Knex Ball Machine Lift

I was fiddling around a while ago on a small ball machine, and decided to try to make a alternate way of bringing the balls to the top of the machine in a way other than a chain lift. Well, this is what I came up with. It is a bit primitive, but I like it nonetheless. It is fun to watch. Also, it uses few pieces (granted more black y connectors than I would have liked), so it is easy on the people with few pieces.

Remember that this is just a concept, and you should make it the way you want. You can stack them on top of each other to make them go higher, make the wheels(s) larger, and mix them up the way you want.

Enjoy!

This is the piece list. Go get them!

Rods
Green: 52
White: 36
Blue: 49
Yellow: 13
Red: 67
Grey: 11

Connectors
Dark Grey: 11
Light Grey: 10
Red: 16
Green: 14
Yellow: 28
White: 12
Purple: 86
Blue: 25
Orange: 13

Other
Grey Spacer: 28
Blue Spacer: 29
Standard Power Pack: 1
Balls: As many as you want
Y Connectors: 17
Red Gear: 1
Blue Gear (the really small one): 1
Tan Clip: 7

Time to get building!

This is one of the sides of the main body. Nice and easy.

1: The hunk of knex you are about to make
2: Make this flat thing first
3: Then make this other piece. It is not the same as the other one
4: A close up of the end
5: Put the two together to get this piece
6: A view of the side. Connect all the blue rods
7: What you have just made

That was boring. Lets move on.

This is the second part of the main bit. It is a tadbit harder, because you have to put the motor in this side. I know you can do it. Good luck!

1: The part you are about to make
2: Start with this bit
3: Make these two pieces. MAke sure you are making the right 3d connections on the connectors
4: Put them together. Easy
5: This is the housing for the motor. The make it from the following 6 pictures
6: ---
7: ---
8: ---
9: ---
10: ---
11: ---
12: ---
13: Put the apparatus you just made into the frame
14: Finished base #2. Yay!

This is the part that feeds the balls onto the the lift. A little harder, still easy though.

1: The dispenser
2: Start with these two pieces
3: A close up of the one on the left so you can see it better
4: Make sure it looks like this
5: Put those two pieces together to get this. Put it aside for a moment
6: Make this track piece
7: A close up of the front: remember both greens
8: Close up of the back: Remember the grey connectors
9: Put the track on the other piece you made like so
10: Make sure the white rods go through the holes
11: Place the greens on the side of the blue rod shown
12: Clip the y connector onto the yellow rod
13: Finished product

Your getting there... Keep it up!

This is the part that takes the ball from the arms on the wheel. Its a bit harder, but you can do it, I just know it. :-)

1: The thingy you are about to build
2: Start with this thing. Make sure to get the right amount of spacers
3: A close up of those spacers
4: A close up of the end
5: Make this little guy. remember the y connectors
6: A nice close up of that
7: Make these things next. Remember the spacers on here, too
8: Put them together
9: Put that weird little thing on now
10: A close up of the attachment
11:A close up of that. The spacers should be right against the red and purple connectors
12: Now place the track on top
13: Attach the y connector one spacer from the end
14: Attach the track to the y connectors on the green
15: What it should look like from above
16: Finished product. Whoopeee!

This is the business part of the lift. It does the lifting.

1: The wheel
2: Start by making a "Claw"
3: That claw thing upside down
4: Another view of that. Those are y connectors on the oranges
5: Make three more
6: Make this part. Easy
7: Make these for spokes
8: Make this hub. Make sure to only put one grey cap on per rod
9: What one end should look like
10: What the other end should look like. Once again, no more than one grey cap per blue rod
11: Another view
12: Put the spokes on like so
13: What it should look like
14: Break that piece you had before so you can place it around the hub
15: Put it back together one it is around
16: Cross-snap the grey rods onto the white connectors

Finished the wheel.

I find assembling you knex items to be the funnest step. Time to watch your lift take shape!

1: All the pieces you should have
2: Start by putting the wheel over the axle on the base #2
3: Then put a tan clip on the grey rod and push it into the white connector
4: Then put spacers on as shown
5: Put base #1 on top
6: Make the grey rod go through the white connector on base #1
7: Put a blue spacer on the end and cap it off with a tan clip
8: Now that it can stand upright, make it do so
9: Put the ball dispenser on as shown
10: Just so you can see that connection
11: Put the ball receiver on as shown
12: Connect those yellow rods!
13: And the grey ones
14: Assembled Ball lift :-)

This is just a final step on how to use it, though its pretty self explanatory.

1: Get however many balls you want to use
2: Put them on the dispensers track
3: Push the black knob on the motor to the right
4: Watch it go!

Thanks for building! I hope you get many wonderful ideas with this lift. Let me know of you use it!

Any questions or comments are welcome.

Thanks!

I_am_Canadian