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Knex 'Mouse Wheel' Ball Machine Lift

$Knex \$

A new and inovative lift, that uses a wheel, with internal scoops to scoop up the balls and drop them onto the upper path. It is inspire by a mouse spinning round on his wheel, hence the name. Instructions will come when I dismantle it, which I don't know when. Please Don't rate down, this has taken many arduous hours of fine tuning. Instruction nearly finished. Video: www.youtube.com/watch

Instructions are up : www.instructables.com/id/Knex-Mouse-Wheel-Ball-Machine-Lift-1/

34 comments

Oct 2, 2011. 6:36 AMspankreas says:

I've used this as a secondary ball lift half-way along a path in my [in-progress] ball machine. was a challenge working gears from my chain-lift motor across the bottom of the machine, and up a second tower to meet the gear box with this lift. thankfully it spun in the right direction when I was done with the gears!

Nov 8, 2011. 2:42 PM

KneXtreme says:

Wow! Your ball machine looks pretty impressive so far.

Oct 4, 2011. 2:34 PMTheFoofinator (author) says:

Wow, that looks great. I know some people have had problems loading more than 2 balls into it at a time, did you have any problems?

Oct 4, 2011. 9:01 PMspankreas says:

I can confirm that if more than 2 balls are loaded in the bottom, the weight of the third ball will push a second ball into the rotating wheel. I can't think of any easy solution to this, but fortunately in my case I've used this particular lift as part of a path, so I'll never really have more than one ball queued up at a time. Your design looks great though, and is really pleasing to look at.

Oct 5, 2011. 3:06 PMTheFoofinator (author) says:

Thanks. I had a thought of putting some sort of turnstile in, and a pin on the wheel would push the turnstile, and only let one ball in at a time.

May 19, 2010. 2:08 PMcoolknexcreations says:

make instructions please!

May 19, 2010. 2:15 PMTheFoofinator (author) says:

I am right now, up to step 3

May 19, 2010. 2:17 PMcoolknexcreations says:

okay, i will make it!! :)

May 19, 2010. 2:33 PMTheFoofinator (author) says:

Might finish today if quick , probables tomorrow

May 17, 2010. 8:11 AM

Tornado96 says:

I made something like this about a week ago!
It went almost the same height.
I'll show you a pic soon.

May 17, 2010. 8:19 AM

Tornado96 says:

If you post it should I still post my version? BTW I love the name!

May 17, 2010. 8:35 AMTheFoofinator (author) says:

Yeah sure, just call it something different, btw ask shadowman to put your lift on his lifts ible- he will

May 17, 2010. 10:02 AM

Tornado96 says:

it could be version 2 :-)

May 17, 2010. 10:14 AMTheFoofinator (author) says:

Too late already working on a version 2, perhaps 1.5?

May 18, 2010. 9:22 PMTheChemiker says:

Can't wait!

May 17, 2010. 4:42 PM

Tornado96 says:

I think I'll just forget it. I still go tons of other ideas.

May 17, 2010. 9:22 AM

Hiyadudez says:

Pretty good. 4.5*

However... If you have seen Shadowman39's wheel lift, it kicks this ones @ss. :-)

But still pretty good.

May 17, 2010. 9:28 AMTheFoofinator (author) says:

What wheel lift? He hasn't done one, but he has put this on his lifts ible, besides this is just a small lift, going any bigger will result in me being bankrupt of pieces and burnt out motors, besides I wouldn't want to waste money on 1000s of pieces when I'm 15, and rarely use knex, probably every 3 months.

May 17, 2010. 9:32 AMTheFoofinator (author) says:

never mind, seen it on catclysm. Mine is just a variation of the ball lift, and is different, so probably the performance is not as good, but I am already on that, I have thought of a way to improve performance, and make the tower only 1 blu rod thickness

May 17, 2010. 12:54 PM

Hiyadudez says:

If your thinking of the really small ferris-wheel type lift, then you're wrong.

You may have seen pictures, but he made a super-cool mega-awesome wheel lift capable of holding somewhat 1-10 balls at once, but its alot complicated than it sounds.

But i still love your whell lift :-)

May 17, 2010. 2:45 PM

Shadowman39 says:

It can probably hold around 20 actually. :-P

May 17, 2010. 2:30 PMTheFoofinator (author) says:

Sorry, I have never seen that wheel, anyways, another is on the way after the ible for this one is finished.

May 17, 2010. 8:54 AM

~KGB~ says:

epic! 5* impressive work!

May 17, 2010. 1:01 AMKairah says:

What are those red connectors for? (at the outside of the lifting wheel)
Looks great, 5 stars.

May 17, 2010. 8:38 AMTheFoofinator (author) says:

They hold the wheel together- I couldn't get a right length rod to use as spokes, and they have to be attached on the outside, because the ball needs to roll freely on the inside