[GBC] The Akiyuki Project (2010 - 2020)

[HRU_Bricks]

21 hours ago, Juroen said:

@HRU_Bricks I was struggeling with the same problem. I don’t have any additional pictures. I have taken this picture as one of my prototype builds.

https://www.bricksafe.com/files/Juroen/building-tech/A83D65C0-AB9C-4373-8689-17D0813395AB.jpeg/1920x1440.jpg

However this switch operates the clamping of the balls instead of raising/lowering the L-motor...  Therefor I don’t think you need to open the valve completly as these cylinders for clamping are relatively small.

 

 

Thanks for the picture, do you have one facing the front? Something is not quite adding up as it looks like it is 5 pinholes high with 3 Technic bricks and 2 plates high. I thought that was the build but it didn't quite work that well

 What part of the control box operates the L-motor raising and lowering, do you have a picture of it? 

21 hours ago, Ankoku said:

Nice to see this thread nice and busy, especially with the work going on with the ball cleaner by @Juroen, @HRU_Bricks and @drullph20!

Welcome back @rskamen! I too have just got back from a rather long holiday. Am currently trying to catch up with everything!

Adding the new Akiyuki module again, just so it shows the thumbnail. I get the feeling this site doesn't check for the youtu.be URL.

With this module, I like how it speeds up after it drops the ball off.

I also like the fact that it isn't too big, so shouldn't break the bank to build!

It is a nice compact build (and yes it wont break the back ) . I was starting to get the parts together for it then the ball cleaner has become a bit of a challenge that I must complete! I a keen to make it without the Mindstorm, not sure if it is possible yet but it is worth a try!

[Lego_GBC_NL]

On 2/23/2019 at 6:30 PM, HRU_Bricks said:

The video is finally done and uploaded 

@HRU_Bricks, that looks awesome! Truly a streamlined and beautifully shaped GBC! Looks so neat, similar to Akiyuki and Quanix masterpieces! Have a million questions for you (), but will ask them at a later stage when I'm actually starting my pneumatic build (few other projects to finish first). Also, maybe better to further discuss it on ReBrickable as here in the Akiyuki thread it's a bit off topic I guess...   Anyway, thanks for sharing the vid, free instructions, parts list and supporting document with explanations (pdf building notes), much appreciated!!

Don't own a Lego Boost set yet, but this might be an excellent reason to purchase one  Looking at your factory and the ones created by Quanix, I start to believe it's wiser (for someone without much experience with / knowledge of pneumatics) to first try a smaller project. Yours seems to be perfect for that! Think it's a good start to my pneumatic Lego GBC adventure!

[Juroen]

16 hours ago, HRU_Bricks said:

Thanks for the picture, do you have one facing the front? Something is not quite adding up as it looks like it is 5 pinholes high with 3 Technic bricks and 2 plates high. I thought that was the build but it didn't quite work that well

 What part of the control box operates the L-motor raising and lowering, do you have a picture of it? 

It is a nice compact build (and yes it wont break the back ) . I was starting to get the parts together for it then the ball cleaner has become a bit of a challenge that I must complete! I a keen to make it without the Mindstorm, not sure if it is possible yet but it is worth a try!

The right switch underneath the pressure gauge operates the L-motor and lowers the cloth on the balls simultaneously.

Edited February 26, 2019 by Juroen

[HRU_Bricks]

17 hours ago, Lego_GBC_NL said:

@HRU_Bricks, that looks awesome! Truly a streamlined and beautifully shaped GBC! Looks so neat, similar to Akiyuki and Quanix masterpieces! Have a million questions for you (), but will ask them at a later stage when I'm actually starting my pneumatic build (few other projects to finish first). Also, maybe better to further discuss it on ReBrickable as here in the Akiyuki thread it's a bit off topic I guess...   Anyway, thanks for sharing the vid, free instructions, parts list and supporting document with explanations (pdf building notes), much appreciated!!

Don't own a Lego Boost set yet, but this might be an excellent reason to purchase one  Looking at your factory and the ones created by Quanix, I start to believe it's wiser (for someone without much experience with / knowledge of pneumatics) to first try a smaller project. Yours seems to be perfect for that! Think it's a good start to my pneumatic Lego GBC adventure!

Thanks for the feedback and no problem. Agreed on the Q&A on the Rebrikable page. Pneumatics is not that difficult start building and you will get it quickly (I have more videos and Stud.io's in the works that will help). 

As for the Boost, it is a bit limited in the input and outputs but overall it is pretty powerful tool for control systems for the price. It is a nice addition to the GBC world. Back to the akiyuki discussion Boost would also work got the ball sorter and the cleaning machine. Although for the latter I am still going to try to make using mechanical timing before I get Boost onto it.

[Great Ball Pit]

Nice boost module!  Boost is terrible for GBC due to the requirement of a connected bluetooth device.  I had to hardwire mine to 9v power and leave my phone on the table during BrickCon so that it could operate.  I built an extra bypass module to solve the issue of taking my phone away from the GBC area.

[rskamen]

@Berthil - I am curious to know exactly what size the tubes are that you used as the entry and exit ramps on you Invisible Lift? Also, what part, and part number is used to hold, or clamp the tube in place? If I build the Invisible Lift, I like the way you did the entry ramp, and especially the exit ramp and ball drop. Any parts list or plans for that? Much better than the long ramps made out of lift arms and studded bricks.

[Berthil]

@rskamen entry ramp is 3mm rigid hose from LEGO. Clamping method is like the method Akiyuki used in his marble run of which the building instruction is available here. I made the new entry and exit so the module could be moved better for events, the studded bricks entry already breaks apart when looking at it. I don't have a parts list. Here's some pictures on my Flickr:

Two years ago it dropped a lot of balls at LEGO World. Last year at the same event it dropped almost none the whole seven days after finetuning it. Finetuning was 1 tooth shift on the 40t gears and bending the antennas slightly so they were exactly opposite of each other. Also apply PTFE.

Edited March 2, 2019 by Berthil
typos

[rskamen]

7 hours ago, Berthil said:

Two years ago it dropped a lot of balls at LEGO World. Last year at the same event it dropped almost none the whole seven days after finetuning it. Finetuning was 1 tooth shift on the 40t gears and bending the antennas slightly so they were exactly opposite of each other. Also apply PTFE.

@Berthil - Thank you for your photos and explanation. I will look at the Marble Run for parts so I better understand the clamping method. What about the 11L Lego ribbed tubing that I used for the spiral lift in my Ball Factory? Would they suffice as well? I was thinking that maybe the slightest dab (spot) of clear rubber glue on the tips of the clear antenna might give them a better grip on the balls as the move up the Invisible Lift. Would that be considered "acceptable" in the world of GBC? Being relatively new to Lego and GBC, what is PTFE? I am looking forward to any more photos or information on your counterweight system of the Train Elevator as well. You are a wealth of knowledge and I greatly appreciate any help you can give.

[Berthil]

@rskamen Don't start with glue for grip, timing and alignment is everything. PTFE is Teflon lubricant. From your posts I gather you want to start well prepared but sometimes it's just better to start en grow your knowledge by building :)

[rskamen]

Just now, Berthil said:

@rskamen Don't start with glue for grip, timing and alignment is everything. PTFE is Teflon lubricant. From your posts I gather you want to start well prepared but sometimes it's just better to start en grow your knowledge by building :)

Thanks for the advice. I am gathering what I need to get going. I will keep you posted. I am also going to build the basic Train set up as well. I have a lot of parts I can scavenge for that already on hand.

[Ankoku]

In some respects, I just like to know what issues will be present ahead of time. Having been caught out by so much being wrong with the Ball Factory, these days, I resign myself to knowing that changes will need to be made.

You rarely see the Invisible Lift at shows, so I am guessing it is just too sensitive to be a common entrant. e.g. can desync over time etc.

[Berthil]

2 minutes ago, Ankoku said:

You rarely see the Invisible Lift at shows, so I am guessing it is just too sensitive to be a common entrant. e.g. can desync over time etc.

As said, i ran the Invisible Lift last LEGO World seven days in a row without desyncing and almost without dropping balls. It only desyncs when a gear breaks or ball gets stuck. I took measures to prevents balls get stuck if they drop, all listed in my Invisible Lift Flickr album together with other improvements. It's worth it, it's a public favorite.

Edited March 2, 2019 by Berthil

[Juroen]

I’m looking for some detailed pictures to rebuild this track from Akiyuki’s spiral lift so I can create a loop with the ball cleaner.

 

[Ankoku]

You can find some close-ups at the end of this video:
 

 

[rskamen]

On 3/2/2019 at 2:08 PM, Ankoku said:

In some respects, I just like to know what issues will be present ahead of time. Having been caught out by so much being wrong with the Ball Factory, these days, I resign myself to knowing that changes will need to be made.

You rarely see the Invisible Lift at shows, so I am guessing it is just too sensitive to be a common entrant. e.g. can desync over time etc.

Although I have not taken any of my builds to shows, my Ball Factory runs rather well and rather consistently. If an axle or gear works itself out of position, then I am in for an hour of re-sync'ing everything downstream from the failure. But, I am curious, what do people with limited space do with the Ball Factory, or other builds after a few months, or a year? Do they dismantle the builds and reuse all the parts?  Some of my radio controlled construction vehicles will go to one or two of my grandsons. The Ball Factory is too complex, too delicate, and too frustrating (at times) to give away.

[Berthil]

The Ball Factory was my first GBC to build and my first and only GBC I dismantled. It was too delicate, couldn't even pick it up without destroying something and got tired of re-syncing it after every ball drop. It was a great brick donor for other GBCs. Some day I build one again that will be less delicate and more reliable so it can run on events.

[HRU_Bricks]

For those that want to run the Ball Cleaning Machine (with 100 Lego) you will need 2-3 of the v4 compressor . Finally got the Stud.io file and video done. The stud.io file an be downloaded from Rebrickable.

I did also complete 7 out of the 8 required the Pneumo control modules for the cleaning machine all be it a new design for the machine (you can see the start of them in the compressor video). It will be bit of a modern take to Akiyuki's build.

 

.  

[Berthil]

@HRU_Bricks thanks for Stud.io file (although without hoses). I've also build a compressor for my pneumatic scissor lift in the video below but it is actually too powerful with 8 pumps so I'm going to rebuild it using part of your design and try to fit it in an Akiyuki style frame :)

 

Edited March 4, 2019 by Berthil
typos as always

[HRU_Bricks]

 @Berthil No problem. I am going to do a "Building Notes" to go along with it as I don't yet know if Stud.io can do hose. It will have the pneumo circuit in it as well. 

 

That is a very nice GBC train circuit; I could watch it for hours! I would recommend adding an additional reservoir cylinder to the system to help with the spike when used. If you are looking at adding the auto start for the compressor it may need some tuning as there is a trade off between when it stars up and when it cuts off. Good fun it is. 

[Berthil]

@HRU_Bricks Thanks! I've tried using an automatic cut off switch but found it didn't work well with the trains and scissor lift module but that was may be because one of my cilinders probably was leaking although new. My setup had a pressure drop when not pumping and it's better the system has full pressure when a train arrives. i steer the pressure cycle with a 9V train power supply to have optimum pressure when the train arrives but with eight pumps it ran on power supply position no. 2 (too low) and sometimes power supply would cut out because the eight cilinders required to much power. So now I'm trying 4 cilinders and your design partially, thanks again.

[Ankoku]

For now, my ball factory sits on a plank of wood.

Hopefully, later this year, I plan to raise the whole thing up to make it GBC compliant, or fairly close to it. In doing so, I plan to make it rigid and remove the need for the base plates. This should help in regards to moving it around.

[Theo van Vroenhoven]

1 hour ago, Ankoku said:

For now, my ball factory sits on a plank of wood.

Hopefully, later this year, I plan to raise the whole thing up to make it GBC compliant, or fairly close to it. In doing so, I plan to make it rigid and remove the need for the base plates. This should help in regards to moving it around.

I have the parts laying around for more than two years now but never started the build because of all the horror stories I read about (un)reliability..
It would be very nice if you could publish all your improvements so that I finally can start this project too (and finish it successfully) !

[Ankoku]

I will do a summary once it is finished. I have reverted a lot of the original design by Akiyuki, which helped considerably. Then I started to make a few of my own adjustments. It came to a halt, as there was now no way to make a viable return feeder. Raising it up will give more wiggle room for different approaches to getting the balls back to the start.

 

It was the first GBC for me, so I had no way of returning the balls to the start or even enough balls to adequately test it for reliability. Now though, I have more machines, more balls and that should no longer be an issue. So once I have tested it a reasonable amount, I will post the changes.

It will never be a reliable machine like some, but when I watch GBC event videos, they are tossing balls out left right and centre, so I don't worry about that too much. I am only doing these things for my own entertainment, but I do like things to work smoothly, so I will do my best to make sure it is reliable and less prone to self destructing!

Even Akiyuki admits that it has issues. Although the issues he has with his are different to the issues that others seem to be having.

[rskamen]

6 minutes ago, Theo van Vroenhoven said:

I have the parts laying around for more than two years now but never started the build because of all the horror stories I read about (un)reliability..
It would be very nice if you could publish all your improvements so that I finally can start this project too (and finish it successfully) !

Look up the Rebricker's videos. He has one that just shows mods and improvements. That helped tremendously. Absolutely worth building. It was fun and a great learning experience. The good part about the ball factory is that is a complete closed loop, so you do not need to tie it into other GBC modules, although it does have a few ramps to easily redirect the balls to another module.

 

1 hour ago, Ankoku said:

For now, my ball factory sits on a plank of wood.

Hopefully, later this year, I plan to raise the whole thing up to make it GBC compliant, or fairly close to it. In doing so, I plan to make it rigid and remove the need for the base plates. This should help in regards to moving it around.

My Ball Factory also sits on a plank of wood so I can easily move it from my den to other rooms in the house. It currently sits atop of a large rattan trunk that houses a collection of rare HO Brass model locomotives that I inherited. I am not a train buff, so they too will eventually go to my grandsons. I guess that some day I will dismantle the Ball Factory, but my head just isn't there yet.

3 minutes ago, Ankoku said:

I will do a summary once it is finished. I have reverted a lot of the original design by Akiyuki, which helped considerably. Then I started to make a few of my own adjustments. It came to a halt, as there was now no way to make a viable return feeder. Raising it up will give more wiggle room for different approaches to getting the balls back to the start.

 

It was the first GBC for me, so I had no way of returning the balls to the start or even enough balls to adequately test it for reliability. Now though, I have more machines, more balls and that should no longer be an issue. So once I have tested it a reasonable amount, I will post the changes.

It will never be a reliable machine like some, but when I watch GBC event videos, they are tossing balls out left right and centre, so I don't worry about that too much. I am only doing these things for my own entertainment, but I do like things to work smoothly, so I will do my best to make sure it is reliable and less prone to self destructing!

Even Akiyuki admits that it has issues. Although the issues he has with his are different to the issues that others seem to be having.

Why not use the conveyor system to return the balls back to the input tray for the spiral ball loader? Check out Therebirckers videos. That part of the ball factory has worked faultlessly from the first day. I may build that conveyor system to return the balls on the Invisible Lift so it becomes a closed loop system without needing other GBC modules to connect with.

[Ankoku]

To be honest, I find it the most attractive of my GBCs as just an ornament. When ever I look at it, it brings a smile to my face.