Japanese 3D Printed Ball Lifter sort of

[MrGneiss]

Here is a 3D printed ball lifter from Japan, but it doesn't look to be able to lift balls all the way to the top!! $299 BIN or Make Offer with free shipping!!

s-l1600.jpgs-l1600.jpgs-l1600.jpg

https://www.ebay.com/itm/28445160480...4AAOSwQcphQIeT

This is a product made by a 3D printer to circulate a non-circulating table. The material used is ABS and PLA.


The total height of the main unit is 100mm.


For installation, it is necessary to adjust the height as shown in the photo. Please prepare the materials for height adjustment by the winning bidder.


If you have an actual machine where you had to carry the balls to the receiving tray by hand, please consider this product.
This product can be installed on actual machines where the manufacturer's ball lifter cannot be installed.


Since it is palm-sized and lightweight, please fix it in place so that it does not move during installation.


The power supply is AC100V, so the gears will turn when the adapter is plugged into the outlet. (The switch is not installed.)

The number of balls to be transported is manufactured so that it can return 160 balls/minute (at 100% transport), which is more than the legal quantity (100 balls/minute) of the actual machine. (Tested with actual machine installed)


As shown in the photo for reference, it can be installed with or without modification of the actual machine. The hose is about 1m long, so please cut it to the required length and install it. (It can be easily cut with scissors.) However, since the transport height is limited to 40 cm, it cannot supply the upper plate of the actual machine. Therefore, if you are considering supplying the upper plate, please do not purchase this product because it is impossible in terms of the number of hoses and transport height. (It will break).

If you have any questions, please feel free to contact us by asking questions and we will do our best to answer them.

Seller: beyond.the.sun

[Peteybob]

I've seen this before on YJA which is interesting but it is set to only lift about 15.5 inches. Thing is that you still need to fill the reward hopper. Especially for the newer machines that go dark after a bit with an empty hopper. I have a few machines in which this happens. Would be okay with a Lumina frame though.

[daverob]

The restriction in lift height is likely to be down to the hose used in this design. There have been similar 3D printed designs that have been plenty strong enough, and this design is using a very powerful motor (with over 50kg.cm torque), and I have managed a full height lifter with a much smaller motor (3kg.cm torque!).

I suspect the hose is too large a diameter and is definitely too flexible. The reasoning is that unless the hose/tube is almost exactly the same diameter as the balls, each ball will be slightly offset from the centre line of the tube, and so the point at which they touch will also not be in the centre of the ball. This results in some of the force of the 'push' from the ball below and the force from the weight of the balls above, pushing the ball towards the side of the tube and causing friction.

If the tube/hose is flexible, then this sideways push can cause distortion of the walls of the tube, and the balls 'dig in' and the friction effect increases significantly.

So it's always best to use rigid tube, sized as close as possible to the 11mm diameter of the balls for a ball lifter. You can use more flexible tubes and hoses for the final few inches of lift to allow you to direct balls to the top hopper, as there is less force acting on these balls (as they don't have to carry the weight of all the balls lined up in the tube above them).

[rockston]

I noticed that hose as well Dave, much too large! I was curious as to how high
the Rockston Side Loader would lift after seeing this so I rigged up a 10 foot
length of 1/2" pex.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tt7ODoLRYrQ

[rockston]

Despite the fact that this machine has no means for auto shutoff, another important consideration is making these side gear designs safe for the user. As Dave has mentioned, this gear motor is plenty powerful enough to cause serious injury to a finger so including some kind of a guard to prevent fingers from slipping into the pinch point is a must. I don't see one on that device however I have recently implemented one on mine after I almost scrapped the entire project worried about how dangerous this could potentially be. The solution was simple: employing a guard that doubles as a support that now makes it impossible for an adult to accidentally get their fingers in harms way. You still need to keep loaders and plenty of other things away from children without adult supervision of course. Sorry I am not trying to highjack this thread, I just think these are important things to consider about that particular loader and loaders in general.