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For those who have not following my topics, a small introduction about Sioux.NET on Track, a large full automated Lego candy factory, trains, lots of Mindstorms EV3 and all controlled by a Microsoft C# application. Every year, we show our layout at Lego World in Utrecht, the Netherlands. You can watch videos on our Youtube channel (www.youtube.com/user/siouxnetontrack) with the progress of all the updates and changes we make and you can also watch a video of the layout at Lego World. The video from 2017 and 2016: We always have an interface to the visitor, the so called 'PUI' which is an abbreviation for Physical User Interface. The visitor can choose the color of the candy (s)he wants to be delivered. The colors red, green, blue and yellow can be chosen. Okay, okay, its is more purple than blue. But in our layout, that is the blue candy ;-) Through the years, we have had several types of PUI's: In 2016 and 2017 we used a so called Wheel of Fortune as the color selector: The visitor had to pull the lever, making the wheel rotate. For an adult, this works fine. But lots of our visitors are little children, who have never seen a wheel of fortune. So some children pushed the lever, some pulled it but now hard enough and some children thought they had to pull the lever and push it down until it would touch the floor. Sometimes, I really thought the Lego would crack but fortunately it survived the hundreds of enthousiastic kids. For Lego World 2018, we've made an update of the Wheel of Fortune. Instead of a lever, we decided to use a motor for the rotation. But I found out that this was easier said than done. The main problem is the weight of the wheel, it needs quite some torque to start rotating. Plus I needed a free-wheel mechanism: when the motor turns, the wheel should turn. But when the motor stops, the wheel should keep rotating until it is stopped by the pointer. I first used the free-wheel mechanism from the lever: However, he torque was too much for this free-wheel mechanism. So, I started looking on the internet for a more powerful version. On the Youtube page of William Sargeant, I found a version that looked more firm. I made two of these and in combination with two EV3 L motors it is powerful enough to spin the wheel. Apart from that, I mixed the colors in the wheel. The result: And of course a video: I need to design two buttons that will be controlled by the visitor. A green button to start rotating the wheel and a red button that stops the wheel. I'll keep you posted. Thanks for reading and watching. Enjoy, Hans
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