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Ankoku

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Everything posted by Ankoku

  1. Ankoku
    I have done way too much work on sorting out Akiyuki spiral lifts. I never liked how they collected balls which never got lifted. So I fixed that. Also, it means you don't get balls bunching and jamming together as much, which is nice. The heights on the instructions tended to be wrong. Thus you would get the tubing too close, thus it rubbed, or too far out and thus the ball would get stuck between the tube and the column, those tended to be the worst. So, the 3 main things I did, was: Adjust the height slightly, usually only a plate or two. The Ball Factory is very forgiving in that respect. Change how the tubing is connected. e.g. I don't think I use a 3L pin for any of my lifts where it connects two bits of tubing. Buy black tubing from LEGO. The material it is made of seems to be softer and thus puts less strong on the whole structure. Might be an age of the material thing. I don't know. Before long, I will post the changes I made to the lift on Cup-to-Cup.
  2. Ankoku
    You can see that in a video as well (11:15 mark): I think the main thing to remember, is that you are now longer confined to 2 base plates, so you have a lot more room for experimentation.
  3. Ankoku
    Off the top of my head, this is my top 10, trying to follow the general approach of the video: 1: Ball Factory v2 2: Catch & Spin (This would be No. 1, if it wasn't for the impact that the Ball Factory v2 had on the world.) 3: Invisible Lift (I remember seeing it for the first time and just thinking: Wow!) 4: Akiyuki Train System (This replaces the writer). For me, the Train system has had a big impact on the GBC scene, both at home and at events. I haven't built any train system stuff, but you can't miss the impact.) 5: Pneumatic Ball Factory v3 (Unique, nice timings, great aesthetics.) 6: Gates (Just amazing stuff for me, not the prettiest, but amazing non-the-less.) 7: Roulette (Merging of great LEGO design and some nice GBC stuff. I love the ball splitter run.) 8: Golf (A modular system anyone can get in on. Slap in the putting mechanism and you get to create any course you like.) 9: Coaster (Although it uses unofficial pieces for the track, the Star Gate one uses unofficial stuff for the mirrors etc.) 10: Mario (Just amazingly themed and some nice touches to get it to fit inside the space.) Honourable mentions: Akiyuki - Hockey Rik Riku Katsumata - Orbital Overlap Torso - Cardan Lift. What are your top 10s?
  4. Ankoku
    Was thinking about what I would replace the Akiyuki tower with. Something which is both huge, but also unique. I would nominate this: At No.2? No. But I think it is a good candidate for top 10. The argument against it, would be the use of non-official LEGO parts. For me, an honourable mention outside of the Top 10, would be the Akiyuki hockey stick module. The top 10 already has enough Akiyuki stuff, but I love the ingenious piece use, it is enjoyable to watch and it is really reliable. Also, it doesn't cost the earth to build :P
  5. Ankoku
    Not sure I agree with most of these: Factory for No. 1 is fine. I would then say Catch & Spin for No. 2 and Invisible Lift for No. 3, although I could live with them being either way round. No. 7 though? No way. Always feel iffy about EV3 stuff. I love the writer in the top 10, as it has some nice techniques (Especially the overflow stuff) in it, but I am not sure it is a No. 4. It also makes me think of this writer from 2012: Also, what about this: Which appeared at BrickWorld 2013. It is so unique in comparison to most of what you see today and is educational too. In many respects, this is one of the most inspirational GBCs for me. Also, for themed, I think I would take Super Mario over Jurassic Park. The straining of the LEGO for the Jurassic one makes me wince and as a GBC module, it reminds me of Akiyuki's Six Heads, but not as complex. Pneumatic Ball Factory v3 is a good choice. Am okay with GBC Roulette, as it is a very well styled piece. As much an accomplishment in general LEGO building as it is GBC design. The Akiyuki tower one at No. 2 just feels weird. Sure it is big, but it just basically a collection of Akiyuki modules put together. Not convinced about the Star Gate at all. Maybe it a favourite with kids at events. If I were to choose an alternative to it, I would go for the crazy golf GBC modules made by the same guy: Nice theming, nice design and it is the sort of thing where you think: I could add a new hole of my own design to that course. As with all things LEGO, it is nice when a design inspires you to make your own variation. Amusingly, he too did a GBC writer. As always, these things are subjective, but that is my take.
  6. Ankoku
    There are a number of versions out there with GBC even input/output going on. To be honest, it is a very simple conversion. You may want to look into @Doug72's hopper mod, to stop ball jams. You will also need to either reinforce or change curve at the top of the run. Using the original rubber bars will cause it issues over time at an event. Which you can do without.
  7. Ankoku
    Since this issue has come up in this thread, it seems even the LEGO Technic designers don't know about aligning their Universal Joints properly. The instructions tell you to do it incorrectly, which causes lots of problems. Probably an issues introduced by the person creating the instructions, rather than the designers themselves. That said, I am surprised this made it past testing.
  8. Ankoku
    I have to say, I enjoy watching this. I think it will serve as inspiration for other modules using the same mechanism. Very nice work.
  9. Ankoku
    I've had my first instance of hot linking. Not entirely surprised to find that it was China. It was linked to via: bd.pan.baidu.com/v1/od/queryrapidinfo?type=0&appid=offlinedl&scode=offlinedownload&source_url=http%3A%2F%2Fkanatta.com%2FGBC%2FTheSun%2Fdownload.asp Will be interesting to see if it occurs again, or they realise that hot linking isn't going to be a thing.
  10. Ankoku
    Got a video/timestamp?
  11. Ankoku
    @Ethan M Which module are you doing? At what point in the video? Or is it from a different year?
  12. Ankoku
    Don't worry, I know this approach is OTT. At this point, I want to be able to bounce it down the stairs and it not fall apart. That said, it is already half a kilogram in weight O_o; Might shrink down the triangles down to 3x3 instead of 4x4 and thus reduce some brickage as well. Still way lighter than the wooden board it currently sits on :P
  13. Ankoku
    This is basically what I am thinking about for the Akiyuki Ball Factory support structure. I am going to be doing it in black, but that is a lacking colour for illustrative purposes. The red represents where the ball factory touches the base plates. Triangular pieces sit below the top Technic bricks and above the bottom ones.
  14. Ankoku
    Have to admit, I have never gotten a ball stuck under an arm. I guess it could shoot out of one arm and land under another if the other arm was risen at the time.
  15. Ankoku
    Slower will make it happen less often because it is running.... slower. In fairness, due to how the issue manifests itself, it will actually occur less often at slower speed, but it will occur. I will give it a shot at slower speeds, but I am almost 100% sure it will still occur. One of the interesting things, is the fact that the way it fails rarely ends in it self destructing. The balls just end up in weird, unobtrusive locations.
  16. Ankoku
    hehe. Mine can run perfectly on occasions. Other times, it is like a roid-rage baby in a cot full of toy. It ain't taking no prisoners.
  17. Ankoku
    Finally finished off Cup-to-Cup v1.2 Finally got around to sorting the exit ramp. It is only a 30min hack of what was there before, but it gets the job done and it is a lot more rigid. The Akiyuki version had bits which rotated and all sorts, which I am not keen on. Runs they way I imagined it would, which is pleasing and it doesn't leave behind any balls in the hopper. The keen eyed viewer will notice that the spiral lift is a bit wavy in motion. I actually had the universal-joints aligned incorrectly. So I have fixed that since and replaced the axle, with a straighter one, whilst I was at it. Is the spiral life super smooth like the rest of it? No. Since it is now furthest away from the motor and is at the end of all sorts of gears, it is not perfectly smooth, motion wise. That said, when it comes to watching it in action, I far prefer the cups to be the smoothest part of the system and you don't really notice the spiral. Also the spiral motion is impacted by the friction caused by lots of balls in the hopper. I may well replace that one bush in the gear system with a black one. The way the balls slowdown midway along the 2nd ramp is amusing. This is an issue you have with this style of doing ball channels. Since the ball doesn't touch the bottom, just the edges, they rotate really fast. Thus, by the 2nd ramp, it is a fight between gyroscopic rotation, gravity and friction. I kinda like it as it adds an extra novelty to the module. Will adjust the 3D model so it has the new off ramp, instead of the old one and then set about doing the instructions. Most of the instructions are identical to the original version, so hopefully there won't be too much work to do.
  18. Ankoku
    I am going to change the axels on Fork-to-Fork. I have built myself one of @Berthil's. Not exactly the same, but I worked with the pieces I had to hand :P So, once they are replaced, I will see if it runs smooth as silk. If not, I may also change the gearing arrangement on it. I feel as though it would work better with an even number of forks, rather than odd, but I am guessing dodgy axles are the main issue.
  19. Ankoku
    Yeah, it is a seriously flawed design in that regard. I think, if I was going to try and fix it, I would redesign the way the balls are fed into the arms. Have it so it each one is independently fed and only allow balls in at certain timings. The issue occurs when the ball lands just as the pump is reaching a ball's width from the end, thus it traps it before the ball is sitting between the liftarms. As the arm raises, the pressure increases and since the ball isn't secured properly, it just fires out in a random direction. The machine works perfectly, if the timing is roughly okay. You don't want the timing perfect, as it is nice to see the ball sitting in there for a moment or two, doing nothing, or with another ball, it triggers almost instantly. That said, for the period where the arm is close to or past the width of a ball, the ball shouldn't be allowed to enter.
  20. Ankoku
    The input isn't the problem really. Yeah, balls end up hanging around there, but it is the fact that as the arms go up, the balls can be ejected out the side. This often leaves balls in the undercarriage or balanced on some of the moving parts. You see this at every event it appears at, including the ones which Akiyuki attends.
  21. Ankoku
    Must be one of the 2 people who downloaded from Russia. Instead of going with photos, I should probably just link people's YouTube vids of their creations. I find it fascinating how people replace certain parts. e.g. the builder has used a number of interesting substitute parts for the cradles. Glad he put my link in the description! Great find @9v system and your posting of it here is very welcome.
  22. Ankoku
    We need to do flooding themed GBC!
  23. Ankoku
    Nice idea with the ribbed piping!
  24. Ankoku
    I haven't bothered with either cycloidal or harmonic, as there is an awful lot of LEGO which doesn't achieve a whole lot. I love the fact that he did it, his ability to take a mechanism and apply it to a GBC, but it doesn't give me a desire to build it and run it myself, like many of his other modules do. (I am somewhat hypocritical on this one, as I plan to build @Rick Katsumata Orbital Overlap, which has a whole lot of LEGO, not doing much, yet I love the motion too much not to build it.) I will be doing the Invisible Lift before too long, which fills me with dread. My biggest disappointment thus far, is the stuck ball module. Love the module, love the concept, sadly it ejects balls left, right and centre and has no real way to fix it. The fact that he uses the hammers on the fork-to-fork surprised me. I never understood why Akiyuki used them in the first place and in later iterations, he has replaced them to be the same across all forks. So still seeing them on peoples fork-to-fork modules is somewhat triggering for me.
  25. Ankoku
    Should be a popular one at events. I like the fact that he provided links to Akiyuki pages.
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