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In lugnet.robotics, Brian Davis wrote:
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In lugnet.robotics, Jordan Bradford wrote:
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I got super-motivated and built myself a
ball pump last night.
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Wow, nearly untouched territory... pumping Steve’s... oh, never mind.
On a more pratical note, does your pump meet the height requirement for the
GBC? I’ve got two ball pumps working, but both have the same problem -
allowing room under the hopper for the piston mechanism makes it hard to have
a deep hopper (and I’d really hate to use a “high hopper” for the ball pump
that has to be filled from the standard input via another mechanism).
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I don’t know if it fits into the standard or not. I didn’t plan on using it as
my first device, anyway. I’m going to build a simple large hopper for the
previous person’s contraption to feed into mine, and then I’ll have a feed chute
or something. Maybe I’ll use a conveyor/bucket mechanism to get balls out of the
initial input.
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it’s jam-proof if the marbles come once every
second or so.
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Mine has no problem with jamming, but occassionally problems with “clotting”
in the hopper starving the pump itself. Can yours handle a crate of balls
dumped all at once? I wonder what the ultimate percentage of “continuous
output” vs. “batch output” modules will end up at.
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My tiny little “hopper” for the pump does “clot” as you say, which is a problem
everyone’s going to encounter sooner or later. But I can guarantee nothing will
get stuck if the balls come one at a time.
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keeping tension in the tread links is proving
difficult. Any ideas on how to do that?
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If you need constant tension, one way to do it is tensioner. A third gear in
the chain, that can be moved in and out changing the shape (& therefore
length) of the triangular chain path. This doesn’t have to be hand-tuned
either - use a idler gear on a small free-swingin arm that is held in tension
by a weight or rubber band.
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Heh, once again my over-engineering defeats me. I tried using two shock
absorbers to push a gear into the hanging part of the chain, but they just
torqued the gear so that the chain wouldn’t move. I should always try the
simplest approach from now on. Thanks for the tip.
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One suggestion for people: I don’t like mystery
mechanisms.
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Well, one of the ball pump designs I’ve built can have one side of the
mechanism built out of clear panels... that is, if I could *get* any of them.
After I built it, I found S@H had run out, and Bricklink has (currently)
*one*. Sigh... Also, most of my designs are ending up rather skeletal, due to
the lack of pieces left for building.
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Lack of parts. Yep. Most of my contraptions will be skeletal for the same
reason. However, I have a 4561 (4160), and that has a lot of transparent panels
for the windows. I used one of those for the part of the pump that I think
people would consider mysterious. Now they can see each ball being lowered under
the column of balls and pushed up into it.
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> > > keeping tension in the tread links is proving
> > > difficult. Any ideas on how to do that?
> >
> > If you need constant tension, one way to do it is tensioner. A third gear in
> > the chain, that can be moved in and out changing the shape (& therefore
> > length) of the triangular chain path. This doesn't have to be hand-tuned
> > either - use a idler gear on a small free-swingin arm that is held in tension
> > by a weight or rubber band.
>
> Heh, once again my over-engineering defeats me. I tried using two shock
> absorbers to push a gear into the hanging part of the chain, but they just
> torqued the gear so that the chain wouldn't move. I should always try the
> simplest approach from now on. Thanks for the tip.
I'm not exactly sure how many "teeth" = 1 stud, but I know it's not a whole number.
So, I've found if you can change the length by 1 or 2 studs, and add a few chain
links, you don't need to add a tensioner.
Steve
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In lugnet.robotics, Steve Hassenplug wrote:
> I'm not exactly sure how many "teeth" = 1 stud, but I know it's not a whole number.
It's exactly 2.5. 10 teeth on a gear rack, divided by 4.
Steve
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In lugnet.robotics, Steve Lane wrote:
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In lugnet.robotics, Steve Hassenplug wrote:
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I’m not exactly sure how many “teeth” = 1 stud, but I know it’s not a whole
number.
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It’s exactly 2.5. 10 teeth on a gear rack, divided by 4.
Steve
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I’m using two upside-down 1x16 TECHNIC beams to straddle 24-tooth gears on each
end (see my great ASCII art below, top-down view, not to scale). I might not
even need tension in the chain at all; the tread links slide on the flat bottom
part of the beams, and that seems to work fine. I haven’t yet built a support
structure to test the chain for real.
*
[]*[]
[]*[]
[] []
[] []
[] []
[] []
[] []
[] []
[] []
[] []
[]*[]
[]*[]
*
My “buckets” are simple and work pretty well, even at steep angles. Every fourth
tread link has a 1x4 plate on it, and on each plate are two of those 2x2
right-angle plates making a squarish area for the ball to rest in. Again, some
beautiful ASCII art:
Step 1:
_______
|_______| <- that's a 1x4 plate
Step 2:
_ _
| |_ _| |
|___|___| <- those are right-angle plates
What other bucket designs do people have?
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> In lugnet.robotics, Steve Lane wrote:
> > In lugnet.robotics, Steve Hassenplug wrote:
> >
> > > I'm not exactly sure how many "teeth" = 1 stud, but I know it's not a whole
> > > number.
> >
> > It's exactly 2.5. 10 teeth on a gear rack, divided by 4.
> >
> > Steve
>
> I'm using two upside-down 1x16 TECHNIC beams to straddle 24-tooth gears on each
> end (see my great ASCII art below, top-down view, not to scale). I might not
> even need tension in the chain at all; the tread links slide on the flat bottom
> part of the beams, and that seems to work fine. I haven't yet built a support
> structure to test the chain for real.
Well, my lift for loading the train car uses both chain links, and tracks. Each
track has a 1x4 tile on it, and the balls roll up.
http://www.brickshelf.com/gallery/Hassenplug/GBC/GBC2/p1160046.jpg
That's close to what John did on his roller coaster:
http://www.brickshelf.com/gallery/Hassenplug/GBC/05johnrollercoaster.jpg
This red module: http://www.brickshelf.com/gallery/Hassenplug/GBC/10stevechainlift.jpg
uses a pair of axle joiners: http://www.peeron.com/inv/parts/6536 with some #3
axles. Brian came up with this, and it works very well.
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In lugnet.robotics, Jordan Bradford wrote:
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In lugnet.robotics, Steve Lane wrote:
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In lugnet.robotics, Steve Hassenplug wrote:
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I’m not exactly sure how many “teeth” = 1 stud, but I know it’s not a whole
number.
|
It’s exactly 2.5. 10 teeth on a gear rack, divided by 4.
|
I’m using two upside-down 1x16 TECHNIC beams to straddle 24-tooth gears on
each end (see my great ASCII art below, top-down view, not to scale). I might
not even need tension in the chain at all; the tread links slide on the flat
bottom part of the beams, and that seems to work fine. I haven’t yet built a
support structure to test the chain for real.
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I have just placed wheels regularly spaced along my chain to support it.
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My “buckets” are simple and work pretty well, even at steep angles. Every
fourth tread link has a 1x4 plate on it, and on each plate are two of those
2x2 right-angle plates making a squarish area for the ball to rest in. Again,
some beautiful ASCII art:
Step 1:
_______
|_______| <- that's a 1x4 plate
Step 2:
_ _
| |_ _| |
|___|___| <- those are right-angle plates
What other bucket designs do people have?
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Mine are similar, but use a 1x3 plate with a 1x1 plate with tooth on each end,
at a slight angle, and another 1x3 plate on top. I was finding that even with an
accurate feeder, they were occasionally bouncing over the side when I used 1x2
plates on each end.
ROSCO
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