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RohanBeckett

Eurobricks Knights
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Everything posted by RohanBeckett

  1. had another play with it last night, as I have a small GBC show on tomorrow... have adjusted the timing a bit, and it seems a bit better.. but we all know how well behaved GBC's can be on the workbench, compared to when a crowd is watching!!! Balls still seem to want to bounce a little bit, when they hit the cup/hub.. so I'm thinking one day I might really try to redesign that section a bit, so the balls fall in a bit more gentle somehow?
  2. Here's a similar version of mine, I call Spiral Curves.. I use thin liftarms, rather than tyres.. https://bricksafe.com/pages/rbeckett/gbc-stuff/spiral-curves Works very well.. I have used a central driveshaft, with worm gears, but you could use any gearing system you want at the back
  3. I frame-ified mine too.. I'll take some pictures this weekend... it ran perfectly during Brickvention in January. I have stuck with the rotating lifter arm.. after making some geometry changes to the hopper, it works a lot better
  4. Bricklink's Stud.io has a very good instruction maker.. But for best results, it STILL needs a lot of tweaking - moreso with Technic instructions, as we often have LOTS of subassemblies.. and sometimes the software isn't intelligent enough to place the parts in the best order for building (impossible assemblies, etc) in Stud.io, if you create steps as you build it, on screen, the instruction creator works a LOT better
  5. I took mine to Brickvention, but unfortunately, it was dropping balls too often... Not sure why, and haven't had time to go back.. the balls would just bounce out of the cup/hub 50% of the time Maybe I need to tweak the timing of the stepper blocks a small amount?
  6. haha! that's awesome! quite funny seeing something I built in an hour or so, as a joke.. being copied by others! Sorry wasn't able to get extra photos to you. (still haven't unpacked everything from BV!) but I guess you figured it all out! :) It ran perfectly fine all weekend! I was thinking of maybe framing the whole thing a bit more - but still leaving the mechanism exposed
  7. Target audience for this set is NOT going to be 'kids'... it's going to be teens-adults and try to find out a teen these days without a smartphone ;)
  8. We had 2 running at BV... mine was mostly flawless (and has been the last few shows it's been to), @Cadder's one - the crank, that connects to the input hopper ball-lifter occasionally worked it's way out, and needed to be pushed back in at the right timing
  9. Overall, I was very impressed with the train.. a couple of minor teething issues, but it ran 95% perfect all weekend.. crowds absolutely loved it.. while chatting to people, I'd often flick the point, and direct it to the other dumper.. just so people could see the difference.. We both discussed the idea of having some sort of timed/activated switch, so it alternates between each dumper. Not bad for a whole train module that was packed in a suitcase, and travelled 1500km!
  10. that's the challenge! design a mechanism that *doesn't* jam, or if it does, doesn't affect the timing of gears This is why you can use Clutch/Slip gears, so the whole mechanism safely stops, rather than chewing teeth on gears The important parts of a module can be the main input hopper... having a module that can cope with 'waiting' balls, and deal with them one at a time, or in batches.. Then the handling of the balls throughout the module.. and then safely handling them onto the output The other points you raise are very important - gearboxes, that are easy to access... Also having motors that are easily swappable.. mechanisms that can be run backwards, for a few seconds, to unjam things And if a module spills balls, then designing a containment system, so that dropped balls, are directed to a safe place, away from the heart of the module, where they can be picked up and placed back into play If you watch some of our Brickvention 2019 videos from last weekend, you'll see an honest account of a large layout - dropped balls.. modules out of action.. modules being repaired!
  11. pretty much anything ufchen builds https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCY08Knqu_vRgqe8rjudsI3A eg:
  12. still wasn't perfect.. if anyone moved the down ramp, it would also move the top output, which would eventually drop a ball (not every time, but enough to cause issues) Also, it seems to runs best at a slower speed.. slightly less than 1bps.. so eventually would get overwhelmed with balls. Maybe improving the top output ramp, so it was more structurally solid (less wobble), as well as better bracing for the main upper structure, would help it run at a faster speed But it did last a day and a half before we took it offline - not too bad
  13. Just completed another successful Brickvention in Melbourne This time, we had team members, flying and driving in from 4 other states! (collective distance travelled over 3500kms!!) all up, it was 4 days - 1 day setup - a quieter AFOL friday, and then 2 public days on the weekend Here are a couple of videos from Sat, and Sunday (similar, but with a few changes here and there) We had around 100-110 modules working at at any one time - not going for a record, but just trying to get a lot of variety in modules We were lucky enough to be interviewed by the guys from Beyond the Brick, Youtube Channel, so hopefully we'll see their video soon!
  14. I can happily report that the module ran mostly fine all weekend.. by the last day, some of the track pieces were sticking a bit (dust?), which caused a few angles in the chain loop here and there, meaning there was more of a gap - which resulted in a few dropped balls.. Other than that.. worked well!
  15. I have built this module, and made a few minor changes... it will be displayed, and run for 3 days at Brickvention Melbourne, this weekend.. so I'll soon find out how reliable it is! :) I've run mine for about 20-30mins so far, and it's been fine Major change was to embiggen the output catch/hopper, as there is a certain spot that balls can randomly sit, on the separators, that would cause it to ride around the other side, and miss the original sized catcher
  16. yes... once I got the right axle, it ran fine.. I think I swapped 3 or 4, on both sides, until it got smoother and smoother.. eventually finding the 'perfect' one... the module now runs quite well... I actually have 12 more hockey sticks.. so I'm tempted to extend it taller... theoretically, it should be ok.. there's not a lot of weight, nor friction on any of the upper arms! But I might leave it until after Brickvention.. I have enough on my plate for the next week! Also.. on a similar note, It's not Akiyuki, but related - the Egg Process machine - I completely reframed it, and reinforced it today.. and it's running a LOT better. I only just discovered too, that some of the hats weren't in perfect alignment (they were a bit rotated on the stud)... I fixed all that.. and now.. it's done 20mins - 100's of balls, without dropping any! woohoo!
  17. ok.. that is a great idea that I'm stealing! sick of eyeballing axles, to find the straightest of the straight! :)
  18. why not try your hand at building some GBC - Great Ball Contraptions? There are plenty of advanced ones - particularly the Akiyuki ones It's a challenge to not only build something (even if you are following instructions), but to run it, and tweak/adjust it, so it performs a real-life-function, reliably (in this case, just passing balls along).. but it's sometimes harder than you think! Otherwise, maybe just head over to rebrickable.com, and browse all the mocs available there, for one that sparks some interest!
  19. +1 for www.bricksafe.com great place to store lego-related photos... doesn't have the social/tag systems like Flickr... but hey.. that's what Eurobricks is for! ;)
  20. He has a tendency to use this part a lot: https://www.bricklink.com/v2/catalog/catalogitem.page?P=424 Not sure what grey is... either an axle connector, or pin connector?
  21. I wouldn't be surprised if Akiyuki browsed here, and borrowed Doug/Berthill's Mods! ;)
  22. that's strange.. I've run mine in both directions.. and behaviour is always the same... I will admit, that I have geared mine down a bit, so it runs slower.. since it's such an amazingly effective module at clearing balls, no one can see it in action! so running it slower allows people to enjoy its action! I've taken a bunch of new photos too.. will upload to the same bricksafe folder later tonight
  23. Great Parts pack for us GBC builders! ;) You are clearly way too old, if you don't enjoy the wheelie functions! my 8yr old son watched your video and said 'that is awwwwwesome!' he already spent a lot of time altering the previous tracked racers centre of gravity so it WOULD do wheelies!
  24. unless it's my blue one.. then the ones that others have used, are either for decoration, or fine tuning of individual arms. (they use them on the arms themselves) Mine has them behind the main structure, and tilt all four arms at once again, this is one of my most reliable modules.. I've done at least 7-8 shows with it, over the last few years.. it happily runs all day!
  25. I have quietly been hoarding the new large turntables, in prep for building this one day! ;) Very nice.. the piston action looks awesome!
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