DrJB

Beautiful, great work. I like how you incorporated both collective and cyclic. If I recall, Lego has never done that. I bought 9396 a while back when it came out, hoping for such feature but it did not have it. The rotor was fairly 'massive' and complex though. Can you show some more detail on how you did both cyclic/collective? I just bought two of Efferman's parts from shapeways but haven't got the time to put them to test (must sand them down first ... but who has the time?) It would be nice to motorize the rotor and show the blades' pitch changes as they rotate against the vertical axis, both for a stationary and rotating observer, a bit like what Akiyuki typically does with his complex GBCs.

Hi Thorsten, I'm with you on this. I'm old gen as well and appreciate these old contraptions very much. I was fortunate enough to pick 2x 9751 few years back with plenty of sensors and red bricks from eBay. There was even an opto sensor (predecessor of the rotation sensor). I haven't had a chance to fully utilize them yet, but there is hope soon hopefully .. I guess I'm a collector ... or a hoarder as the ex would say :) ... In any event, very glad and welcome that you were able to track down the specific individual on this site. I've attended many BrickWorld events in Chicago over the past years and seen only once a Control Lab contraption displayed. Would love to explore this a bit more, and see what one can do. To me, the modern phone app-controlled devices are 'fancy' but provide many hidden layers that one does not see ... or maybe I'm very old school. Thank you also for the link to the other thread, I go back to it every once in a while. I tend to navigate back and forth between old electronics, pneumatics, and geometrical shapes (Platonic Solids & Tessellations). Hopefully someday I find time to somehow build something all inclusive ... until then, this forum provides many ideas that one often has little time to fully explore. The good thing is there are many very knowledgeable individuals all willing to help. All the Best. JB

Thank You. That's a beautiful reference. Just finished reading it, and there is also a Meccano Math 2, for mechanisms .... beautiful!

I do not come on here as often as I used or want to, but nonetheless there is still new relevant/useful information. Lately I 'discovered' that there are quite a few options for 3rd party products available for Lego, primarily electrical/software in Europe. Here in the US, what is wide-known (from talking to fellow AFOLs) is primarily the Hi-Technic sensors for Mindstorms NXT. I'd like to see/compile a list of 3rd party components available out there. I'll start 1. BuWizz - Need to read a learn a bit more 2. Custom parts by efferman (shapeways) 3. Control Lab https://www.controllab.io/ ... what else ?

Another MIT genius ... brings back wonderful memories of 77 Mass Ave ... :( or, as we all called it while there ... IHTFP .. which stands for "I Hate This F%$#ing Place"

Not to go too much off topic, but while searching on YouTube, I found the following. Apparently, one can run Control Lab with modern computer hardware ... just an FYI https://www.controllab.io/

You should search this forum for 9750. There was a fellow eurobricker few years ago who found few of them in his university. He might still have them and willing to loan/share.

I can't answer your question, but if the gyro sensor is not fast enough, can you compensate by using some PID control ? Look up the self-balancing EV3 robot as an example.

Any update on the B-model? For sure would love to see it.

Great work. Thank you for sharing. Philo compared many lego motors a while back (philohome.com). It might be worthwhile to consolidate your data with his for a good reference to all of us. Cheers.

Bravo!, A masterpiece, just like the original. I recently disassembled/cleaned mine and stored it ... maybe it needs a new owner :)

I'm not too versed in the Bionicle universe. Someone on BrickLink is asking about these. Are they worth much?

I would be careful with Linear Actuators as those have some grease inside. I would simply clean the outside.

Those 8 white squares look like RGB LEDs??? ... didn't think they had them back then.

When 8455 came out, about 20 years ago, I bought two such sets. One could build fancy contraptions with 20 cylinders and 14 switches. My thinking back then was that some day I'll get to re-create and further explore some of the pneumatic logic I learned during my highschool years, the L-cycle, the U-cycle, Truth tables ... etc. Of course those parts sat in storage for many years, until Akiyuki came up with a pneumatic-powered GBC. The mechanics of such GBC were just phenomenal (It's an L-cycle). Yet, I have not seen anything remotely as sophisticated. Hence, the reason for this thread. Do you have knowledge of pneumatic contraptions that are fully automatic i.e., operating on various self-perpetuating cycles? PS. To be fair, I did see a couple of 6-legged walkers and the pneumatic motors, though some of those require permanent modifications to the cylinders.

I would LOVE to build that one. Are any instructions available at all? It looks like the cylinders are moving pretty fast, and thus, most likely 'modified'. Thoughts?

Ok, that would have been my second guess

At the bottom most (no need to run the video), it looks like the spacing between the ball-carriers is different from everywhere else. Wouldn't that affect how the balls are loaded onto the wheel (their timing)?

Looks very promising. Love our work/play space as well.. :)

Hey Nico, always very pleased with your creations. Sometime back you introduced us to the "Joy of Spirographing" (Version 4). Have you done anything with the banana gears?

For those who need to disassemble their cylinders. it's rather easy. I was initially holding off as I did not want to damage the plastic with metal tools. It turns out the black plastic of the cylinders is rather 'flexible' and very easy to insert a screwdriver under and remove. No damage done (none visible to the naked eye).

I have two cylinders and they broke at two different places. The idea is to disassemble both and make a single working unit. Any hint/pointers as to how to do that without damaging them?

Thank You Milan. Appreciate it.

With the 8448, styling was about flex axles and angled connectors. Now it's all about panels ... how many different panels are there?

Thank You for such valuable information. You obviously have spent quite a bit of time investigating such devices. *Cheers*