guide to most commonly used knex ball machine lifts

i have seen many a ball machine lift at this site so i thought i'd make a guide to them all cause there were very many of them.

Step 1: Knex stair lift

picture courtesy of shadowman39 this lift was featured in the wipeout ball machine

Comments

[Mr. Muggle]

These are by far not all of them, I'm busy making a guide that has 13 lifts

[Shadowman39]

I'm also making one. :-P

[Mr. Muggle]

S*** why does everyone have the same ideas as I have, how many lifts does your instructable have

[Shadowman39]

It has about 15.

[GeekBeam]

lol

[Mr. Muggle]

S*** that's even more than my guide, does yours have any lifts nobody knows about?

[Shadowman39]

Yeah, and there will be more when Cataclysm is finished. I'm planning 2-3 new lifts for that.

[Mr. Muggle]

Ok, I won't finish my own instructable, It's not even that far yet

[Shadowman39]

I actually started making/planning it around when I built Wipe Out. It has all of my lifts, plus I need to ask other people's permission to post their lifts.

[GeekBeam]

just comment on the missing ones then ill add them if i can find em.

[Mr. Muggle]

It's not bad at all though for a first instructable, Sorry I was so harsch, I was just kinda angry because I'm busy making my own instructable

[Mr. Muggle]

No, I'm still making my own instructable, I'm sorry but I don't want you to copy anything

[GeekBeam]

im gonna try to make a few more lifts if i can remember them all

[Mr. Muggle]

please don't I'll be done with my instructable within a few weeks

[GeekBeam]

I'll wait for you to finish you're ball lift guide before posting themost completeball mchine guide

[GeekBeam]

ok i wont but im making an ultimate guide to ball machine parts(inluding lifts)

[Mr. Muggle]

thanks

[GeekBeam]

in the f.a.q.

[GeekBeam]

ah sorry i didn't mean to steal you're thunder although i did mean to help others in their ball machine endeavors

[areis1]

i cant see the picture that well :(

[GeekBeam]

I was running a bit short on time...and right now I am a bit constrained as to what i can do on a computer...

[Goochmaster]

My one just falls off?
any help with that?

(By the way.. i use the chain that i got from the Speedster rollercoaster set.. is that diffrent to original chains?)

[GeekBeam]

you need to check the tension on it if it isn't tight enough then remove a link if you cant then add an extra gear some where the position depends on how much tensioning you need and i don't know if your'e chain is different i need to check it out can you send me a link i'm on vaca so i won't be able to come up with a solution if you ask me to get one on the spot

[Goochmaster]

No,
The Chain Itself Is Fine, It Sits Perfectly On The Gears,
Im On about The Grey Bit You Use To Hold The Bit Of Knex Onto The Chain.. That Slides Off It..


Heres The Link For The Coaster Im On about

http://global.knex.com/uk/age-7+/speed-coaster.php

[k-n-e-x(leaved ibls)]

your chain is too small you need chain from screamin serpent coaster or shark run or storm mountain or big ball factory or eBay

[aleceatsfood]

yeeesss!!!! I have the screamin serpent!!!! except I sold it to my neighbor....... time to buy it back!!!

[Cristiano Ronaldo]

I have the screamin serpent too!!!!!!!!

[k-n-e-x(leaved ibls)]

??

[aleceatsfood]

whats not to get.. I've never made a ball machine cuz i sold my screamin serpent roller coaster to my neighbor and so I don't have any chains or gears so now I'm guna get ut back to make a ball machine.....

[k-n-e-x(leaved ibls)]

nice!

[GeekBeam]

actually, all he needs is to go to the next step in my instructable, it's got the details on a mini chain lift

[k-n-e-x(leaved ibls)]

oh okay

[zchan1120]

make sure it is hooked on all the way. Sometimes it may seem to be attached, but it really is just very loosely holding on, which is why it would fall off.

[GeekBeam]

yer probly using mini chain then all u need to do is use mini knex pieces for it to stay on im still working the idea of a mini knex lift in my head so for now dont worry about it use mini knex

[GeekBeam]

what is the specific name to be sure i searched it on google & nothing came up do that or get me a link to the site you got it off of


r
p.s.im not going to check back often so dont expect to hear from me in about a week

[GeekBeam]

it might be mini chain youre using if it is from the latest batch of knex roller coasters if it isn't i don't know youre not giving me enough information & what are you speaking of as original? i can't tell i need a link to the site cuz knex dusnt support that model anymore

[zchan1120]

I have a mini chain lift, but only three mini gears.  at the top, I used two mini gears,

and at the bottom i used two big gears placed together with a blue spacer in between, facing the same direction.

rymndgeekyguy is correct.

You need to add eithr mor gears sticking out along the backside or a rod with spacers on it.

also, if this doesn't work and you cannot take of one chain link, then you can try to replace one of the chain links with one of those clippe thingys shown here.

hope this helped!! (even though it is a liiiiiiiiitle(that ws sarcasm) late. 

[GeekBeam]

the part that he is tlkaing about is the 45 degree grey piece that hookes onto the regular chain just fine. he tried that on his mini chain/and the setup he did didn't work, so i told him to use mini knex pieces instead of regular sized ones.

p.s.m heres a pic if you can see it.

[zchan1120]

yes, that is correct

[zchan1120]

sorry.

picture here

[zchan1120]

sorry


could not get a picture

[albydesign]

Great lift! I like it because it's simple and uses less rods! 4* =D

[smool]

is the inverter lift manual? cause i built it and it has got no motor

[zchan1120]

There are instructions for how to build it with a motor somewhere on Knex.com

Also, I forget who, but someone on instructables has a link to a youtube video of the lift which has a link to the instructions on knex.com

I'll try to find the link again

[GeekBeam]

if you can make it motorized then send some pics to me but other than that yes it is manuel

[smool]

that would be sick but i think u would need some computer programming cause not everything is moving at once unless u got everything in sinc...anyway, i might try it but at the mo i am a little short on peices

[GeekBeam]

nah i found someone who did it but you need the link that i dont have sorry ill put up the link where i got the pic from so you can build it further

[GeekBeam]

there ya go

[GeekBeam]

if you need more details you just need a lever to move each group of arms up & down,ill show when i get time (a lot of my time is taken up so it'll take a really long time to do this sorry for inconveniencing you

[zchan1120]

There are instructions for how to build it with a motor somewhere on Knex.com

Also, I forget who, but someone on instructables has a link to a youtube video of the lift which has a link to the instructions on knex.com

I'll try to find the link again

[GeekBeam]

thx for the help zchan(oh btw is it alright if i call you Z for the time being, i always give a nickname to people i meet anew, or i use out of simplicity)

[zchan1120]

fine with me. I love nicknames!! :)

[zchan1120]

Yes!! Thank you so much!!! I did not know how to build one with mini chain because the chain kept bending and the ball kept falling off. I ran out of big chain because I had built a seven and a half foot tall chain lift with the big chain, but I have about 10 feet of mini chain ( which makes about a 5 foot chain lift)

[GeekBeam]

yeah i had the same problem for a while, but since my grandparents kept getting me knex roller coasters (the ones that have mini knex chain as a standard for the lift, that's when an angel came down from the heavens in the form of a brilliant idea
                                                  'the mini chain lift'

[zchan1120]

Thanks. I figured out why my version was not working.

I had tested it without actually holding the chain tight, so the ball carrier kept bending with the added weight of the ball and the ball kept falling off.

I built the mini chain lift, about 5 feet tall, using all of my mini chain links but one (I only have one of the ini rollercoaster knex sets ):   )

It works perfectly!!

Thank you so much!!!!

[GeekBeam]

anytime i try my best to help everyone.

[GeekBeam]

oh OK I'll take that lift down it is a different version than the armliftthe balls enter on the side not the front of the lift i got it from wipeout

[~KGB~]

meh...