Berthil
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Everything posted by Berthil
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This thread started out with Blakbird going into GBCs with reverse engineering the Akiyuki modules (with others) which we all appreciate very much! Meanwhile he has moved away from GBCs and Akiyuki publishes his own building instructions these days. @Doug72, please go ahead and open up a [GBC] Akiyuki Train mods and improvements thread :) -
Nice work @Doug72, keep up the good work! I think you need more height to get the balls exit high enough for the next module however. I still need to start debugging this module after my first and failed tryout at a 3 day event so looking forward to your final (and reliable) module. I've seen a video of Japan Brickfest 2018 with Akiyuki and I don't think he has the dumper running or it must be in the background that was not on the video. May be we should open up a separate thread with Akiyuki improvements per machine, this would be a good one to start. For newcomers it's not really tempting to go through 59 pages.
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Man, I'm getting old. I learned programming on a BBC Micro and automated chemical laboratory experiments with it. I like the bluetooth of LPF2.0 because I now have a Great Ball Contraption where kids can steer a WALL·E to catch the LEGO balls and bring them to the next machine. Every two minutes there is a new kid and every kid I have to tell (multiple times) to point the LPF1.0 controller to WALL·E. Imagine how I feel after 7 days and 7 hours at LEGO World Utrecht. So I'm looking forward to a LPF2.0 on/off controller and receiver with lithium batteries instead of AAA batteries. With LPF1.0 WALL·E runs a whole day on the current Lithium battery, Sariel review wasn't very promising on battery stamina with LPF2.0
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Nice work @Doug72, seems to work very well. Looking forward to a building instruction or will try to reverse engineer when time permits. Thanks!
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The construction at the bottom prevents the arm te be bend too much outwards by the hoses. But also pre bending the hoses in the desired shape helps there.
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I've designed a drop in to replace the standard LEGO battery box with 6 heavy AA batteries with the LEGO rechargeable Lithium Ion battery (8878) in the Akiyuki train. This has resulted in almost 25% less weight (80 grams). All battery functions reachable without taking the battery out of the train. Wire from the battery also interferes lees with the switch arms. With this I will try again to make the rotary dumper more reliable.
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Great improvement for the ones that need it. Please be aware that some silicone sprays have a solvent that dissolves the weakener (or plasticizer) in the ABS making the parts brittle. I had a few 24 teeth gears broken until I figured this out. So far I had best results with WD40 PTFE spray which doesn't seem to have the solvent that dissolves the weakener and keeps the 24 teeth gear in one piece.
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GBC General Discussion
Berthil replied to Jim's topic in LEGO Technic, Mindstorms, Model Team and Scale Modeling
My GBC lineup at a 3 day event last Pentacost weekend. -
I just went ahead and took pictures of my compact Invisible Lift without setting up the temporary studio and also made a summary of reliability improvements I have made after running the Invisible Lift for 10 days now. The compact exit uses the original mounts but with 3mm hoses, this takes less room so the top antennas stay clear of the tubes: 1st part of the exit hangs on this upper liftarm which connect to the original construction with two pins: 2nd part of the exit hangs on this lower liftarm which connects to the original construction with two pins: 3rd part of the exit is supported from below with these liftarms that connect to the original construction: Exit is just a down tube made out of of axles where thee is no room for the ball to go anywhere but down: Reliability improvements: Added a 8L axle with stopper and two bushes to lock the ball picker mechanism in place because the whole ball picker was lifted up sometimes: Shield from tiles to prevent balls dropping in here as this is the only place on the left where the whole machine locks up when a ball drops in: Replaced the 4L axle with stopper with a 8L axle all the way down with bushes on the end to keep the ball feeder in one piece because on (rare) occasion the bucket came up: Drive axle extension with a longer drive axle to the left as the left torque gear did run off to the left as there was nothing holding it in its place: Added extra mount and cut 3mm tube to keep the 1x2 rubber in place to ensure good ball grip: When moving my hands around the machine I always seemed to manage to bump of the two antennas that function as ball guides. No more with the use of the new two stud rounded plate: Reclining platform and inside smoothening to guide the dropped balls out of the Lift and prevent jams: More sturdy and better working ball feed, makes transporting the machine more easy:
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Detailed pictures of the updated Marble Run are on my Flickr including how I have made the launch platform sit in all rubber to dampen shocks. It has done very well for 3 days in a row with no visible wear on the tire, the kids and adults loved it. I only will add full 4 corner tubing after the wheel exit because on occasion some balls were shot to the ceiling :) The wheel used is the 75mm D. x 17mm Motorcycle wheel 88517.
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Lets talk color vomit
Berthil replied to aminnich's topic in LEGO Technic, Mindstorms, Model Team and Scale Modeling
Wow :) As earlier mentioned, taste is personal. I stacked up on black pins and axles for my GBC's. No blue pins in my GBC's even if I have to buy black axle pins for 1 Euro a piece these days. I can understand why LEGO switched to color coded axles and pins but it's regrettable that the black stuff is becoming rare because of this. If one does not want to use color coded axles and pins, you can always replace the visible ones during a build but it will add a lot of cost. -
I believe that is the most challenging part and the reason for the current mechanism. But it's looking good, I hope you succeed!
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I can subscribe to this, I had the Rotary dumper with me to a 3 day LEGO event but it failed right at the start although it seemed reliable at home. The trains were used for 3 days with the normal dumper, both my trains have now 50h running time and it seems that in both trains the M-motor has failed. I'm going to give the Rotary Dumper a second try with trains running on an accu pack (8878) rather than AA batteries. The Invisible Lift performed very well for 3 days straight with the small changes I made to it but here also the motor failed after ~80h running time
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I will make some pictures soon and post them here, no problem.
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Where's the battery and computer? Otherwise nice idea and design to slow it down before it hits the ground with the propellers. So kudos for the idea but not feasible in LEGO IMHO.
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Thanks! Yes, enough modules but not enough original LEGO balls, an availability (or cost) issue we all have to deal with. End of this year I will have enough with 1000 balls.
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Video of my version of the Train Elevator and Rotary dumper in one module with new base/pedestal
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I'm not planning to make instructions as this will be quite some work with the cipher wheels. But it is not a very complicated construction, reverse engineering through the pictures and video shouldn't be too difficult. Just let me know if you have questions if you are going to build it, I will answer.
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GBC General Discussion
Berthil replied to Jim's topic in LEGO Technic, Mindstorms, Model Team and Scale Modeling
This time a different approach on making a GBC video :) At the end of the video you see me holding up my version of the Akiyuki Train Elevator and Rotary dumper put together in one module. Because of the new 'old style' base this has become a very solid and sturdy module where nothing wiggles and shakes. A video of that coming soon. -
Here is my version of the train elevator and rotary dumper in one combined module, video will follow.
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Here's my updated Invisible Lift and another way of showing GBC's. If you like it I will buy a good quality microphone for the next video :)
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I used the original LEGO metal balls, I had to order them though as I had none.
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I have used the DBG 6542 gears because I like them better than the red in my design and I have no problems with the rotating dumper. It has worked from the start.
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I got everything working except one thing, the train won't leave the elevator station when down and on it's way back. At that point the wagon has to push the yellow 4x2 lever down pushing to stretch two red rubber bands and right at the moment where the drive of the train switches from 24t gear to 1x4 gear rack, that's a dead spot where the 8t gear is free in the air. I tried different red rubber band setups to get the forces down but nothing works. Anyone else had this and has some tips? I tried to upload a small picture but upload doesn't work right now. Update: found it. In the instruction the red rubber band for the 'elevator down' switch (red slopes) is wound around the axle towball once. In the video however it is not wound around the axle towball. I tried this before and didn't work but after finetuning the switch I got this working. Akiyuki must also use some kind of super batteries. I have new GP alkalines and everything is running much slower than in his video and rotation seems to require quite some force when reaching the end and compressing the release spring fully. I doubt if the rotary dumper can keep up the 1 ball per second pace and one train.
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My version of the Akiyuki Train Lift and Rotary dumper in one module leaving out the Lift bridge. The 'old style' Akiyuki base has added a lot of rigidity when compared to his original design. Still WIP but very close to finishing it, I hope to make 'studio' pictures and a video of it this weekend. In the back at the right also a new exit for the Invisible Lift which I think fits seamlessly in the overall design. More on that also this weekend.