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@Berthil, I agree, I plan to use it with the passing module + I don't care too much about 1 second rule because I'll have a small GBC setup on our LUG's exhibition, which is rather small compared to the big events you guys are mostly attending My final video uses 20:12 gear step up combo, but I think I'll try 24:8 anyway. @Doug72, if I understand you correctly, you've achieved 12 seconds lift with 20:12 and without the counterweights?

Thank you @Doug72, I am glad you like it. Indeed the structure is much more solid now. I was also thinking about lead but I imagined it would be harder to get the shape for those half cylinder pieces I went for so didn't even look into availability of it. Btw.: That Anderton boat lift looks amazing piece of engineering! Have you been there? Best regards, Miha

@Berthil: Thanks Actually, the counterweights are only helping the motor to lift the platform as they are balancing the weight of the platform and the train cart. It is the worm gear mechanism that is preventing the platform from falling, as it locks the position of the platform immediately when the train leaves the platform. It was proposed by Doug and enhanced by dunes a couple of posts back. It makes the lift module much more reliable. I guess I kinda flud the topic with my longer posts, so you've missed it, sorry for that

Thx @dunes Here's a video... Edit: For those who might have missed it: counterweights are an addition to Doug72's and dunes' mod with worm gear driving mechanism of the platform. I think only counterweigts without any other mechanism, that holds the platform at the top or bottom position, are not enough to make it work.

Voila! I'm done Here's my "upgrade" of the Akiyuki's&Doug's&dunes' train lift. I tried to keep it as simple as I was able (and willing ). As you can see in the photos there are 4 separate counterweights hung over pulleys with no mechanical advantages. I was dwelling on advantage of 2 for each pulley, but that would mean doubling the mass of the weights by 2. In that case the tower wouldn't have to be higher than it is in the "original" version. I wanted to keep weights as small as possible (size wise) and I think those cylinder half 2x4x4 are just perfect. But as you can imagine, even full volume of ABS this size wouldn't suffice... ...therefore (purist be advised, this may hurt your eyes) I filled it with steel rods. I was really lucky to get 28 mm diameter steel bars at our local hardware store, they fit perfectly! I spray painted them white, 'cause that was in the garage The end result is fantastic, although a bit surprising. The weight of the platform with cart filled with 50 (nevergonahappen) balls was about 650 grams and when empty about 580 g. I decided to add counterweights in total of around 600 g. In the end it sums up to 590 grams. Funny thing is, that now the lifts goes more easy up full, than down empty, which was a bit unexpected, since the counterweights weigh closer to the empty cart then to the full cart. Nevertheless, with full batteries and gear setup 20:12, the time spent to ascend and descend is about 12-14 seconds which is waaaaaay better than without counterweights (20-25 second) at the same gear setup. I haven't tried the gears 24:8, as I don't think it is needed. I had to change the lower exit chock to be the same as on the upper exit side. The old ones were to short and since some effort is needed to get down the lift, the gears would rattle to much, as they were not aligned properly. I shot a short video and will upload it soon. I hope you like it, I am super happy about the outcome. Thank you @Doug72 and @dunes for leading me to this end result! Best regards, Miha Edit: For those who might have missed it: countercweights are an addition to Doug72's and dunes' mod with worm gear driving mechanism of the platform.

Indeed, make wouldn't help me a lot Thank you milady. Any good advice for pliers with rubber coated jaws maybe?

Saw this one on Facebook. It is awesome! Very interesting how you've managed to attach the lifting gear rack so low on the trailer. Congratulations for a fantastic MOC!

I use similar tool also used in dental prostethesis "workshops". It has a small knife on one side and a tiny spoon on the other (similiar to tha one on the photo below) but mine is rather blunt so not to dangerous. I mostly use the small spoon to push long axles out of holes and the knife also serves to pull the pin out sometimes. Otherwise, tweezers are also on my desktop as well. Has anbody found some with rubber wrapped jaws or something similiar? Do such tweezers even exist? Sometimes I damaged the end of the axles a bit when pulling them out.

Hmm, I'm not sure that I get what you mean... If I put a pin in the proposed place I'll lock the path of the counterweight. So the platform wouldn't lower down anymore until it breaks that pin pr something else. But I managed to lower the position of the chock in another way. I replaced the two yellow halfwidth +0+ liftarms that prevent higher rise of the chocks with Axle and Pin Connector Perpendicular 3L with 2 Pin Holes. In this way the angle that this connector is allowing the chocks to rise is a bit smaller. Or I could also put a half pin with stud in the lower hole on the black Connector Perpendicular Double 3L - see the photo of the platform from bellow. Now off to make a nice counterweight crane which won't mess the whole thing up :-) Best regards!

@Doug72, guess what? I think I'll try to add a counterweight system to the lift via a pulley crane on top of the lift to aid raising te platform. If the weight weighs somewhere between sum of masses of the platform and of the train cart full/empty-average the motor should work with much more ease, maybe even at higher gear ratio, and might also look very interesting... I guess we'll see :-) I know it's a deviation from the original, but I think it may actually work.

Congratulations to all! Kinda hard to see @shadow_elenter's avatar now with all that gold shining around Cool prizes as well! Btw. +1 for the 50 posts minimum rule for voting.

Sure @Doug72. Below the photos... Top view... Bottom view... In case you wonder, I decided to attach levers to disingage the stopps on both sides to get better performace. I guess I could lose some more weight by removing one of the weights. Same on the other side... Again top... Side view with a cart pushing into the chocks... Platform in topmost position... I agree it could be much more optimized parts-wise but since time is not on my side, as our event, I am prepraing this for, is getting near, i'll settle :-) Still, very uch eager to hear your thoughts. Best regards.

I think you might be right - my chocks may be a bit to high, so the cart kinda jams them and more power is need to lower them. And the power my cart lacks of :-) I'll try what you suggested, although I built the platform a bit differently and I don't have those longitudinal axles at all to adjust the rotation of the chocks. Thank you for your help. Best regards!

Sorry, my bad, false alarm The file is all accessible. Thx again! @Doug72: No, no, I wasn't clear I guess. The motors stalls when the platform reaches the height where the stopping 'chalks' need to be lowered. The cart pushes against them so much so they dont low down because the motor stalls before that. Sometimes I it barely gets to the too even without the problme with loweringvthe stops. Otherwise I have the same setup of gear racks except I left out the upper left and the lower right on the photo. So if the stoping mechanism manages to low down, the cart leaves the platform with no problem. But all that only with 20:12 setup. With 16:16 works like a charm :-)

Yes, I think your math is fine :-) I am just a bit sad, that my motors obviously can't provide decent enough performance in 20:12. They usually stall on top when the stopping mechanusm is disengaged... ah well, I'll get over it :-) I thiink you are right on the rubber bands as well. I am using non-LEGO braiding rubber bands for girls and after a couple day they seem to lose some tension indeed. Will follow you advice to take them off when not in use. @Courbet Thank you very much for making pdf instructions - thy will come very handy, althoug I've already built the module. but he file or the folder sem to be unaccessible. Best regards!

Thank you @dunes! I went for the same version as Doug as it is indeed so much better than the one I've come up. My version was just too messy and all the rotating axle had bracing function as well, which added a lot more friction. Everything runs much smoother, but both my train carts still struggled in 20:12 configuration, so I am final at 16:16. The lifting time of full cart was practically the same at both gear combos + releasing the cart on the way up was much worse on 20:12 combo. I forgot to mention that I have a full height of the lift as Akiyuki and not the lower version as Doug. My times are around 17 secs down empty and about 24up full. Thanks again for sharing your ideas. Best regards.

Looking good! I kinda settled with the speed I got. With fresh batteries it takes 19 seconds to rise with fully loaded cart. Well, I'll see how it works in the whole setup.

OMG @Doug72, this is fantastic time. Mine takes 25 second up (fully loaded) and 18 seconds down in 16:16 setup. Well the batteries are not full as well. I'll try to loosen all the axles again. I am affraid that significant friction is between the worm gear and the connectors bracing it... will try some lube as well (dry ptfe spray from WD40) And I need to try full batteries as well.

Silly me Of course they do, I removed it now and it works good No luck with 20:12 though. Well, it lifts, but motor struggles even without the bucket on top. I'll stick to 16:16 pair.

Well, I hope you know it wasn't about who's first, I just wanted to add something to the thread as I was only reaping its fruits :-) And yes Effe makes wonderful "missing" pieces in #d but somehow for now I am trying to avoid them even though I am not a LEGO purist at all. Thank you very much:-) Most of my grey beams has been used up as well, therefore so much blue... I think I'll try 20:12 pair as well, I don't think 24:8 would work OK even with full batteries, at leasr for me it didn't on one of the first setups which might have had other issues as well so I abandonded it. True, there was no actual problem as the bewel gear slides nicely below the stopper and only for a short period of time. The problem was that it didn't tuck all the way down as the bewel gear was preventing it to lower straight with the rest of the tracks. Cart struggled over that small bump and rattled over it so I just removed it....it still stops the cart very well. Best regards!

That might work, but I hope the gears would not skip under load because they are not braced as worm gear usually is. Well, as promised, I was trying the whole evening as well and here's what I've come up with. I used exit stopper only on one side because on the other side it was rubbing against the tan 12t bewel gear. I modified the bottom a bit as well. I reverted to half thick beam for stopper because the full stud thick was getting stuck in te lifting gears axle. So far it performs really well but I think any gearing up would cause the motor to stall. The original gear ratio from Akiyuki was 6:1, with this mod is 24:1. I've tried reducing it to 8:1 (8/24, 24/8, 1/8-worm) but it couldn't even lift an empty cart. There are some more photos and bigger ones here. Now, I can't really decide whether to use original lift or this one which I find a bit to slow. If the original is really so unreliable as you guys say it is, I guess for running it on longer period, the worm gear variant would be a better choice. What do you think? To finish up, here's how my rotary dumper looks: I made the ball exit to the right, as I need such setup for my layout. Shifting it to the left would be rather simple, a little bit more work and aditional bricks to make them run strait. I've narrowed the opening on top with an additional beam on each side. Regarding the falling bricks from the baskets, here's my idea, but haven't tested it yet because, I still need to build the "regular" dumper. I thought more studs should hold better and for now they do. Oh, and my loading module as well... Now that's really it, the hour is late :-) Good night and I apologise for rather poor photos. Best regards and thanks again for this great and very helpfull topic. Miha

Hmmmm, I guess I won't be applying the worm gear then ,I will try to find a possible "legal" way to implement the worm gear as well. Nonetheless - great solution. Regarding "Two simple chocks to hold train in place for raising & lowering": My train used to get stuck od the edges of the connector holding the freely rorating 8t gears, so I replaced it with 3 of these connected with 2 (+0+) halfstud liftarms. Due to the round shape of the pin connectors the train doesn't jam anymore. Best regards.

Well done @Doug72using that worm gear on the elevator. Brilliant idea. I've built those modules after your mods and for now it works fantastic! I think I will implement this worm gear mod as well. Although I find the elevator speed in your video a bit to slow so I guess I'll try gearing up as you suggest. I hope you will grant us with some more close up photos of worm gear application for which I thank you in advance! Best redards and again very well done! Many thanks to @dunes as well for providing digital files :-)

10: 10 1: 6 5: 4 6: 3 3: 2 12: 1

Wow, using train motor is something new to me. Very nice! Also nice touch using that small actuator to fine tune the ball grip.