Isn't there a simpler way to do this by lining up the mixed axles parallel to each other and then lifting the longest ones with a perpendicular bar? I recall seeing this mechanism in WWII archive footage. A factory worker came up with it and he was praised for improving efficiency.
Lego Axle Sorter [video]
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Re: Lego Axle Sorter [video]
#22Re: Lego Axle Sorter [video]
#23I highly recommend that user's full channel: https://www.youtube.com/user/akiyuky/videos Akiyuky is apparently a process engineer in Japan, and posts impressive lego-based contraptions. A lot of of them are for GBC, or "Great Ball Contraption", a collaborative project to make lego modules whose sole purpose is to move standard lego balls from one point to another. You'll often see collections of these at lego convent…
Lego domino row building machine
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=de4xdOVVROQ
Also, for other mechanical motions I really like watching thang
Re: Lego Axle Sorter [video]
#24Earlier quoted context omitted.
Harder by orders of magnitude: https://jacquesmattheij.com/sorting-two-metric-tons-of-lego/
Why I've been meaning to build a "Lego Refractory" instead: a leaf blower at the bottom of a 10ft tall acrylic tube, with exit doors at various heights. It would sort Legos by their terminal velocity in free-fall.
And film every single test run and failure. I would subscribe to this Patreon!!!
Re: Lego Axle Sorter [video]
#25Background: the Linotype allows you to type text on a keyboard, which is then automatically cast into lead slugs which can be directly used for printing. Oh, and it has optional automatic justification. It does all of this with 19th century mechanics. Here is one in action [2]. The casting mold is made up of small movable letters, called matrices [3], which have a 7 bit code at the top (made up of teeth). The matrices are then transported along a special distributor bar above the sorting bins until there are no corresponding teeth to hold them, at which place they fall down into the correct bin [4]
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Linotype_machine
[2] https://youtu.be/HEsAXZg-S04?t=24s
[3] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Linotype_machine#/media/File:L...
[4] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Linotype_machine#/media/File:L...
Re: Lego Axle Sorter [video]
#26Earlier quoted context omitted.
Harder by orders of magnitude: https://jacquesmattheij.com/sorting-two-metric-tons-of-lego/
Why I've been meaning to build a "Lego Refractory" instead: a leaf blower at the bottom of a 10ft tall acrylic tube, with exit doors at various heights. It would sort Legos by their terminal velocity in free-fall.
Some problems that you will run in to:
- the timing will need to be very precise
- you will likely need sensors before the stations
- Lego bricks come in all shapes and sizes and will respond unpredictably to air currents
- you will need a way to arrest momentum or they'll shoot right back out
Still, this is orders of magnitude faster than my contraption if you can get it work.
Re: Lego Axle Sorter [video]
#27It's good that people are doing this. The US doesn't have enough production engineers, and stuff like this is how you learn that kind of job.
[1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QsJzSFVAnhk [2] https://www.autodev.com/vibratory-feeder-bowl-orienting-part...
Re: Lego Axle Sorter [video]
#28I highly recommend that user's full channel: https://www.youtube.com/user/akiyuky/videos Akiyuky is apparently a process engineer in Japan, and posts impressive lego-based contraptions. A lot of of them are for GBC, or "Great Ball Contraption", a collaborative project to make lego modules whose sole purpose is to move standard lego balls from one point to another. You'll often see collections of these at lego convent…
Related, checkout matthias wendel who does woodwork and lego contraptions Lego domino row building machine https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=de4xdOVVROQ Also, for other mechanical motions I really like watching thang https://www.youtube.com/user/thang010146/videos
Re: Lego Axle Sorter [video]
#29I want a machine that could do this will all types of Lego. I've got a 25 lb box of Lego pieces in the garage I'd love to get sorted into little plastic bags.
Harder by orders of magnitude: https://jacquesmattheij.com/sorting-two-metric-tons-of-lego/
Formerly, we had been sorted by color into large bins. Now, we are working on sorting into sub bins by type. We are also separately sub-sorting dark gray and black by type and some by size while other colors can be combined without loss of speed in locating a part.
It's hard to explain, but our taxonomy is not as consistent as I would like it to be and it's not clear whether it will help overall or not. This is experimental.
Re: Lego Axle Sorter [video]
#30this is so ironic, I was googling around this morning trying to find out how lego organizes and classifies different blocks. This was the first video that came up