GBC 22 - Friends don't let friends build ball pumps...

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I’ve seen a lot of beginning GBC builders struggling with ball pumps, so in this video, I take a look at the strengths and weaknesses of the ball pump design, and how to address issues with one of the most common designs out there. My thanks to the following who graciously allowed me to use their footage: @BeyondtheBrick, @PinwheelGBC, @BrickEngineeringCom, @mickthebricker, and @MMMGBC

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18 сен 2024

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Комментарии : 14

@jtooker 11 месяцев назад

Great review of the Brickworld Ball pump. I put a roof on mine as well and it caused me issues - it would jam about once every 8 hours. It took me forever to figure out it was the roof. I put another inverted slope on top of the existing one and a roof on that.

@lego48 11 месяцев назад

Thank you for confirming my findings! :-) Adding another inverted slope piece is certainly a workable solution for the jamming issue; but I'm willing to bet that replacing the brick underneath the inverted slope with a brick with studs on it, should provide enough shift in the ball column to keep it from jamming. (And keeps the chimney more compact.)

@ALittleSlowest 10 месяцев назад

Nice work. The module was motivated by one the GBC founders telling me [all] ball pumps jamb. I suppose I should admit that I failed twice to make a non-jambing ball pump before realizing this design. As you said, when built as designed, it's extremely reliable. There are subtle anti-jam features that aren't apparent until you change them and run for hours under realistic and variable GBC conditions. For example, the loose bar over the entrance to the piston is there because occasionally the module before the pump will get excited and shoot a ball directly into the entrance, notwithstanding that there might be a ball in there already. The flex in the bar gives one of the two balls an exit path, while otherwise constraining a slightly misfed ball from falling out. I never had a problem with the agitator, which actually surprised me. I suspect pressing it flush to the floor is what saved me. But your agitator is just as good. I agree fully with the chimney issue noted around 6:50. It also bothered me the balls would often exit by twos instead of singly, but since it never caused a jamb, and because in GBC randomness is generally your friend, I left it alone. Very good solution, though. A large number of the part choices were defined by what was available to order in quantity directly from TLG at the time while minimizing cost of the Brickworld kit. Your suggestions are all good--they were just made with different priorities. You showcase a couple asymmetric designs. It's worth pointing out that asymmetry is a useful design principle, especially when funneling balls. A funnel with one straight side will jamb significantly less often than a symmetric funnel. If I were to design this again, I would start with an asymmetric feed. Keep up the good work!

@lego48 10 месяцев назад

Thank you so much - I'll admit, given the popularity of this design, it was a little intimidating to try to comment on it; but I finally decided I had to because I saw too many beginning GBCers struggling with the design after modifying it. I tried to be fair though, recognizing the difference between what you were trying to do and what I want to use this design for. >>For example, the loose bar over the entrance to the piston I'm so glad you mentioned this - I actually ended up having to use my Dx version ball pump this past weekend, and that bar got knocked out of position (up) and suddenly balls were jamming and flying out of the module! Fortunately, I had just read your comments so I recognized immediately that the bar was out of place and therefore not doing what it was supposed to!

@lego48 10 месяцев назад

>>>>It also bothered me the balls would often exit by twos instead of singly I've observed this too at times, and this is common to all ball pumps. It's a function of the height of the chimney output compared to the top of the ball stack. If the chimney output is near the top or bottom of the last ball in the stack, then balls will sometimes get hung up on the exit, until the next ball is pumped - and then both go at once. The solution to this is to add an additional row of plates (or two) to the chimney before the output.

@lego48 10 месяцев назад

>> It's worth pointing out that asymmetry is a useful design principle, especially when funneling balls Yeah, most of my in-baskets are done that way; however, when you make it asymmetric the rotation direction of the agitator starts to matter - it will be more effective in one direction than the other. It's very intriguing to consider an asymmetric version of your ball pump design; on the plus side, it could lead to a more efficient layout all the way around; however, it would likely require giving up the bi-directionality that the current design has. Since I mostly want to use this for emergency replacement of other modules at shows, the ability to do a quick pull-and-replace, and simply attach this module to an existing power supply without having to worry about direction... this is very handy!

@ALittleSlowest 10 месяцев назад

@@lego48 i have to eat some crow. I did a show this weekend and wouldn't you know it, the agitator arm worked loose!

@bami2 11 месяцев назад

Nice overview, lots of very useful information. Thank you for sharing!

@lego48 11 месяцев назад

Thanks for watching!

@_BlueAxolotl_ 9 месяцев назад

Personally- I found that you can make a really good "solid state" "latch" by replacing the trapdoors with a single rubber piece extending out by a half stud. Haven't reliability tested it-but it works well with what i've checked so far.

@lego48 9 месяцев назад

That's an intriguing approach, and that would certainly simplify the design a bit. I would be concerned though about (A) the rubber leaving marks on the balls (or rubbing the paint off of some of the older soccer balls), and (B) the rubber wearing down and eventually losing functionality. I've been experimenting with other ways of implementing traps using a curved slope piece on a spring-loaded piston. It works, but it complicates the build.

@_BlueAxolotl_ 9 месяцев назад

@@lego48 Going to try to run the pump for like 8-10 hrs... I got a couple of the old balls from last year's brickworld so we'll see if the paint is removed. I'll let you know what happens.