[MOC] Canal Lock

[paupadros]

Welcome aboard the little narrowboat!

Hi everyone! Haven't been very active lately, but I do lurk . Anyway, after 2 years! I've finished another custom modular building, my thirteenth!

This model began from wanting to have a modular that you can easily interact with. My models have rarely had much motion, so I wanted to have a go! I chose to build a lock because I love all kinds of infrastructure and because I could come with with a nice industrial cityscape, something I had wanted to build for a while.

Coming up with a good layout was quite difficult because there are a few limiting factors. You need to connect to other modulars on either side with a continuous pavement, while having to go over the canal, leaving enough clearance for the boats and leaving space under for the mechanism. Finding a reliable and compact mechanism took a lot of work. I ended up with a design with design four vertical worm gears that activate an axle lift with bushes. It can get jammed from time to time, hence why the gears are easily accessible.

 

Mechanism:

If you want to take a closer look at it, I have the CAD uploaded to Mecabricks. I take suggestions as to how to make the mecahnism simpler, because it's currently quite gear-heavy.

 

Interiors:

The ground floor of the building has a little ticket shop in front and the exposed mechanism for the lock behind, so both minifigures and builders can access it!

 

If you've seen my models previously, you know interiors is something I can struggle with, especially when I have too much room to work with. This is probably my favourite interior of mine. It's a cosy cinema, with a camera build I'm quite proud of. The grandpa and kid seem to be playing a Lego version of Casablanca. I wonder if it's a reference to anything...

 

Finally, under the roof, there is a bit of a cluttered mess. This area is accessed via a retractable ladder from the cinema, so it's only natural things get forgotten up here! I quite like the candle build here. I've also always wanted to add cobwebs to a modular, but never had the space to do it!

 

Architecturally, it takes cues from industrial architecture in England (such as the Camden Lock, the Birmingham Canals...), America (such as the Distillery District in Toronto) and especially architecture from the Hanseatic cities in northern Europe (Speicherstadt in Hamburg, Lübeck..., the first being a major inspiration), but as usual, I get the gist of the building without copying exact details from the reference material. 

 

I've uploaded the model to the Bricklink Designer Program. This is the fourth time I've tried it without much luck, so I'm not too hopeful, but we'll see! I was already designing this when the oportunity came up, so I thought, might as well! I genuinely think this would be a great product. The techniques are interesting, and the end result is sturdy. A modular with as little building as this would not get released as an official model, but maybe through this program it might! Hope you like it.

Edited June 4, 2024 by paupadros

[Stereo]

It depends how much space you're actually working with, but the first thing I'd try for a reliable straight raise and lower would look something like this, using a small linear actuator to rotate some beams 90 degrees, and then slotted bricks so the actual baseplate moves straight up and down in the space allowed for it.  I only built half to make it easier to see the pieces involved, really you'd want symmetrical tracks on both sides so it's held at 4 points.

This raises/lowers by 5 plates and the mechanism's ~3 bricks tall at the lowest (really 8.5 plates).  Probably doable 2 plates lower if needed, there's just more self-intersection to watch out for. And raising/lowering by any number of studs is pretty easy to adapt from here, just takes more space.  The red beam synchronizes the two rotating arms and the green beam stays still.  Longer red beam and spreading the sliders apart would make it more stable, this is just the most compact version (fitting in 11x8 footprint if it was symmetrical).  It does need the 1 plate of clearance underneath as the rotating parts swing downwards into that space, but the bottom 6x12 plate could be the baseplate.

The u-joint input makes it pretty free where you actually locate the human controls, simplest would be using an axle to extend it out to the edge of the build and then have a handle on it.

Internally linear actuators use a worm gear, so this stays where you put it, if you used a different actuation method, this mechanism is also stable at both ends of the travel, but could fall down if you left it halfway.

Edited June 6, 2024 by Stereo

[paupadros]

10 hours ago, Stereo said:

It depends how much space you're actually working with, but the first thing I'd try for a reliable straight raise and lower would look something like this, using a small linear actuator to rotate some beams 90 degrees, and then slotted bricks so the actual baseplate moves straight up and down in the space allowed for it.  I only built half to make it easier to see the pieces involved, really you'd want symmetrical tracks on both sides so it's held at 4 points.

This raises/lowers by 5 plates and the mechanism's ~3 bricks tall at the lowest (really 8.5 plates).  Probably doable 2 plates lower if needed, there's just more self-intersection to watch out for. And raising/lowering by any number of studs is pretty easy to adapt from here, just takes more space.  The red beam synchronizes the two rotating arms and the green beam stays still.  Longer red beam and spreading the sliders apart would make it more stable, this is just the most compact version (fitting in 11x8 footprint if it was symmetrical).  It does need the 1 plate of clearance underneath as the rotating parts swing downwards into that space, but the bottom 6x12 plate could be the baseplate.

The u-joint input makes it pretty free where you actually locate the human controls, simplest would be using an axle to extend it out to the edge of the build and then have a handle on it.

Internally linear actuators use a worm gear, so this stays where you put it, if you used a different actuation method, this mechanism is also stable at both ends of the travel, but could fall down if you left it halfway.

Funny you say so, I actually did look into linear actuators. I couldn't find a way to get it to fit in the 4 bricks I had, but this example of yours would clearly be suitable. I was also a bit iffy about leaving the control of ensuring it goes up vertically to just the walls or a slider, which is why I opted for four synced worm gears on the sides. In a way, it's similar to your suggestion but having the actuator "decomposed" on the four sides, instead of in the centre and relying on liftarms. I also figured linear actuators are more expensive than standard worm gears, but might be wrong on that.

If it does get selected and the system is proven unreliable, I'd take an approach akin to yours  thanks!

[Stereo]

5 hours ago, paupadros said:

I also figured linear actuators are more expensive than standard worm gears, but might be wrong on that.

I think most gears are pretty expensive, but linear actuators would be more don't know which actually wins out on official Lego spreadsheets though, I just estimate with PickaBrick prices.

[CroissantBricks]

It looks great, and the working mechanism makes the whole design that much more interesting!

Edited June 7, 2024 by CroissantBricks

[paupadros]

On 6/6/2024 at 6:56 PM, Stereo said:

I think most gears are pretty expensive, but linear actuators would be more don't know which actually wins out on official Lego spreadsheets though, I just estimate with PickaBrick prices.

Perhaps. I also kept in mind that I wanted to submit it to the BDP, so gears will always be available, whilst an actuator is rather specialty and it could easily be removed :)

9 hours ago, CroissantBricks said:

It looks great, and the working mechanism makes the whole design that much more interesting!

Thank you! You Opera looks great too! I left a comment there too :) Honestly, this is my 13th modular, so it was a matter of: "man I've done so many buildings in so many styles, let me try something with some motion!". You've built modulars yourself, you know that a decision you make affects the whole design, because they are rather constrained builds. In this case, the mechanism takes up almost the entirety of the ground floor and for it to be properly modular, you want to connect to the street, so stairs and a bridge were a must. And that left a small sliver on the left for the building itself. It's still a unique layout and I think it works quite well!

[CroissantBricks]

You really did a great job. I also want to integrate some motion in my next MOC, but I have no experience with using mechanisms in my MOCs yet, so it will probably take some time for me to learn. :)

 Kudos to you for how you integrated your mechanism in the model!

[Stereo]

1 hour ago, paupadros said:

Perhaps. I also kept in mind that I wanted to submit it to the BDP, so gears will always be available, whilst an actuator is rather specialty and it could easily be removed :)

Yeah, it's fortunately not too key to the mechanism anyway, it's just conveniently flat to fit the actuation into 1 stud height and 1 part.  Anything that can slide (like a gear rack) could substitute.  Or put gears on the red axles and drive those with worm gears.

[ivanlan9]

Gorgeous!  It's especially compelling for me, because I used to have a friend who spent his summers touring England/GB canals in a houseboat.  A real character, and I miss him greatly.

[jalemac34]

Superb work, could be an official set, in the spirit of what lego do...

Good job