Robotics : 23244


Robotics / 23244

The Great Ball Contraption —Steve Hassenplug

In an attempt to provide Technic & Mindstorms builders the same cooperative building opportunity that's available to Moonbase, Castle, and Town/Train builders at Brickfest, we present to you: The Great Ball Contraption. When it's assembled at (...) (20 years ago, 7-Jan-05, to lugnet.robotics, lugnet.technic, lugnet.trains, lugnet.events.brickfest, lugnet.events, lugnet.announce) !!

Re: The Great Ball Contraption —David Koudys

(...) Oh My Goodness!!! I'm so there for this!!! This looks like the funnest thing to happen to RCX's since rtl events. Where does one purchase 20-30 soccer balls? Dave K (20 years ago, 7-Jan-05, to lugnet.robotics)

Re: The Great Ball Contraption —Steve Hassenplug

(...) Hidden somewhere on the page above, it says I can suppily you with soccer balls. Thanks to Christina, I have exactly enough to suppily EVERYONE with soccer balls. If I run short, I'll just talk with Larry... :) And, for the record, the you are (...) (20 years ago, 7-Jan-05, to lugnet.robotics)

Re: The Great Ball Contraption —David Koudys

(...) To clarify--are we allowed to use 2 'module spaces' if we want? As well, I notice that the train ran along 'outside' the designated module area--is that allowed as well? Do we then have to get permission from our neighbouring module owners to (...) (20 years ago, 7-Jan-05, to lugnet.robotics)

Re: The Great Ball Contraption —Rob Antonishen

(...) Cool - That works for me :) Steve - on the page it says "The IN basket should be 10 studs by 10 studs (outside dimension) with an 8x8 opening, and should be 10 bricks (beams) tall." and "Each module should be able to accept balls at an average (...) (20 years ago, 7-Jan-05, to lugnet.robotics)

Re: The Great Ball Contraption —Brian Davis

(...) Yep. The IN basket is really more of a "target zone" - the upstream module should drop the balls into your IN basket zone (really, the 8x8 center section) from a height of at least 10 bricks (no specified upper limit, so when building your (...) (20 years ago, 7-Jan-05, to lugnet.robotics)

Re: The Great Ball Contraption —Brian Davis

(...) Really, the only thing defining a "module space" is a flat L & R edge, and no part of the module extending more than 32 studs from the front edge of the input bin "zone" - the footprint need not be remotely rectangular, nor is there a set (...) (20 years ago, 7-Jan-05, to lugnet.robotics)

Re: The Great Ball Contraption —Brass Tilde

(...) I'll point out that the standard as it's defined pictorially allows for a non-linear layout just as it stands. As long as the input in in the correct place relative to the previous block's output, and the output is placed correctly relative to (...) (20 years ago, 7-Jan-05, to lugnet.robotics)

Re: The Great Ball Contraption —

"Brass Tilde" <brasstilde@insightbb.com> wrote on 01/07/2005 01:52:19 PM: (...) edge, (...) participate. (...) a (...) correct (...) and (...) While what you're saying will work fine, the standard does say: Each module should have an "in" basket, (...) (20 years ago, 7-Jan-05, to lugnet.robotics)

Re: The Great Ball Contraption —Brian Davis

(...) In addition, there's an actual *reason* why that is set up that way. Can you picture trying to set up a large scale GBC if we need a certain number of "turns" and "straights"? There could also be interference issues if the rear of the GBC line (...) (20 years ago, 7-Jan-05, to lugnet.robotics)

Re: The Great Ball Contraption —

news-gateway@lugnet.com wrote on 01/07/2005 04:11:02 PM: (...) one (...) the (...) This was my *exact* reason for asking: tipping containers. If the tip left to right (from their space to the next module's space), there is no need for extra width: (...) (20 years ago, 7-Jan-05, to lugnet.robotics)

Re: The Great Ball Contraption —Steve Hassenplug

(...) In our test, when people dump, they usually dump onto a ramp in their own module, that drains onto the next module. Like on John's back hoe: (URL) you can see, it hangs over it's neighbor a bit. Of course, if you ass-u-me anything about the (...) (20 years ago, 8-Jan-05, to lugnet.robotics)

Re: The Great Ball Contraption —Russell Nelson

Steve Hassenplug writes: > As you can see, it hangs over it's neighbor a bit. > > Of course, if you ass-u-me anything about the neighboring modules > you could run into problems. You can assume anything that's in the specification! Speaking of (...) (20 years ago, 9-Jan-05, to lugnet.robotics)

Re: The Great Ball Contraption —Brian Davis

(...) Instead of that, just make sure that your module delivers through the "side" of the downstream module's territory. In other words, using a chute (even a very short one) is a pretty easy solution. And that way the standard isn't further (...) (20 years ago, 10-Jan-05, to lugnet.robotics)

Re: The Great Ball Contraption —Russell Nelson

Brian Davis writes: > Instead of that, just make sure that your module delivers through > the "side" of the downstream module's territory. Then the spec should say that the ball should go through a vertical plane, and specify the size of the (...) (20 years ago, 10-Jan-05, to lugnet.robotics)

Re: The Great Ball Contraption —Steve Hassenplug

(...) The standard doesn't explain this very well, because I'm really not sure how to write it. A module can be any size, but the input and output should be on opposite sides, with the front of the input being no more than 32 studs from the back of (...) (20 years ago, 7-Jan-05, to lugnet.robotics)

Re: The Great Ball Contraption —Geoffrey Hyde

Do you have any better photos (particularly a top-down view) of that particular module? I don't quite understand how his module managed to fling the ball out instead of pushing or dropping it. I'd also like to see more photos of the individual (...) (20 years ago, 8-Jan-05, to lugnet.robotics)

Re: The Great Ball Contraption —Brian Davis

(...) As I recall (I was not present, but talked with Steve about it) that module had problems with jamming - I think what you see in the video is a single ball partially jamming the mechanism and being kicked out hard. That particular module used (...) (20 years ago, 8-Jan-05, to lugnet.robotics)

Re: The Great Ball Contraption —Geoffrey Hyde

"Brian Davis" <brdavis@iusb.edu> wrote in message news:IA02Dv.1DH7@lugnet.com... (...) Hmm I must have missed that list post. I am kind of working on a contraption, but it's main aim is to sort LEGO bricks, which are a lot less likely to slide than (...) (20 years ago, 10-Jan-05, to lugnet.robotics)

Re: The Great Ball Contraption —Brian Davis

(...) The list is on Steve's GBC page, below the Type I standard - just scroll down. (20 years ago, 10-Jan-05, to lugnet.robotics)

Re: The Great Ball Contraption —Rick Clark

In lugnet.robotics, Brian Davis wrote: (snip) (...) (snip) (...) Another awesome source which you may want to link the main page to is: (URL) While not in English, it does contain animations of nearly every idea on the list. Wow! You can get a rough (...) (20 years ago, 12-Jan-05, to lugnet.robotics)

Re: The Great Ball Contraption —Brian Davis

(...) Thank you! I found this page ages ago when trying to find an easy way to build a step feeder (I've wanted to build one ever since a certain Playful Penguin thread in rtlToronto), and it inspired me to start a list, but I couldn't relocate it! (...) (20 years ago, 12-Jan-05, to lugnet.robotics)

Re: The Great Ball Contraption —David Koudys

(...) I read that, I just decided to be a little more apparent, as in 'Gee Steve, send me some balls!' ;) I have a grande total of, wait for it... 1 soccer ball, and it came with my Brickfest '04 set. At your convenience, of course :) Dave K (20 years ago, 7-Jan-05, to lugnet.robotics)

Re: The Great Ball Contraption —John Barnes

(...) Or someone who owns a soccer ball could measure it and publish the size. Most craft stores sell a selection of little wooden balls. It might be cheaper to buy a few about the right size rather than paying to mail genuine Lego ones? Of course, (...) (20 years ago, 7-Jan-05, to lugnet.robotics)

Re: The Great Ball Contraption —Ed McGlynn

(...) Sure enough, that'll happen. What about the sawdust envy that LEGO soccer balls will inevitably suffer from? Ed (20 years ago, 7-Jan-05, to lugnet.robotics)

Re: The Great Ball Contraption —Brian Pilati

(...) This post will be overkill I am sure but this Bricklink store sells has 42 soccer balls $.10 US a piece (URL) (20 years ago, 7-Jan-05, to lugnet.robotics)

Re: The Great Ball Contraption —Brian Davis

(...) Well, it's LEGO - it's just a tad smaller than 2 studs in diameter. If you've got a marble or wooden ball that will roll between two walls two studs apart (clearance about 1.5 mm on each side) you've got the size. The only real problem is (...) (20 years ago, 7-Jan-05, to lugnet.robotics)

Re: The Great Ball Contraption —Steve Hassenplug

(...) I'd really recommend against using anything but LEGO balls. If you just want to play around and test, one good place to get a couple balls are the LEGO NBA sets. I've seen them on sale all over. Using any other type of balls will not give you (...) (20 years ago, 7-Jan-05, to lugnet.robotics)

Re: The Great Ball Contraption —C. L. GunningCook

(...) Over time, as I gaze at my collection of parts, notably as my interests change, and curiosity is peaked, I realise that the floccinaucinihilipilification parts, such as soccer/basketballs, now are not only useful but in serious demand. I guess (...) (20 years ago, 8-Jan-05, to lugnet.robotics)

Re: The Great Ball Contraption —Larry Pieniazek

(...) Who will promptly tell you to talk to Nik. They're his, not mine. However I CERTAINLY will be advising him to hold out for good space parts in trade. :) I might have to see if we can build one or two of these, seems like good fun. I might even (...) (20 years ago, 10-Jan-05, to lugnet.robotics)

Re: The Great Ball Contraption —John Barnes

(...) This is fantastic. The movie is well worth the download, because if the words don't encourage, the pictures certainly will. If enough people sign up, we'll need a seperate GBC room :) JB (20 years ago, 7-Jan-05, to lugnet.robotics)

Re: The Great Ball Contraption —C. L. GunningCook

(...) Man, this project is so cool!!!!!!! (...) I am so looking forward to it. (...) No questions...... but one comment..... Chris may be King of rtl, and Dave is King of the Sheets! Move over guys, because Steve has got balls, and that makes him (...) (20 years ago, 7-Jan-05, to lugnet.robotics)

Re: The Great Ball Contraption —Bruce Hietbrink

This is outstanding! I have absolutely no expertise at this sort of thing, so I can't contribute anything but to stand on the sidelines cheering, but I look forward to seeing what sort of things people come up with. Bruce (20 years ago, 7-Jan-05, to lugnet.robotics)

Re: The Great Ball Contraption —Steve Hassenplug

(...) Just because you haven't done it, yet, doesn't mean you won't be able to do it in seven or eight months... Earlier today, someone said this, and it really sums up the possibilities with The Great Ball Contraption: "It can be really simple, or (...) (20 years ago, 7-Jan-05, to lugnet.robotics)

Re: The Great Ball Contraption —Ross Crawford

(...) Are non-LEGO items allowed? I'm just talking small parts of a mostly LEGO module, not a whole non-LEGO module. One obvious possibility I'm thinking about is string, but there may be others. ROSCO (20 years ago, 7-Jan-05, to lugnet.robotics)

Re: The Great Ball Contraption —Steve Hassenplug

(...) Well, at this point, it's not really a competition, so there aren't many "rules" beyond the "standard". So, you can use whatever you want. For example, the module at the bottom of this picture has a red & white distance sensor to detect when (...) (20 years ago, 8-Jan-05, to lugnet.robotics)

Re: The Great Ball Contraption —Geoffrey Hyde

"Steve Hassenplug" <steve@teamhassenplug.org> wrote in message news:I9yEEL.1s4z@lugnet.com... (...) time was very jerky and the sound was all messed up. If anyone else strikes this problem remember to hit play a second time, as I believe it should (...) (20 years ago, 8-Jan-05, to lugnet.robotics)

Re: The Great Ball Contraption —Steve Krass

Best idea I have seen in a while. Will be quite a machine when done. You should try to paint or die a few balls a different color so spectators can follow a particular ball thruoghout the whole machine. Good luck guys. (20 years ago, 8-Jan-05, to lugnet.robotics)

Re: The Great Ball Contraption —Steve Baker

(...) Having different coloured balls would also be cool because it would allow machines to do things like sorting them so that one colour does one thing and another colour does something different. Mixing soccer and basket balls would let people do (...) (20 years ago, 8-Jan-05, to lugnet.robotics)

Re: The Great Ball Contraption —Cynthia Bradham

In lugnet.robotics, Steve Baker <sjbaker1@airmail.net> wrote <snip> (...) That's a just a cool idea in general, to have a branching arrangement. Maybe some 'special' builders could produce modules that either divide or recombine streams? I am really (...) (20 years ago, 8-Jan-05, to lugnet.robotics)

Re: The Great Ball Contraption —Russell Nelson

Steve Baker writes: > Another thought I had was that the organisers might want to consider > building a stage that has one input hopper and TWO outputs that sends > balls alternately to the two places. Yes! Since the soccer and basket balls are the (...) (20 years ago, 9-Jan-05, to lugnet.robotics)

Re: The Great Ball Contraption —Mark Bellis

(...) I made a device that sends balls alternately down two chutes. Balls enter through a 2x2 hole in the top, onto the centre of a 7L studless beam, set up as a see-saw. Which ever way a ball goes, it drops onto another, longer, see-saw that tilts (...) (20 years ago, 9-Jan-05, to lugnet.robotics)

Re: TGBC - The Weakest Link? —Chio Siong Soh

(...) Any operation involving a long sequence of events as in The Great Ball Contraption (TGBC) is likely to be fouled up by failure of one of the events in the chain - the so called weakest link. Is there allowance for the fact that one of the (...) (20 years ago, 9-Jan-05, to lugnet.robotics)

Re: TGBC - The Weakest Link? —Brian Davis

(...) First, test the modules as they are added to the system to make sure they meet the minimum requirement. Second, watch the whole thing like a hawk, being ready to shut it down to fix such problems. Third, there will have to be some (...) (20 years ago, 10-Jan-05, to lugnet.robotics)

Re: TGBC - The Weakest Link? —Steve Hassenplug

(...) Not really. :) However, we're not expecting the GBC to run 100% of the time. It's not like letting a train run in a circle for eight hours. There are all kinds of things going on at the same time. In our testing, we seemed to run for about 20 (...) (20 years ago, 10-Jan-05, to lugnet.robotics)

Re: The Great Ball Contraption —

Russell Nelson <nelson@crynwr.com> wrote on 01/09/2005 04:20:10 PM: (...) Or not: leave the standard as it is (except for specifying that the space above the input belongs to the previous module), and have the organizers build (or specificially (...) (20 years ago, 9-Jan-05, to lugnet.robotics)

Re: The Great Ball Contraption —Steve Baker

(...) Yeah - I agree. You need the 'average builder' to stick to a simple straight-line standard one-size-fits-all module. If you don't then everyone will want to build something esoteric and you'll get hardly any simple modules of the kind that (...) (20 years ago, 9-Jan-05, to lugnet.robotics)

Re: The Great Ball Contraption —Steve Hassenplug

(...) Or create other "Types" That's the long-term plan. Of course, any GBC that uses some of these other module types will require considerabily more planning prior to set-up, and it will also make the whole contraption less tolerant to the (...) (20 years ago, 10-Jan-05, to lugnet.robotics)

Re: The Great Ball Contraption —Steve Baker

(...) I think you can handle this with a little care in the design of the rules. If the table you are setting it up on is deep enough to permit it, you could always use four 90 degree pieces in a LEFT/RIGHT/RIGHT/LEFT sequence to keep the overall (...) (20 years ago, 9-Jan-05, to lugnet.robotics)

Re: The Great Ball Contraption —Steve Hassenplug

(...) Actually, it's pretty interesting, if you consider how complex making a pair of turns really is. If you make a 90 degree right hand turn on a 32x32 baseplate, the module must output right next to it's own input. But, bins on a left-hand turn (...) (20 years ago, 10-Jan-05, to lugnet.robotics)

Re: The Great Ball Contraption —Geoffrey Hyde

(...) Why not universalize the standard so that a module that can turn must be configurable to turn either to the left or the right? A few ways this could be done are movable output stages, EG a sliding or drop-in output that can be placed where (...) (20 years ago, 10-Jan-05, to lugnet.robotics)

Re: The Great Ball Contraption —Steve Hassenplug

(...) Is there something that a module builder can not do because the standard is too simple? Steve (20 years ago, 10-Jan-05, to lugnet.robotics)

Re: The Great Ball Contraption —David Koudys

(...) Not to oversimplify, but I mean if the 'standard' for the ball contraption is 32 studs from the front of the hopper to the back edge of the baseplate, and thus I personally would probably grab a 32 x 32 stud baseplate to build on, thus the (...) (20 years ago, 10-Jan-05, to lugnet.robotics)

Re: The Great Ball Contraption —

news-gateway@lugnet.com wrote on 01/10/2005 10:01:48 AM: (...) thus the (...) module, (...) or 90 (...) That assumes that there is nothing in front of the hopper. There is nothing to say that you are limited to a module 32 studs deep. If you choose (...) (20 years ago, 10-Jan-05, to lugnet.robotics)

Re: The Great Ball Contraption —David Koudys

(...) I completely agree with that assessment. However, the premise is that I'm using a 32x32 baseplate with the hopper in the bottom left hand corner--using that premise, the module can be used either in-line, or 90 degrees. If one does not use the (...) (20 years ago, 10-Jan-05, to lugnet.robotics)

Re: The Great Ball Contraption —Geoffrey Hyde

"Steve Hassenplug" <Steve@TeamHassenplug.org> wrote in message (...) Yes. Currently it's not being able to make turns in both directions with the hopper feed setup the way it is. Someone did point out that there would be a lot of wasted space if (...) (20 years ago, 11-Jan-05, to lugnet.robotics)

Re: The Great Ball Contraption —Steve Hassenplug

(...) That's really not true. As a module builder, you can make all the turns you want. This one makes a whole bunch: (URL) you can't figure out how to put the output in the correct place, with respect to the input, that's not a problem with the (...) (20 years ago, 11-Jan-05, to lugnet.robotics)

Re: The Great Ball Contraption —Russell Nelson

Steve Baker writes: > So simply write into the rules that everyone who submits a left hand > turn has to submit a corresponding right hand turn or they won't > be accepted. Excellent idea! But it's even easier than that!! Do NOT change the (...) (20 years ago, 10-Jan-05, to lugnet.robotics)

Re: The Great Ball Contraption —Russell Nelson

tmassey@obscorp.com writes: > Or not: leave the standard as it is (except for specifying that the space > above the input belongs to the previous module), and have the organizers > build (or specificially request) out-of-spec modules to accomplish (...) (20 years ago, 10-Jan-05, to lugnet.robotics)

Re: The Great Ball Contraption —Steve Hassenplug

(...) Actually, we've tried this. Our first get-together was an all-day event, where we did all sort of messing around. In addition to a ton of soccer balls, I've receintly picked up a few different basket ball sets, including a set that had two (...) (20 years ago, 8-Jan-05, to lugnet.robotics)

Re: The Great Ball Contraption —Chris Magno

Steve Hassenplug wrote: <snip> (...) Steve, What can you tell me about the Yellow "step feeder" type device in the "lower left corner" of the GBC ? A step feeder is a solution to a lego idea I wanted to build. How complex is it? Thanks Chris (20 years ago, 8-Jan-05, to lugnet.robotics)

Re: The Great Ball Contraption —Steve Hassenplug

(...) That module is pretty simple and small. The whole thing is just 10 studs x 13 studs (with a power cord coming out) Here's a picture I just uploaded to brickshelf. More waiting for moderation. (URL) (20 years ago, 9-Jan-05, to lugnet.robotics)

Re: The Great Ball Contraption —Russell Nelson

Steve Hassenplug writes: > (URL) notice that the spec says "Currently, there is no standard for physically connecting modules together." One possibility is for a module to grab onto the two corner studs of the input bin of the module to the right, (...) (20 years ago, 10-Jan-05, to lugnet.robotics)

Re: The Great Ball Contraption —Steve Hassenplug

(...) That's a good idea, which I don't think has been suggested, yet. However, that sort of requires a module to have corner studs... :) This module mostly uses liftarms: (URL) it turns out, I suspect 90% of the modules will not require (...) (20 years ago, 10-Jan-05, to lugnet.robotics)

Re: The Great Ball Contraption —

Russell Nelson <nelson@crynwr.com> wrote on 01/10/2005 12:03:04 PM: (...) Or specify that the input bin must have a technic beam at the front edge of the input bin to accept technic pins: this is very similar to how the castle walls connect... Tim (...) (20 years ago, 11-Jan-05, to lugnet.robotics)

Re: The Great Ball Contraption —Russell Nelson

tmassey@obscorp.com writes: > Or specify that the input bin must have a technic beam at the front edge > of the input bin to accept technic pins: this is very similar to how the > castle walls connect... Excellent idea. What do you mean, though, by (...) (20 years ago, 11-Jan-05, to lugnet.robotics)

Re: The Great Ball Contraption —Steve Hassenplug

(...) I'm still a bit torn on this. There is NO interconnection type that will work with all the modules we already have (only 10 or 12) but not all need to be interconnected. The connection is only required in a few cases (where modules are moving (...) (20 years ago, 11-Jan-05, to lugnet.robotics)

Re: The Great Ball Contraption —

Russell Nelson <nelson@crynwr.com> wrote on 01/11/2005 04:25:15 PM: (...) edge (...) the (...) Yes, yes it would! :) Tim Massey (20 years ago, 11-Jan-05, to lugnet.robotics)

Re: The Great Ball Contraption —Rick Clark

(...) (snip) (...) I'm particularly interested in construction details of the hopper car and dumping mechanism. More photos, etc would be greatly appreciated. I've been trying to build a hopper that can be unloaded mechanically, without much success (...) (20 years ago, 12-Jan-05, to lugnet.robotics, lugnet.trains)

Re: The Great Ball Contraption —Roy Nelson

Greetings Steve Hassenplug, Brian Alano and others, What an incredible idea. I wish I was able to attend so I could participate. I wanted to let you know that I posted some updated pictures including a .avi video clip (10Mb) of my marble factory as (...) (20 years ago, 17-Jan-05, to lugnet.robotics)

Re: The Great Ball Contraption —Geoffrey Hyde

Would it be possible to get a closeup shot of the conveyor, and the linkarm assembly it feeds into with all those gears? What I'd really like to know is how you interleaved the linkarms (which look suspiciously like 3-arm rotor blade pieces) to me) (...) (20 years ago, 17-Jan-05, to lugnet.robotics)

Re: The Great Ball Contraption —Roy Nelson

(...) Done. (URL) What I'd really like to know is how you interleaved the linkarms (which look (...) On each axle I used four 3-long linkarms. The link arms are positioned in such a way that they never rub against eachother. I have made another (...) (20 years ago, 17-Jan-05, to lugnet.robotics)

Re: The Great Ball Contraption —Geoffrey Hyde

"Roy Nelson" <legoroy@telus.net> wrote in message news:IAH1Kr.7vn@lugnet.com... (...) marbles run through, I especially liked the mechanism you used to bring the marbles up from the large antenna dish they collected at onto the conveyor belt, while (...) (20 years ago, 18-Jan-05, to lugnet.robotics)

Re: The Great Ball Contraption 2.0 —Steve Hassenplug

(...) ... (...) But wait, there's more... First, a friend (another Bryan) came over with his module, and then the next day, we had a club meeting, where our whole LEGO club had modules. After running Bryan's for a bit, I considered adding a "Maximum (...) (20 years ago, 19-Jan-05, to lugnet.robotics, lugnet.technic, lugnet.trains, lugnet.events.brickfest) !

Re: The Great Ball Contraption 2.0 —Rick Clark

In lugnet.robotics, Steve Hassenplug wrote: (snip) (...) (snip) Nevermind the controls, how'd you build the hopper? ;-) I really like your solution, with the rotating arm that unloads it, creating an auto-reset for the hopper. I've been frustrated (...) (20 years ago, 21-Jan-05, to lugnet.robotics, lugnet.trains)

Re: The Great Ball Contraption 2.0 —Iain Hendry

Keep up the great work guys! :) Iain (20 years ago, 21-Jan-05, to lugnet.robotics)

Re: The Great Ball Contraption 2.0 —Steve Hassenplug

(...) Alright, alright... :) (...) I originally planned to have the "dump arm" activate when the train moved forward/back into the station. But, I found it took too much pressure to get it to dump. (the train had to be going fast) Not sure if my (...) (20 years ago, 21-Jan-05, to lugnet.trains)

Re: The Great Ball Contraption —Jordan Bradford

What's funny is the other day I was thinking of building a marble machine with LEGO. After reading about this contraption system, I got super-motivated and built myself a ball pump last night. I only spent a few hours on it, but I think I have it (...) (20 years ago, 20-Jan-05, to lugnet.robotics, FTX)

Re: The Great Ball Contraption —Brian Davis

(...) 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 (...) (20 years ago, 20-Jan-05, to lugnet.robotics, FTX)

Re: The Great Ball Contraption —Jordan Bradford

(...) 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 (...) (20 years ago, 21-Jan-05, to lugnet.robotics, FTX)

Re: The Great Ball Contraption —Steve Hassenplug

(...) 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 (20 years ago, 21-Jan-05, to lugnet.robotics)

Re: The Great Ball Contraption —Steve Lane

(...) It's exactly 2.5. 10 teeth on a gear rack, divided by 4. Steve (20 years ago, 21-Jan-05, to lugnet.robotics)

Re: The Great Ball Contraption —Jordan Bradford

(...) 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 (...) (20 years ago, 21-Jan-05, to lugnet.robotics, FTX)

Re: The Great Ball Contraption —Steve Hassenplug

(...) 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. (URL) close to what John did on his roller coaster: (URL) red module: (URL) a pair of axle joiners: (URL) with (...) (20 years ago, 21-Jan-05, to lugnet.robotics)

Re: The Great Ball Contraption —Ross Crawford

(...) I have just placed wheels regularly spaced along my chain to support it. (...) 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 (...) (20 years ago, 21-Jan-05, to lugnet.robotics, FTX)

Re: The Great Ball Contraption —Steve Hassenplug

(...) We look forward to seeing you there... (...) E-mail me your address. (...) I really like to build my stuff with a very clean look. That usually means hiding all the inner workings. That's why the stairs looked like this in my first build: (...) (20 years ago, 20-Jan-05, to lugnet.robotics)

Re: The Great Ball Contraption V3 —Steve Hassenplug

(...) In our latest gathering, Tom invited us to his house. Turns out, we have more ball contraptions than Tom has table space in his basement. So, we moved the tables, and set-up on the floor. Of course the next problem was that I couldn't fit the (...) (20 years ago, 1-Feb-05, to lugnet.robotics)

Re: The Great Ball Contraption V3 —Joseph Greene

In lugnet.robotics, Steve Hassenplug wrote: <SNIP> (...) That's a bummer.. (...) Very Nice.. (...) Hey Steve, how can I get in on one of these gatherings.. I have a mildly spectacular module I'm working on right now.. I'd love to bring it once I get (...) (20 years ago, 1-Feb-05, to lugnet.robotics)

Re: The Great Ball Contraption V3 —Steve Hassenplug

(...) Joe (and anyone else interested) This is currently a project of the Lafayette LEGO Robotics Club in Lafayette, Indiana. You're welcome to attend our meetings, which are held the 1st & 3rd Sunday of the month, from 2-4 at the West Lafayette (...) (20 years ago, 1-Feb-05, to lugnet.robotics)

Re: The Great Ball Contraption V3 - Balls —Steve Hassenplug

I just mailed out a bunch of balls to people that requested them. If I didn't send you an e-mail stating that I sent you balls, then I lost your request. Sorry. Please ask again. Steve (20 years ago, 3-Feb-05, to lugnet.robotics)

Re: The Great Ball Contraption V3 —Russell Nelson

Steve Hassenplug writes: > ho hum. another day, another Great Ball Contraption. Cool. I'd love to start a GBC activity here in Potsdam, but .... we need a reliable source of bulk balls. It's nice of you to mail them out to people, but we really need (...) (20 years ago, 2-Feb-05, to lugnet.robotics)

Re: The Great Ball Contraption V3 —Brian Davis

(...) Before Steve gave me some balls (oh, the straight lines...), I acquired enough to run a few modules of my own from various Bricklink purchases. You could do a GBC by simply mandating that everybody who wants to add to a GBC brings there own (...) (20 years ago, 2-Feb-05, to lugnet.robotics)

Re: The Great Ball Contraption V3 —Steve Hassenplug

(...) Well, I do have a very large suppily, and despite sending out hundreds of soccer balls, I've just scratched the surface. I have a whole stack of requests, just waiting to be boxed and shipped. I just need to get to the post office during work (...) (20 years ago, 2-Feb-05, to lugnet.robotics)

Re: The Great Ball Contraption —Christopher MacDougald

This is great. Someone mentioned a few things about how to connect modules. We used the new racer track. TexLUG - SA did this for a children's museum a little over a year ago. They put it on display for about two months in the front window. (It was (...) (20 years ago, 5-Apr-05, to lugnet.robotics)