Ankoku
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Of late, I have been trying to get this arrangement to work properly. It is really close, but no cigar. I know the bit that the blue pin-axel goes into is correct. It is 2x Technic Beam 1 x 2 Thin they are really obvious in the video. The pivot arm is correct all the way to the bottom Technic Bush. That final Technic Axle and Pin Connector Perpendicular I am not sure about. I think it is correct and the way round it is is correct, but I can't make it work. My issue is, that in this arrangement, it hits the Thick Technic Beam which sits beneath the shifter and is used by the other piston to move the shifter left and right. This means that as the shifter reaches the far left position, it moves the forward/back mechanism a bit. Which really isn't good. Added friction, unwanted movement at the wrong time etc. Am having trouble working out how to avoid that. Is this the issue? In the Akiyuki video, the Technic Beam Thick underneath is attached by a different means. I am wonder if it changes it's position. -
I am a little OCD with these things. So a part of it was because I wanted mine to be the same as the original. That said, all the changes I ended up making, was because I couldn't make it work to the level of my expectation. e.g. when you watch it in the video, when he winds it himself, it is effortless. I also wanted full travel in certain areas, which isn't even present in the video. I am just picky basically. Changes to the over all height, bob and bucket transfer to belt I would say should definitely be changed. It makes it smoother and better. The piston changes are a big deal to me and I would be more confident in it, if I could replicate properly what is in the video, but I am not there yet. Side to side is correct, back and forth is not. The ball grabber and dropper is different to the original. I will most likely sort that out too, just not at that point yet. I always build it via the instructions and only change it back to the original if I am having issues with it. My issue with it currently, is that the part which pushes the grabber open is too far forward, so as it travels across, it brushes against it. It is well clear in the original. So that would be the reason for the change if I do. As you can see, it will run happily via the instructions. For me, it is whether it can run better, more reliable.
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I will do a summary post with all my changes once I am happy with them.
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Point of note. My current solution for moving the shifter in and out is not the Akiyuki one. It is close, it works well, but I have yet to manage to match what I am seeing, with what works. I will post a photo of the current implementation before I fiddle some more. The solution to moving the shifter left and right I am very happy with and I believe does reflect the Akiyuki solution (In conjunction with the piston changes.) The bob changes I believe are true to the original. I haven't posted the raising arm change, but to be honest, performance wise it doesn't make a lot of difference. Raising everything is quite important. Thus far, I have raised the belts, the wheel, bob and the mechanism to move the wheel.
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@9v system Nice find! Do we know what it does? I wish his blog had larger images!
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Okay, next up is the lifting part of the bucket unloader. So I was playing with it and it didn't seem to work very well and certainly didn't reflect the motion I was seeing in the Akiyuki video. Having watched the video more times than I care to remember, I noticed that the lift motion seemed to be in a single motion, not two. I also noticed that the lift arm used seemed shorter than the one in the instructions. So in the end, I changed it from a Technic Beam 1 x 5 Thin with Axle Holes on Ends, to a Technic Beam 1 x 4 Thin with Axle Holes on Ends, using yellow ones to reflect those in the video. This seemed to work well and reflect the video. Then I checked on Bricklink and it seems that Technic Beam 1 x 5 Thin with Axle Holes on Ends don't come in Yellow. So yeah, that bit needs to be a 4L not a 5L.
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Have you ever wondered what the machine in the background does? The one at the 25s mark!
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Nah. Doesn't really interest me. I am going to remove the conveyor belt which is not part of the original machine and add a cup to cup part amongst other things. I will use the spare space around the small hopper for more GBC antics.
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Yeah. Noticed that. Until I get to that point, I am not too worried about it. Also, far easier to change after the fact than most of the rest of it. Having to raise everything by 1 plate is no small task. I am still trying to work out why the area it dumps into has a 3 wide lift arm area at the bottom, instead of 2. Having it 3 wide with pins in it seems less than optimal in terms of ball management, speed and wear and tear. Could be wrong though, it may be way better. Will use it as is for now and then change it to something similar to the original if it causes issues. For now, I am mainly interested in making it run a lot smoother. I have had success with the pistons/shifter and bob.
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@9v system Got an image of the cheese slopes, as I am not sure what you are talking about.
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I don't believe Akiyuki posts here.
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Okay, so I am in the middle of fixing bob. Basically, making him slide smoother and sort out the height issue. The initial changes to the height didn't do much to improve smoothness and I found that the paddle seemed to now be an issue. It was also the source of quite a bit of friction. As you can see in the image, the paddle is 3 deep in total. You can tell this from the light grey 3L axel. The bottom part of the paddle is a Technic Beam 3 x 3 L-Shape Thin. Using that piece makes a lot of sense and seems far better than using 3x Technic Beam 1 x 3 Thin, where the 1st of those completes the light grey 3L axel length and the other two are at 90° to create the L shape. Unsurprisingly, this approach is smoother as there is less friction. I am now looking at the yellow lift arm which the paddle slides across and which lifts bob up. The tilt mechanism in the Akiyuky video is different. I need to work out what he did and see if it is better or worse.
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Here is some more evidence of a height difference. When I fixed the issues with the shifter, it required me to raise the supports of the conveyor belt, so that the shifter could fit in the hole. In the end, I reworked it so the hole was moved up, whilst keeping the conveyor belt the same height. Now it appears that the conveyor belt is in fact one plate higher in the Akiyuky version than the ReBricker one. This would account for the shifter difference and the issues encountered with Bob that I am having right now.
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Okay, the main thing I am starting to see, in terms of a fundamental difference between the Akiyuky version and the ReBricker one, is the fact that they run at different heights. Some of the Akiyuky machine, is 1 plate higher. You can see it here: Was this a oversight, like the 20 vs 21 buckets, or intended? It certainly explains a few of the problems I have been having.
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Does anyone know why this was changed? This is an image from the Akiyuky original. As you can see the Brick Curved 2 x 4 No Studs, Curved Top one plate thickness deeper and under the lift arm. The height of the lift arm on the ReBricker version is too low to allow this, which means the whole thing sits higher in the Akiyuky original. Anyone know why this change was made? The reason I am asking, much like with the pistons, is that the Akiyuky original seems to run a lot smoother than what I have. Reverting back to the original makes the shifter mechanism far smoother and thus less demanding on the motor. As bob curves around the brick in question, it seems sticky. Which leaves me wondering if the original design was less sticky and thus less strain.
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Love the fact that it actually works! Well done.
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I did try the search, but those two particular words are not easy to find relevant searches for, even with the advanced search. Throughout my childhood and as an adult, I have always been about the tyres. Especially monster truck style tyres. Those too were in high demand. Thanks for the link!
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Okay, with the height increase of the shifter, the back and forth now works smoothly and also is now able to move over the tile. This is what it now looks like. Apologies for the colour, with the reversion to the original method, it is starting to look overly yellow: You can see the black 10L axel which the lever is pivoting on. Now the question is: How do I connect the bottom of the lever in a way that it doesn't hit the pillars. Or how do I redesign the pillars so that a connection can be made? It is really difficult to see that aspect in the original Akiyuky video.
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Thankfully this is why we have we have lots of different interfaces for essentially the same thing. I really enjoy browsing Brickshelf, so it is a shame to see it slowly die off. Okay, so as far as I can tell, what is in the PDF image above, doesn't work and I think I know why. (In the Rebricker timing video he doesn't have the tiles) In the Akiyuky (Wow, I have been butchering name) video, you can see a plate on the top and the thing clears it, so a tile should be no issue, yet it is. If you look closely though, there is a plate between the X axis bricks and the Z axis bricks. This gives the height required to both make the shifter clear the pillar with the tile on the top, it also gives the height required for the original push forward and back mechanism to work. The mechanism is very different to the backwards-engineered version and you can see one element of that via the two axels on the left. In the backwards-engineered solution, it is two grey 9L axels. Where as the Akiyuky version has one 10L at the back and one 9L closest. This is because in needs that 1L extra as a pivot point for the back and forth mechanism.
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Nice collection! I have a question: Has anyone gotten this part of the PDF instructions to work: Those two tiles top the yellow shifter from moving all the way back. You potentially could leave the closest tile on, but the inside one stops it from functioning. Anyone else found this?
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I used Yahoo before Google existed, I got a Yahoo account early on and they screwed me with it. Their support is next to non-existent, so I certainly wouldn't trust them with my images. Also, I do site interface and infrastructure for a living and I really don't like the flickr interface, but that is just a personal preference. Is there a way to stop this site from merging posts? I basically need to wait for another person to post before I can create a new post which is back on topic.
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Yeah, I created an account on Bricksafe. Certainly not going to use flickr. Tried creating an account on Brichshelf, but I suspect that site hasn't been taking new users for a few years now. It would be nice if they removed the upload functionality from the editor, but I suspect it is a limitation of the off-the-shelf forum solution. In fairness, I hate the auto double-line carriage return too. When did it become the norm to end a line with double-space?
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Nah, $8-10 for a tyre is just dumb. If LEGO doesn't make more sets using those tyres, they are idiots, as everyone wants them. I never bothered with the dragster, as it only had 2 of them. If the set had had 4, I would have bought multiple. It is the same issue with LEGO balls for the GBC community. Considering that GBC machines are at every LEGO event, it amazes me how difficult they make it just to get balls to use.
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So I added a photo to a thread. Made sure it was under 102.4kb in length. Worked fine. Tried to add another post, but it wouldn't let me upload the image. This was because it was trying to append it to the previous post :/ Got someone to add a post to break the two up. Tried to add the image, now it comes up with this: "There was a problem processing the uploaded file. Please contact us for assistance." Some program was used on both image, same time etc. I even tried saving it out in Photoshop. Same error. What do I need to do to actually upload an image past my first ever one on this site? Thanks!
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Here is the piston itself. I have changed it to the original format. This is obviously the left one of the two in the video, as you can tell by the connector end, but other than that, the two pistons are identical. The crucial change is Technic Beam 1x3 Thin between the two year 1x5 Technic Beam Thick. The reverse engineered solution doesn't have that. That provided the extra travel I was looking for. As you can see, the connections for the yellow beam on the right aren't as pretty and you lose the symmetry. That said, the new motion is as smooth as butter, which is immensly pleasing in comparison to trying to make the other method work.