Over the past few days, Japanese AFOL Akiyuky has been posting Lego Great Ball Contraption (GBC) module videos on his YouTube Channel -- he has 21 Lego GBC videos posted so far! Some of them are featured on his blog (in Japanese and English translation).

Lego Pneumatics fans will appreciate this

of his Lego GBC Pneumatic Module:

Check the mechanism of this Lego GBC Zig-Zag Lift on this

:

His GBC's are awesome, still my favorite stays his factory:

Here is Akiyuky's

of his Lego GBC Archimedes Screw module:

...and his

of his Lego GBC Spiral Lift Type 2:

His modules are so clever! I dont know how he thinks them up.

tim

Akiyuki posted this

of his latest Lego Great [basket]Ball Contraption -- a "basket shooter" for which he says "I will upload internal mechanism of this module some day."

I was amazed when i saw the video on youtube. Definitely a Technic marvel.

tim

seen some of these before but the basket ball one made me laugh brilliant.

I expect most people have seen akiyuky's astonishing 20 unit GBC loop, although I didn't notice it posted here:

I could just sit and watch this for hours... But most amazing of all, in my opinion, is his "Automatic crane loader" module.

All the functions you see here are driven by one motor, located on the train itself. It really is hard to believe this is possible....!

I found Akiyuky's automatic crane loader a long time ago and I wanted to know how it worked. I have seriously been observing it the past few days and have discovered how most of it works. Here's the video.

More pictures to understand the crane better:http://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&sl=ja&u=http://legokarakuri.blog91.fc2.com/&prev=/search%3Fq%3Dlego%2Bkarakuri%26biw%3D1103%26bih%3D512

It's in Japanese, so I translated it with Google. It is an OK translation, but I can't really understand it. You should look at this before reading on.

Here's the gearbox that you saw in the video.

As you can see, in the video, the train came and engaged with the dark gray 24 tooth gear outside of the gear, which drove 2 knobs. There, it drove a differential, driving a 24 tooth gear, and then an 8 tooth gear, and then a 40 tooth gear. The differential also drives a black bevel gear, against the tan one, in the perpendicular angle, which also drives the trapezoid slider. There, it turns at another perpendicular angle and turns two worm gears. One worm gear turns a switch to press a switch on the train(which makes the train go back and forth), and the other turns a slider, making it go back and forth in the gearbox, you can see it when you watch the gearbox carefully. But what does this slider do? I see no connection to it, what is it for? Could you examine this and tell me?

Now, when the trapezoid slider moves, it also makes the crane go up and down. But, the crane starts going up before the trapezoid slider passes it. How does it do this? The crane is lifted by chain links, but how does the slider trigger this? I see the grooved cam for the intermittent motion. But, all this does is makes the crane go with the slider after it passes, unless I am wrong.

I understand how everything except for the crane lifting and the little slider in the gearbox. Could you please look at this and try to tell me how it works? You don't have to do it, it is a large task. Thank you so much.

Edited September 12, 201311 yr by matthewclso

I just love these. Why don't Lego sell GBC sets? This is real learning for kids (and us grown-ups too.) Talking of which, does anyone know if the original poster will be allowed back? He used to post links to some amazing stuff, and I miss his posts.

I have replicated 4 of his modules so far ... so much inspiration. My favorite is the pneumatic module (first post in this thread). Working now on the bucket wheel tower.

I found Akiyuky's automatic crane loader a long time ago and I wanted to know how it worked. I have seriously been observing it the past few days and have discovered how most of it works. Here's the video.

More pictures to understand the crane better:http://translate.goo...iw=1103&bih=512

It's in Japanese, so I translated it with Google. It is an OK translation, but I can't really understand it. You should look at this before reading on.

Here's the gearbox that you saw in the video.

As you can see, in the video, the train came and engaged with the dark gray 24 tooth gear outside of the gear, which drove 2 knobs. There, it drove a differential, driving a 24 tooth gear, and then an 8 tooth gear, and then a 40 tooth gear. The differential also drives a black bevel gear, against the tan one, in the perpendicular angle, which also drives the trapezoid slider. There, it turns at another perpendicular angle and turns two worm gears. One worm gear turns a switch to press a switch on the train(which makes the train go back and forth), and the other turns a slider, making it go back and forth in the gearbox, you can see it when you watch the gearbox carefully. But what does this slider do? I see no connection to it, what is it for? Could you examine this and tell me?

Now, when the trapezoid slider moves, it also makes the crane go up and down. But, the crane starts going up before the trapezoid slider passes it. How does it do this? The crane is lifted by chain links, but how does the slider trigger this? I see the grooved cam for the intermittent motion. But, all this does is makes the crane go with the slider after it passes, unless I am wrong.

I understand how everything except for the crane lifting and the little slider in the gearbox. Could you please look at this and try to tell me how it works? You don't have to do it, it is a large task. Thank you so much.

Hello! Is anyone going to help? I really want help....

As you can see, in the video, the train came and engaged with the dark gray 24 tooth gear outside of the gear, which drove 2 knobs. There, it drove a differential, driving a 24 tooth gear, and then an 8 tooth gear, and then a 40 tooth gear. The differential also drives a black bevel gear, against the tan one, in the perpendicular angle, which also drives the trapezoid slider. There, it turns at another perpendicular angle and turns two worm gears. One worm gear turns a switch to press a switch on the train(which makes the train go back and forth), and the other turns a slider, making it go back and forth in the gearbox, you can see it when you watch the gearbox carefully. But what does this slider do? I see no connection to it, what is it for? Could you examine this and tell me?

I'm not sure either, but my best guess is the sliding part somehow puts tension on the differential. When the shuttle leaves, the 24t gear needs to spin freely. The sliding mechanism keeps the differential from spinning once the shuttle is docked and directs the power to the other mechanisms. When it's time for the shuttle to leave, the differential is released, and the 24t gear is free to spin as the shuttle leaves. At least that's my best guest.

Now, when the trapezoid slider moves, it also makes the crane go up and down. But, the crane starts going up before the trapezoid slider passes it. How does it do this? The crane is lifted by chain links, but how does the slider trigger this? I see the grooved cam for the intermittent motion. But, all this does is makes the crane go with the slider after it passes, unless I am wrong.

From what I can tell, the crane is lifted up and down by the trapezoid slider that goes beneath it. The only thing the vertical chain does is connect the lift to the counter weight.

The stuff that Akiyuki comes up with is amazing. I'm always impressed with perfect timing that his machines have.

What does that spring in the gearbox do?