RohanBeckett

87408 So very useful for a quick gear/axle angle change..

Considering Sariel's first youtube video was filmed on a Genuine Polish Potato (tm) I for one, welcome video being recorded in a format that will last a while... even if I have no 4K devices myself, at the moment, to view it on, I will in the future... So... @Sariel what are you doing for your 10 year Youtube Anniversary? :)

I only recently pulled apart mine.. and now ALL my technic drawers/boxes are overflowing! Now.. what to do with all those 5x7 frames! need to make a nice tall GBC! :)

Although I myself could have built it in one day (with sore fingers).. I spread it over 5-6 evenings, building with my 6yr old son There are a few sections you need to be careful with, and not rush It's a HUGE set.. great value parts-pack, when you eventually pull it apart... Playability is 'ok'... not going to be as fun as the RC tracked racer, or a crane.. It can't scoop the pellets off the floor very well... but all the other functions work OK

Looking good! not a lot to say, apart from - post another video! :) But's it's always interesting how a build goes.. from prototype.. through various changes.. and then eventual strengthening of everything... But there's gotta be a way to run it off one motor!!

over the last 4 years, I've probably killed at least 2 motors, with 2 more 'suspect'.... ie: they play well sometimes.. but then randomly stop... Yet to pull them apart and examine. I've also repaired a couple of Motors too, as often it's just the wire (kinked too badly, etc).. cutting it short, and re-soldering fixes it... But it's VERY hard to open a motor and reseal without damage.. so the repaired ones look a bit ....ratty...

Great work! I have probably spent *weeks* of my life playing this game, a decade or so ago... Can't wait to see the finished thing! Since no one has linked the other siege tanks that people have made, just wondering if you've seen them? This one... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3lTd5LpB6Ao and this amazing one, with frustrating little video footage! http://www.eurobricks.com/forum/index.php?/forums/topic/56444-moc-starcraft-2-technic-siege-tank/

Unfortunately, I've pulled it and the open-cut landscape apart, after we used it on the GBC layout at Brickvention, in January you can see it briefly here: (I've linked the video at the right point of time) Not a great deal to say about it.. I basically bypassed the whole gearbox, and had the motor directly driving the axle that ran the bucketwheel and conveyors and due to gearing, it ran a bit faster than the stock standard model (had a few people comment on that!) it was slipping a gear a bit on the first day or so, but I gave all the main moving parts a squirt of silicon spray, and it seemed to settle down a bit. a surprising point of jamming was the main conveyor belt, at the top.. it was very random (maybe to do with the speed I was running it at?) but every so often, one of the 5L liftarms would catch on the underside, just as it comes around, to return back to the bucket wheel.. it was one of those things, that I could sit and watch for 5mins, and it wouldn't happen.. but turn my back on it for a moment.. and *jam* I added the rubber 'grips' https://www.bricklink.com/v2/catalog/catalogitem.page?P=24375#T=S&C=11&O={"color":11} to the lower conveyor, to aid the balls coming out - the angle is slightly up.. and this was pretty much the only part that was low enough that wouldn't hit on the underside The landscape at the bottom was made of a bunch of 6x8 slopes - https://www.bricklink.com/v2/catalog/catalogitem.page?P=4515#T=S&O={} with click hinges underneath to support it at just the right curve.. I then just brick-built a landscape around it... one of the lower protruding bent liftarms, on the other side of the bucket wheel was used to attach to the landscape.. to keep the wheel perfectly aligned with the slope.. To be honest, if I were to use it again, I'd either re-do most of the drive train.. simplifing it a LOT more (lot of gears going down into the base, then back up to the 2nd conveyor, that could be bypassed... OR.. just stick 2 motors on it.. 1 directly at the bucket wheel.. the other directly on the other conveyor It was an 'okay' GBC module.. and I guess it ran for 3 days at Brickvention.. but I'm pretty certain I'll make much better use of the parts for next time!

great mechanism! This should be able to scale up to a larger size (and operate a bit slower), and could be quite smooth!

good work! I'm amazed that you're persisting with the NXT motor, and mechanical linkages! I would have just modified a regular PF train motor!! If you're running all day, I'd definitely recommend putting a squirt of silicon spray on all the axle/bearing holes.. (and this comes from a few years of running GBC's!)

ahh.. the fact that you're creating your own original GBC's is great... it's such a fun engineering challenge to solve all the problems, and then on top, to make it reliable... all the while, still keeping it fun to watch. I build GBC's in my workshop/shed (external to house), and I did a big cleanup last month (after 6 months crazy building, leading up to BrickVention)... I found about 10-15 balls all over the place, in nooks and crannies! I'm in the process of having a big sort out of parts.. so it'll probably be another month or so, before I get back into proper building! Looking back at your vid - 4393.. it looks quite reliable as-is... if you simply built a second one, side by side... and increase the speed marginally... you'd come close to getting 1bps... maybe even adding a few more scoops to the chain, and having them closer together I guess it depends if the scoops work, scooping into a pile of balls, or if it is picky, and wants a single ball, waiting for the scoop.. in which case, you'd need a hopper that feeds 1 ball at a time to each of the two chainloops

pls provide video evidence of Ball Chaos! ;) it's an essential part of any original GBC creation, and seeing others suffer lets us enjoy a bit of schadenfreude... The other way to achieve 1bps, is to make a wider scoop.. you have 2 buckets.. what if you had a row of 4 on 2 parallel tracks.. 4 balls every 4 seconds gets the same overall speed.

very nice scooping motion! might have to raid BL for some of these.. looks fun to build with! Now... crank up the speed to GBC Standard - 1 Ball Per Second.. and film it again! :D

Yup.. aware of those 2 extra colours! I had a spreadsheet to keep track of what I'd bought.. last time I checked I was about 90% complete of all the gear colours... ...and then I started collecting pins, axles.. etc etc.... Still need 3 more of the old samsonite ones.. I only bought the big one, years ago, mistakenly thinking it would mesh with the other expert builder gears (they don't)

well done! how much strain is there, on the tracks going all the way around? Might need more than 1 motor to drive it?

ok.. so I took a few more pics... still need to stitch together 4-5 to get them all in one shot, and nice and clear.. but here's an overview... Sticking with gears, and technic 'functional' bits... but it's pretty hard to draw the line! will have to add pneumatic, and motor parts next!

ahh.. another on my to-build list! such a simple/interesting mechanism.. should be easy enough to copy from the video! :) by the looks of it, I can't see why this wouldn't work on a slight incline up?

but you do have the black 16t clutch/gearbox gear - http://www.bricklink.com/catalogItemIn.asp?P=6542&colorID=11&in=A so you're definitely on the slight-esoteric scale! which only appears as an alternate in 8880.. so also rare.. I only got grey ones in mine :(

ohh.. green knob gear! :) and yellow 12t bevel... nice!

that said.. I'm not too sure of the intelligence of that little minifig.. he may be wearing a helmet... but he'll still have concussion after a day of this running! :D

why don't you flip the hubs/numbers around the other way? then you could read the numbers correctly? maybe build a mask/frame, so that only the correct number is visible? other than that.. well done! I too have an insane amount of tracks, for use in GBC's.. so this would sure come in handy!

I'd second that.. I still haven't finished my ball factory - the timing is quite tricky to get right... and to be honest, I have a lot of fun building smaller, or slightly less complex modules. I reversed engineered, and built Catch and Release before Blakbird covered it, in his extensive builds of Akiyuki's.. and although I've slightly modified it.. it's still a very reliable module, and a fun challenge to see if you can built it, just from the original video.. it's not very parts-intensive either.. so there's a fair chance you can build it with parts you already have. Just pull apart all your technic sets - the parts WANT to be used :) and they'll just gather dust on your shelves!

oh wow.. your pic is insane! I might go into the Lego Shed tonight and lay them all out, for a fresh pic.. of course, I have all the new axle colours now. I have orange and tan 24tooth now, too Still need to get an old vintage red universal joint! There's also a bunch of gear racks in not-released colours on Bricklink (not in any set) - Yellow, Brown, Tan, etc.. might buy some of those.. although they are at ludicrous prices - $4ea etc

@OneMoreRobot I shall expect to see it built, and added to your collection by... say... next weds, at the latest? :P

as a side-hobby.. I collect technic parts in ALL colours available.. that one (and the blue one!) has been on my holy-grail list for a while... Here's an old photo - have managed to get a few more since then...