Tube Claw Lift, a Knex Ball Machine Lift

Hello!

This is the second new lift featured in my knex ball machine Elysium.

The Tube Claw Lift is one of the most complicated lifts I have ever built. I had multiple problems while building this, the biggest one being the exit, but also things like the crank, the entrance, and the tube-axle connections didn't work from the first time. Surprisingly, this thing works! This version has never failed so far.

I started building this for my ball machine Revolution, with the idea of the lowest claw directly picking up the balls from the floor. At that time I had a lot of troubles with the lift, and after a while it even got too tall for Revolution. So I cancelled that idea, and it was replaced by the Floor Double Arm Lift (which did pick up the balls directly from the floor, that idea was something I really wanted to keep). But I never took the basic mechanism of the now called Tube Claw Lift apart, it just stood there till I retried it after Revolution. Then I got a half working version (the one in Elysium), and after taking Elysium down I did another retry to make the lift work good.

After 3 stages, this version is definitely the best one, so that's the reason why I post it now.

It's very piece consuming for it's height, so don't use it in your own ball machine if you want something quick, easy and piece-efficiently. I've built exactly what I had in mind, and apparently it needs quite some pieces to work properly. Feel free to try it out by yourself, maybe you even come up with something more piece-efficiently.

One disadvantage with this lift: it can only lift one ball at a time. I tested it with multiple balls (a gate wouldn't be required because the lowest claw only takes one ball at a time), but when there are 3 balls in the tubes, pieces in the motor section will most likely snap.

It's a very difficult thing to build, I really did my best and I hope you can follow the instructions. If you're going to build this lift, please read every image note, they are very useful! When you have any problems or questions, feel free to make a comment or send me a message.

Thanks for watching / building!

~Sandroknexmaster~

Step 1: Piece Count

If you want you can count the pieces before you start building.

Here is a list with all pieces included in this lift, named by their original colour:

RODS:

Green: 134

White: 145

Blue: 216

Yellow: 72

Red: 171

Total rods: 738

CONNECTORS:

Dark-grey: 110

Light-grey: 58

Orange: 131

Red: 47

Green: 17

Yellow: 120

White: 64

Purple: 84

Blue: 42

Total connectors: 673

OTHER:

Blue spacer: 52

Silver spacer: 74

Tan clip: 3

Y-clip: 111

Small blue gear: 1

Big yellow gear: 1

Motor: 1

Total other: 243

Grand Total: 1654

Step 2: Entrance

Let's begin with the entrance.

Step 3: Claws, Part 1

The first of 6 parts. This one is the easiest because you don't have to combine multiple parts yet.

Step 4: Claws, Part 2

Watch closely to the pictures and read all the image notes, especially in this step.

Step 5: Claws, Part 3

Third part of the claws. Again, pay close attention to the pictures.

Step 6: Claws, Part 4

This part is the side of the exit. It differs most from the other parts of the claws.

Step 7: Claws, Part 5

Again 2 sides, with some changes at the end.

Step 8: Claws, Part 6

This is the last claw step. This step shows you how to combine part 1,2,3 with part 4,5. After that we're going to attach the completed claw section on top of the entrance.

Step 9: Exit

After all the complex parts in the previous steps, it's time for something easier. This is the exit, the shortest step in this build.

Step 10: Tube-Axle Connections

These parts connect the tubes with the axle. It was quite difficult to find a way to do this, because there was not much space and the 2 tubes are close to eachother.