Knex Extra Ball Machine Elements

Hello i am MrMuggle, you've probably never seen me around this site because this is my first instructable. It is actually an add on darth trainmans instructable: the ultimate guide to ball machine elements or whatever it is called exactly. I could talk hours and hours but let's get started.

By the way what I show you here are not exact instructions, they are more like ideas you could use in your ball machine. But i don't mind if you copy them.

ps im sorry for my bad english, im from holland

here is a link to trainmans instructable, it might be handy to use them both:

https://www.instructables.com/id/The-Ultimate-Guide-to-Knex-Ball-Machine-Elements/

and a link to POWER TOWER, my latest ball machine
https://www.instructables.com/id/POWER-TOWER/

Step 1: Normal Pathing

in the following steps i will show different types of pathes.

this is the most used path, its not very special but it will do.

Step 2: Triangle Path

another path
if its not clear enough please ask a question

the big avantage about this path is that it is very strong and durable, u could make a long piece of it without support.

Step 3: Path DUH

this path is very similar to one in darth trainman paths except it uses less pieces and different pieces. turns are quite impossible tell me if you know a way. by the way it is pretty useless

Step 4: Crosties Path

this path does take a lot of crosties ( the yellow connectionpiece that connects tubing and flexirods in rollercoasters) but this path is very usefull if you gotta cross long distances with very little height left.

turns might be possible but i think it 'll cost a lot of pieces.

Step 5: King's Path

this path also costs a lot of pieces but it can make sharp turnes and it looks pretty cool i think (-:

Step 6: Skinny Path

uses few pieces
that thing on the side of the path ( i dont know how to call that in english) ensures that the ball doesn't fly off, u could make it on both sides

Step 7: Rattle Path

rattle path ( because of the sound you hear when the ball rolls over it.)

the ball has gotta keep his speed on this path otherwise it will stop.
In the second picture there is an alternative but i prefer the first one because it's less likely the ball will stop.

turns are possible but you've gotta use yellow rods instead of red rods, in that case you can connect the path to a classic spiral stair, which is shown in: the ultimate guide of ball machine elements. but if you do so, you could better use the path in the second picture.

Step 8: The Bowl

the bowl:

1: uses many pieces
2: works good when build correctly
3: turns possible
4: ball can reach high speed when you build a long one, in that case i would advice to build a thinner bowl or it costs many many pieces. and when you wanna reach high speed, you shouldn't build turns of course.

Step 9: Jungle Bridge

yet another different path,

it isn't really usefull but it looks funny, i would advice to use red rods instead of yellow, it works better and it looks better. except i didn't have enough because im building a rollercoaster that took em all.

Step 10: The Snail Shell

now that we're done with all those paths, here are some usefull (so far unpublished) elements

the snail shell ( its called that way because when you make this element bigger you've gotta shape it like a snail shell.):

this element is an example of an element with 2 balls needed.
when you dont make this element exactly correct, it wont work
this element works as explained in the picture, follow the correct order of the notes starting with number one.

Step 11: Well... the Uh Thing?

I have no idea how to call this, however,

everybody knows this but nobody posted it as an element, (although it is seen in some ball machines on instructables.). for people who dont know how it works, look in the picture.

Step 12: The Dumper

this element is only usefull in a ball machine with 5 balls or more, because it uses three. to keep your ball machine interesting you gotta have balls rolling all the time. no pun intended.(i wonder who would say such a thing.) by the way, in my opinion it isn't really a fantastic element, but it works allright and you might need it sometime so why not post it.

if you wanna know how to build this here is a link:

http://images.google.nl/imgres?imgurl=http://www.geocities.com/dan_morenus/knex/Together1.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.geocities.com/dan_morenus/knex/knex.html&usg=__7DR7epjXSeaetdocF1gjud9I-jY=&h=640&w=480&sz=71&hl=nl&start=4&sig2=V5ZKCHlBQnqwOgxIlZ9aug&um=1&tbnid=-2I2cax-6AiIZM:&tbnh=137&tbnw=103&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dknex%2Bbig%2Bball%2Bfactory%2Bdump%26hl%3Dnl%26rlz%3D1G1GGLQ_NLNL275%26sa%3DG%26um%3D1&ei=maaaSrHYCePEmQec4tzUBA

whew that is a lot of text.

Step 13: Double Drop

another example of a well known element i haven't seen around the site. there are many designs of this one but this design is mine. u could design your own of course.

its very simple, when the first ball drops in nothing happens, but when a second ball comes in they both drop down. it's very usefull if you wanna build a yin yan track.

Step 14: Halfpipe

this was knex lord 1's idea (at least, i think), it's my own design.
it uses no orange tubing connectors because i dont have them, if you do have them, i would advice to use those, it works better. well, at least it does when you actually put tubing on them.

Step 15: Rollerbal Lift

this isn't exactly an element, its actually a lift type, its a rollercoaster and a ball machine fused together.
the rollercoaster cart takes the ball up and releases by turning the track upside down while still going straight forward.( i dont know how to say that more charming ): and back at the lift both tracks fuse back together again.

of course, you gotta make the rollercoaster lift a lot bigger than this because otherwise it wont work, this is just an example.

here is a link for a video featuring a rollerball track:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n84QHHVpax8

and here is my own ball machine with a rollerball lift: POWER TOWER
https://www.instructables.com/id/POWER-TOWER/