I need something which will dislodge the 2x3 and 2x4 bricks from the treads
found in Technic set 8257 - I need a means to pop them off without the use
of excessive or damaging force.
The primary use of this hopper is so that I can rapidly and easily sort and
find various parts from my LEGO kits without having to handle them too much.
I also want to build a mechanism for sorting out bricks by certain specific
dimensions and this conveyor will eventually be feeding bricks into it.
Pics of the mechanism that I've so far managed to construct can be found on
brickshelf, when the folder becomes available for public viewing - I am
going to motorize it once I get this grip problem figured out, and add extra
sets of treads so that more than one brick type could be sorted at one time.
Individual descriptions of each pic were not supplied as they are
self-explanatory. Pic 2 is particularly interesting, as I first thought
there had been something sticky on the treads, but it seems from closer
inspection that it's just the friction and the quality with which LEGO make
the treads. The treads have a surprisingly firm grip, as turning the
driving axle by hand (a 16 tooth gear hidden in the model under the closed
end and inserted into one of the tread hubs) required a fair bit of force to
dislodge the 2x3 and 2x4 bricks from the tread.
I had thought of using the Technic Link Tread
(http://www.peeron.com/inv/parts/3873) but due to the difficulty and expense
of finding large quantities - and the fact that they don't have very good
grip - I have decided to use the rubber treads instead.
(...) I'm missing something here: why not just let them fall off the end of the mechanism as the tread goes around the sprocket? (...) I built something similar for moving soccer balls, and discovered that it's not a great idea to try to put the (...) (22 years ago, 21-Sep-02, to lugnet.build, lugnet.technic)
