Hey, i'm working on a ball machine. It currently has one path and uses the mill lift i created. (Database: Mill Lift)

I made a video featuring the first path i made, though the path might alter as i make more paths.

There are still a few glitches i need to fix (like the zig-zag thing, jams the most so far)

Own elements:
- mill lift
- wheel slide
- alternate 2-rails path

eny comments?

edit: phase 2


though, this one is temporarely as the video itself doesn't realy work so well (size, watermark etc)

Finally:

the building has ended, except for some minor glitches i might still find, the machine is complete.


gallery: http://www.knexforum.com/members/flo...-ball-machine/

Ehm the video doesn't seem to work for me but I saw it on youtube. I think that the lift is brilliant! That wheel slide looks funny to

What's the alternate 2rail path?

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If I use the "youtube" thing to insert the frame, it doesn't work. Now i entered the url and it linked the youtube film 0_o

enyhow, I'll take some close up picktures and put them in the album.


Edit: http://www.knexforum.com/members/flo...-ball-machine/

sorry for dubbelposting

as i'm working on the ball machine, i had to make a switch that works forwards and backwards instead of sideways. Now, the best part is, it operates at the chain where the ball is dropped.

http://www.knexforum.com/members/flo...new-switch.jpg
(also see the phase 2 video at the top)

more picktures in the album

It looks sweet, I love the bouncing ball slide

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I just finished the phase 2 video.. but WMM messed it up and the bottom half is green...

I wanted to try it on my laptop but the WMM there won't open the file so I got to remake the whole video...

^That's why I use AVS video editor, WMM always messes up for me, too.

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My largest ball machine to date is Cataclysm,
using 28,538 pieces.

is it free / trial or you need to buy it?

You download it for free, and you can work with it without paying. Paying is optional (and highly recommended). It has many more effects/transitions and more than WMM does.

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My largest ball machine to date is Cataclysm,
using 28,538 pieces.

aww, the fee version leaves a watermark..

think i'll remake it on the laptop's WMM tomorrow

edit:

i temporarely posted the watermarked video on youtube, i'll replace it when i remade the video in WMM

Lol that arm in the first path you showed looks really flimsy (BUT it works!). I like the path separator thing in the second path.

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you mean where the balls get tossed left/right the whole time till they reach the second wheel hill?
That's the part where most balls jump out XD. Had to build a lot of fences to keep them on the track

I like all the wheels you used for the paths, lol. I don't think I have that many wheels.

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My largest ball machine to date is Cataclysm,
using 28,538 pieces.

Yep that thing with the fences ^^
Will you make more paths?

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as i stated (about) in the video's description:

there might be one more phase video before the final version is being showed.
there is at least one more chain lift (which has no paths yet)

wether or not the next video is final depends on how fast i can finish it.

but if i don't finish it soon, the construction will realy get in my way. I used to take it apart for cleaning, but that is no longer possible.

hey, sorry for another doublepost

but i've been spending some time on the balltower now and i got to another obstacle: space

I used to stand in the centre of the ball tower to construct things, but there i made this corcsrew glide on coaster track and i can't seem to fit eny fun thing to end with it in the tight space that's left.

making a spiral thing is hard caus of the structure i want to build it on also is supportive so it either gets realy big in the outer directions or i loose the inner track for the support beams. And also, one side of the track is still long but the other isn't short enough to finish it there (and i don't want to start cutting in it)

at the other side, i made this stair like thing with a slide, which all works fine, but i still need to construct an end to it..

i've been thinking of making these latest paths go all the way down to the floor and make a small chain lift to put it at the start of the mill lift.

enyone got eny ideas or inspiration?

Actually, I wouldn't do more than one lift mechanism unless you can power them both with one motor. Usually, the fewer motors you need to power a ball machine, the better off you are.

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well, i got 2 12V motors (put them in a power cable plug thing that has a button) and a whole bunch of battery powered ones.
Though, i'm going to change the battery one i'm using for the normal chain lift caus it has gotten hard to reach it. I got one with a long cable so I'll put that one at some place I can reach more easilly.

I just finished 2 of the 3 paths i still wanted to build. Though, balls keep popping out here and there, but i fixed a lot of glitches already.

edit:

I'm halfway the last path (of 6) and i also solved a few more glitches, so balls should pop out a lot less now XD

edit 2:

It works!!
now i need to fix the biggest glitches, let the machine start running!

Images:







more picktures at the gallery (see link in first post)

Looking good and this thing is huge!

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it occupies about half my room (at the available ground surface)

when you see youtube movies about ball machines or coasters, it's mostly hard to estimate it's size. I think I've been wrong on a lot of things when i imagine their seize.

i'll try to measure it and count the pieces (or estimate as good as possible)

oh, and i think i found a name: cyclo
(caus there are a lot of circular, round stuff; wheels, the mill lift, the second slide, etc)

Yeah, yeah, another dubbelpost. Enyway, here's the vid:

Awesome!! I really like the gray moving path at the end.

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That was sweet as candy!

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They were a pain to make them work. I had first build them seperate from the tower as an idea i wanted to try. It worked perfectly. Then i constructed it at the tower and the ball no longer did what it was supposed to do.
Had to shift weights the whole time, tried different methods etc.

I ended up removing the small slide on the first and constructed an extra path between the 2 moving paths.