Phoxtane

I've always wondered why there isn't a "LEGO Wacky Races" or something similar to this, but with contestants entering their wildest creations.

Yikes.

Where does one get four of those wheels, anyway? They appear to be rare and the one [yes, singular!] I've seen on ebay is going for 70 USD.

Yup, this is going straight to the top of my wish list.

The new 90 deg. connector bits seem like they'll work quite well with those 3-length pins that are part friction pin and part "knobby axle-joiner"... the ones that can be removed quite easily by hand.

I built this. It only worked a couple of times before the grabber arm wouldn't flip the cube, and it had issues with detecting and scanning the cube from the start.

Sounds lovely, but I don't have any of the old RC parts. I assume that an M-motor wouldn't work either, unless I doubled up and geared them together. I may be able to steal part of your feeder mechanism however ;)

My favorite themes would probably include anything that has to do with Technic, Mindstorms, and trains. I haven't dug the latter out of its bin in quite a while though.

Partial success; I've built a device that will launch sports balls well under half as far as a zamor launcher will send zamor spheres. It works in the same way as the zamor launcher; balls are squeezed through until the force of the jaws forces them to be "squirted" out. While this works in the same way, it hasn't got nearly enough power to even come close to matching the zamor launcher's performance. The balls aren't clearing the gap fast enough, and the jaws have too much "grab" to them.

I don't have enough spheres for that - I've got 125 sports balls, however. Not to mention that just about any vehicle with a motor-driven launcher uses zamor spheres; I'd rather do something different to make this project stand out

Hrm. I don't think that those parts are actually being bent out of shape... I went ahead and built a copy of that assembly with two long beams spaced a beam's width apart. After connecting some 4-length pieces and a 5-length beam to that, I had myself an assembly that would hold another beam at an angle with no bending of parts needed.

It's not that easy, unfortunately. In this image I placed a zamor sphere into one launcher and a Lego sports ball into the other. As you can see, the sports ball is slightly smaller. It's too small to go more than three inches out of the launcher, in fact.

That's easily solved by the strategic application of a half-spacer here and there though, so I don't see it being an issue with that application

I have seen those instructions. I'd love to simplify the process with a zamor launcher, but I haven't got nearly enough zamor spheres for sustained firing. The sports balls are too small to work properly with the launcher anyway :/ Nope. You run into the same issues as with the counter-rotating wheel launcher, and the amount of torque required is much greater. I don't think I've ever seen a Lego device move tracks at that speed, in fact. I've gotten some work done on the launcher mechanism, however! I've put together a frame that will hold the balls in a small launch track. I still haven't quite worked out the spring-loaded launcher yet or a loading device yet.

That it would. I've actually seen the video before, but it hadn't occurred to me to use a design based off his; the mechanism I was thinking of would operate in a more linear fashion. Either way, I'm working on a design right now that incorporates the lever-cam element.

Ooh, clever. I believe the same sort of mechanism is employed in Zblj's three-speed automatic transmission.

I've been trying to build a mechanism that will shoot out Lego soccer/footballs and basketballs out at speed, but to no avail. First, I attempted using the Piraka zamor launchers, but due to the slight difference in size of the balls, they don't get forced out nearly as fast. I then tried the two-wheels-spinning-fast method [ala Hot Wheels launchers], but it turns out that at that gearing, forcing the balls through was going to be a major problem. That and I'd rather not have to wait for the spin-up and melting of axles and wearing away of axle mounts... That's when I turned to my collection of shock absorbers. I've got 50 of the 6.5 length shocks, all in the weakest variety. I figured that if I had a way to compress and quickly release the shock(s), it'd act as a pinball machine plunger. Multiple problems I've run into include bracing of the shock, plunger design, and the quick-release mechanism. I'm limited by the following factors: -I need to reserve my two XL motors for the drive mechanism of the carrier vehicle. I am thus restricted to the usage of M motors. With luck, I hope to use two motors for the launcher itself and the feeder device, and another two for the pan/tilt mechanism. -My lack of experience with building compact mechanisms of this sort. -A general lack of any "new/interesting/rare" parts. Any help in designing the launcher mechanism would be greatly appreciated :D

What makes the build illegal? I'm unfamiliar with that term.

I'm planning on getting this set. It comes with a battery box, receiver, and remote [presumably] along with the new motors. After all, one can never have enough battery boxes. My parents are going to be thrilled once I tell them that I need eighteen AA batteries to power my creations...

Hello! What with my summer break having started, I now have a lot of free time on my hands. I've increased the amount of time I'm spending on building with Lego, and I plan to ask and answer questions about building stuff! Along with Lego, I tend to play sandbox games such as Kerbal Space Program and Minecraft. I may as well start with a question; does Eurobricks have an IRC channel? Good day!