[GBC] The Akiyuki Project (2010 - 2020)

[Berthil]

14 hours ago, Blakbird said:

5548K61 is the tube type and size, and then you can get different colors.  I bought them in 25ft lengths and had much extra.

https://www.mcmaster.com/mv1491548656/#catalog/5548K61

I tried that one but they don't ship to Europe. Other I have not found or were not suitable.

[Mogwai]

Hi , this is another Option

https://www.modulor.de/abs-rundrohr-opak-farbig-oe-3-2-x-1-6-l-760-mm-weiss.html

This Firma ship to EU

7 Colours : white , black ,green , yellow , red , blue , grey

Format : 3,2 mm x 1,6 mm and 760 mm Long for 2,- Euro  per pieces

 

[Berthil]

1 hour ago, Mogwai said:

Hi , this is another Option

https://www.modulor.de/abs-rundrohr-opak-farbig-oe-3-2-x-1-6-l-760-mm-weiss.html

 

That looks very good, wish I had known that before. Did you test these tubes and do they work with the Marble Run? Thanks.
Doesn't matter, hope it works because I just ordered, they are now out of black :)

Edited April 14, 2017 by Berthil

[9v system]

@Blakbird any updates for this project? do you want me to take over?

 

[Jimgag2395]

Thanks Blakbird for the link. I ordered 3 colors and they work great. As of now 1 in 12 flies off but I continue to fine tune. Using slo-mo replay really helps pinpoint the needed adjustments. I had already built the conveyor lift that is used with the pinball module. I'm extending it to reach to top of the run. Thanks again!!

[RohanBeckett]

Ok.. 2 years after starting to reverse engineer... fail... sit on a shelf gathering dust.. I figured it was time to try rebuilding/building the Tilted Rotors

Couple of notes/observations:

I could not get the 'lift/elevator/1-ball-feeder' to work smoothly at all, in the current build..
the double-stack of the 1x6 thin liftarms,  plus the fact that plates are reversed, meant that there was a LOT of friction on the slider (it has to be loose, to drop back down again)

I ended up rebuilding it with the old 80's style 4262 part: 
and it worked much better

 

Step 17: could not for the life of me figure out where the black pin goes!
(sometimes, on certain steps, it'd be nice if the model was rotated to see where some parts go - or at least just an arrow pointing to it)

I didn't read your note about shaving the nubs off the insides of the turntables (until after I'd built it!!)... but I did select my best ones.. and gave them a light wipe with silicon spray... and ensured they were as smooth and freely moving, before assembling...

Not sure if I'll pull it apart, now and trim the bumps off, as it seems to run ok - only a *slight* wobble/vibration

 

and yes.. speed is critical..  that '1 notch below top speed' on train controller is definitely spot-on.. I fed 300+ balls through it continuously last night, and it dropped 4.
At all other speeds I ran it at, it dropped a LOT more balls.  

Funnily, before I'd built the 2nd section of it, I had a motor connected directly to the axle coming off the knob gears.. I turned it on, at max speed.. dropped a few balls in.. and they were stuck in place, thanks to centrifugal/centripetal force! :)  it NEEDS the slower speed + gravity to do a lot of the work!

 

I'm hoping to sit and watch it for a while, and see if I can come up with any other way of preventing balls jumping out.

 

Obviously I built my rotors with different colours on each layer.. but now I'm wondering if it might be more interesting to have each arm, underneath each other, the same colour

Other than that... a good module.. not perfect, but should be usable on a regular GBC circuit!

[Berthil]

I know it's like cursing in a church (Dutch saying) but may be some Akiyuki designs are not meant to run for hours without dropping a ball and just should be greatly admired because of their amazing ingenuity and leave it like that.

[RohanBeckett]

oh yes.. I fully agree.. I have also built the zigzag lifter, and pneumatic... 

I've managed to have pneumatic run for a 2-day exhibition.. but zigzag is horribly bad... loves to jam a lot!

I can put up with the odd dropped ball... but like so many akiyuki designs, with the black box frame at the bottom, you end up with all these balls trapped underneath!

I've built other GBC's myself, and when I can't make something perfect, I make it *cope* with failure better... eg: ramps/detours, so that any dropped balls end up in a safe place, away from mechanisms! Covers over mechanisms, and tiles so that balls are easy to poke out!

That said.. I'm reasonably confident that Tilted can run for a fair while without major issues...

 

[FernandoQ]

If Akiyuki himself says that the "Tilted Rotors" fails sometimes and also has never been, as far as I know, in an exhibition ... as the Spanish saying "white and bottled ... milk"

Greetings.

[Blakbird]

19 hours ago, RohanBeckett said:

I could not get the 'lift/elevator/1-ball-feeder' to work smoothly at all, in the current build..

I recall having a little trouble with this as well but got it to work after pushing parts around a bit.

 

19 hours ago, RohanBeckett said:

Step 17: could not for the life of me figure out where the black pin goes!

There are several different steps 17, but I'll assume you are talking about the ratchet pawl.  I think the pin is just the rotation axis for the pawl.

19 hours ago, RohanBeckett said:

I didn't read your note about shaving the nubs off the insides of the turntables (until after I'd built it!!)... but I did select my best ones.. and gave them a light wipe with silicon spray... and ensured they were as smooth and freely moving, before assembling...

I have noticed that the friction gets much bigger over time with these turntables so you have to go back and do the mod after a while.  Even better would be to use the new style turntables, but they have a different number of teeth.

19 hours ago, RohanBeckett said:

Obviously I built my rotors with different colours on each layer.. but now I'm wondering if it might be more interesting to have each arm, underneath each other, the same colour

I quite like your color choices.  The output ramp stand out a bit compared to transparent, but I like the buckets.

Glad you are enjoying this module.  It is one of my favorites for staring mesmerized.

[RohanBeckett]

output ramp was the only colours I had available with no side-edges! ;)   Hope to order some clear ones in the future..

 

as for step 17... ahh... I thought it was TWO 2L red axles... I put one in the ratchet itself, and the other as the pivot (since it can't escape anyway)..

surely a black friction pin isn't practical here, as it won't allow the ratchet to drop loosely on the gear teeth?

 

I guess I may end up ripping the main mechanism apart, and doing further mod work on the turntables, if you think it'd be better for the long term..

 

 

Thanks again for the instructions!

FYI - here was my first attempt nearly 2 years ago, from just watching Akiyuki's video..

it was nice to see that I got 90% of the main mechanism correct!  I later had a lot of issues getting the buckets right.. I now know that they don't sit exactly the same on each arm!

 

 

[Courbet]

On ‎14‎/‎04‎/‎2017 at 0:43 PM, Berthil said:

That looks very good, wish I had known that before. Did you test these tubes and do they work with the Marble Run? Thanks.
Doesn't matter, hope it works because I just ordered, they are now out of black :)

So, how good is the tubing from Modulor.de ?
Is it a good match for Lego one ?

[Berthil]

2 hours ago, Courbet said:

So, how good is the tubing from Modulor.de ?
Is it a good match for Lego one ?

Got them but didn't have a chance to try yet, I will have a look tomorrow.

[9v system]

anyone built anymore modules from here? I am designing a module that is compatible with other akiyuki modules and I have a tester ready for it

[msk6003]

15 hours ago, 9v system said:

anyone built anymore modules from here? I am designing a module that is compatible with other akiyuki modules and I have a tester ready for it

Own gbc module or akiyuki's module?

My own-

Rotastepper(prototype)

Flight Simulator V1(yes. I will make V2. which have 2 type vehicle)

[Aventador2004]

I havent, and I am trying to not catch the gbc bug, like blakbird.

[RohanBeckett]

9 hours ago, msk6003 said:

Own gbc module or akiyuki's module?

My own-

Rotastepper(prototype)

Flight Simulator V1(yes. I will make V2. which have 2 type vehicle)

VERY nice mechanisms on both designs!

first one would easily make 'GBC Standard'

Flight Sim would be hard to make it do 1ball/second... BUT.. if it was on a bypass circuit, it'd be a very entertaining crowd pleaser!!  well done

[9v system]

new akiyuki video @Courbet some new modules for you to do

 

Edited June 12, 2017 by 9v system

[Aventador2004]

3 hours ago, 9v system said:

new akiyuki video @Courbet some new modules for you to do

 

I like the buggy motor launcher and catcher, they look awesome!

[Lego_GBC_NL]

5 hours ago, 9v system said:

new akiyuki video @Courbet some new modules for you to do

is it just me or is the Bucket Wheel Tower in that video taller than Akiyuki's original design (1 extra pair of buckets on each side)?

maybe I'm mistaken, but I'm really counting 7 instead of 6 pair of buckets on each side of the tower (not that it's a problem or whatever, guess the extra height has a reason)

 

[Courbet]

11 hours ago, 9v system said:

new akiyuki video @Courbet some new modules for you to do

Those new modules don’t belong to the Akiyuki Project (they are from Takanori Hashimoto and Yasuhiko Kuramata if I’m not mistaken) but they are interesting nevertheless.

A new version of the GBC Train seems to be the only new stuff from Akiyuki on this occasion, let’s hope for a brand new module from him soon.

[9v system]

3 hours ago, Courbet said:

Those new modules don’t belong to the Akiyuki Project (they are from Takanori Hashimoto and Yasuhiko Kuramata if I’m not mistaken) but they are interesting nevertheless.

A new version of the GBC Train seems to be the only new stuff from Akiyuki on this occasion, let’s hope for a brand new module from him soon.

would like to see instructions for that tilting module

[schraubedrin]

Have you seen the video of akiyuki on the official Lego Technic channel?

This actually gives me some hope for official GBCs

[FernandoQ]

My version of the "Invisible Lift" with two motors, adding a new one on the right side of the module, attached to the same axle as the original motor.
Watch on youtube the video of Festbrick Japan 2015 at 4:39

 

[9v system]

51 minutes ago, FernandoQ said:

My version of the "Invisible Lift" with two motors, adding a new one on the right side of the module, attached to the same axle as the original motor.
Watch on youtube the video of Festbrick Japan 2015 at 4:39

 

interesting it still looks better with one though.