on the worm gear lift by the way and worked fine (with counterweights). So same function as the 8t gears above the 24t gears but 8t gears are sometimes not enough to keep the train in place if forces get really high for some reason. Anyway forces on the worm gear lift are higher than on the Akiyuki lift, also with correct counterweights. For me one more reason to revert to the Akiyuki lift instead of worm gear. And the 8t gears above the 24t gears hooked the train sometimes causing jerky movements. With the Akiyuki lift these are not needed.

That's not possible because the gear rack needs to have a 1/2 stud offset. What you can try is use round plates with hole. With the round plate with hole you have more points to attach the gear racks and they also tend to hold firmer. I've gone back to the Akiyuki lift gearing, it has more jumpers for the gear racks and more gear racks. But that was not the reason I went back to the Akiyuki lift, that was mainly speed and easy of operation for the train.

Looks very promising but 2 challenges still need to be overcome. Buffering the balls when the lift is up and keep the lift low enough after an inbox that is 10L high. At least these were my challenges because I wanted it to be part of a GBC circuit and didn't want to add a belt to the inbox. But of course you are free to do what you want :)

Nice idea, well done! I was also planning to do something with all these brick separators in a GBC so I might use your 'caterpillar insect' idea :)

I think basic setup and pneumatic cilinder position is visible well here What seems a shock absorber is a connector with 12 axle and three soft shock springs to get enough travel. If needed I can try to make a better picture. These make initial force to get the lift up much lower and dampens the lift on its way down. The problem with the scissor lift is that when the lift is up balls must be contained until the lift is down again. This can be solved by adding yet another belt or something that stops when the train is not there but then why not make a higher belt like you have made now. So pneumatics seemed the best solution in this case.

@Doug72 good idea with the vertical lift. I might build my own version and use it as a backup for the pneumatic scissor lift as I didn't test the scissor lift yet for more than an hour. I very much doubt if the train can develop enough force to drive a scissor lift fast enough but you came up with clever solutions before so looking forward to your version.

Welcome @rskamen and thanks for introducing yourself. The tracks are current Powerfunctions RC Trains tracks (so not the old 9v system which have metal tracks): 53401 for straights 53400 for wide curves 85976 for the narrow curves (hard to get in Dark Bluish Grey) 60128 for the crossover (2 pieces), very hard to get as Doug mentioned 88492c00 flexible tracks to make ends meet 53404 and 53407 switch tracks I read you want to start with my compact layout. That's good but please be aware I have build a pneumatic module to load the train at the start. There is no building description of this one and pneumatic parts are also expensive. But may be when you get at this point you will come up with a new loader module to lift balls over the trains :) Good luck and as Doug says, we are always here to help when you get stuck.

Mostly this is caused by wrongly positioned gear rack causing the 8t gear to walk 'over' the gear rack tilting the whole train but your gear rack is in the right position You might however want to remove the yellow guide or make it higher, I think the 8t gears on the train axle ends may be climb up the yellow beam. The extra plate is okay and helps smoother entry and exit.

Holiday well spend, got IKEA Detolf No. 7, sprayed it silver and put the RoscoPC Matra MS80 in it. Also cleaned all other cabinets inside and outside. One spot left for model No. 14.

First post updated with a 20 minute video with lots of details of all 8 Brickative modulars Also details pictures of the interiors in my Flickr album: https://www.flickr.com/photos/r53/albums/72157698690928321/with/43186107535/

Seems to work well, good job. Having no switch make me curious how you will load and unload the train. Especially unload because loading can be done with the 'Train Through Unit' on a train with no switch. Small tip. It's better to remove that axle connector and the bottom and use a 9L axle. The connector touches something there.

And some wings :) Looking forward to the video, also without wings and propeller :)