
Lego Axle Sorter [video] - dgtlmoon
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fM9qGZCc4DY
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AceJohnny2
I highly recommend that user's full channel:

[https://www.youtube.com/user/akiyuky/videos](https://www.youtube.com/user/akiyuky/videos)

Akiyuky is apparently a process engineer in Japan, and posts impressive lego-
based contraptions.

A lot of of them are for GBC, or "Great Ball Contraption", a collaborative
project to make lego modules whose sole purpose is to move standard lego balls
from one point to another. You'll often see collections of these at lego
conventions. For example:

[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_cbpNV8ivME](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_cbpNV8ivME)

~~~
Kagerjay
Related, checkout matthias wendel who does woodwork and lego contraptions

Lego domino row building machine

[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=de4xdOVVROQ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=de4xdOVVROQ)

Also, for other mechanical motions I really like watching thang

[https://www.youtube.com/user/thang010146/videos](https://www.youtube.com/user/thang010146/videos)

~~~
bscphil
That Matthias video takes me back - one of the first channels I ever
subscribed to back in 2007 because of this cool wooden marble adding machine:
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GcDshWmhF4A](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GcDshWmhF4A)

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lqet
The sorting mechanism reminded me of the matrix sorter in the Linotype machine
[1], in my mind still one of the most impressive mechanical achievements of
all time.

Background: the Linotype allows you to type text on a keyboard, which is then
automatically cast into lead slugs which can be directly used for printing.
Oh, and it has optional automatic justification. It does all of this with 19th
century mechanics. Here is one in action [2]. The casting mold is made up of
small movable letters, called matrices [3], which have a 7 bit code at the top
(made up of teeth). The matrices are then transported along a special
distributor bar above the sorting bins until there are no corresponding teeth
to hold them, at which place they fall down into the correct bin [4]

[1]
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Linotype_machine](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Linotype_machine)

[2] [https://youtu.be/HEsAXZg-S04?t=24s](https://youtu.be/HEsAXZg-S04?t=24s)

[3]
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Linotype_machine#/media/File:L...](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Linotype_machine#/media/File:Linotype_matrix.png)

[4]
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Linotype_machine#/media/File:L...](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Linotype_machine#/media/File:Linotype_distributor.png)

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MisterTea
The impressive part is the entire system is mechanically timed and synced
without using any computer control. Also, that little motor is running the
entire machine. Still the best toy ever made in my opinion. Been into technic
sets since the 80's.

~~~
HappyRobot
This is one of my favorite videos of his.
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oYhAKxOlfXQ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oYhAKxOlfXQ)
All movement and actuation is powered by a single motor. The timing is
synchronized through gearing and linkages. I am in awe whenever I watch it.

~~~
Asooka
This is kind of like playing a Zachtronics game without using the sync
instruction (I think each one has a "wait for signal" concept), but in real
life!

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Animats
Nice. This is standard industrial feeder technology, done with Legos. Here's a
commercial bowl feeder, which uses many of the same tricks.[1] Here's a
discussion of the design principles.[2] You don't try to align the parts much;
you just push or drop the misaligned ones back into the feeder for another
try.

It's good that people are doing this. The US doesn't have enough production
engineers, and stuff like this is how you learn that kind of job.

[1]
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QsJzSFVAnhk](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QsJzSFVAnhk)
[2] [https://www.autodev.com/vibratory-feeder-bowl-orienting-
part...](https://www.autodev.com/vibratory-feeder-bowl-orienting-part-shapes)

~~~
HeyLaughingBoy
I spent many years writing motion control software for medical instruments and
I am absolutely in awe of talented mechanical engineers.

Something as seemingly simple as retrieving parts from a bin of bulk pieces,
singulating them so they're in a straight line and correctly spaced, making
sure they are all oriented in the same direction and then passing them off to
another moving sub-assembly all the while achieving a spec of "no more than
one jam every 5,000 pieces" and still maintaining sufficient throughput is
amazingly difficult. Especially doing it while avoiding all the other patented
solutions.

The subtleties of, say, fixing a problem by making a tab just 0.05" shorter
need a level of skill that's only obtained through decades of honing your
craft.

A nice discussion of doing something similar with zipper
pulls:[https://www.bunniestudios.com/blog/?p=4364](https://www.bunniestudios.com/blog/?p=4364)

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russellbeattie
I want a machine that could do this will all types of Lego. I've got a 25 lb
box of Lego pieces in the garage I'd love to get sorted into little plastic
bags.

~~~
JStanton617
Harder by orders of magnitude: [https://jacquesmattheij.com/sorting-two-
metric-tons-of-lego/](https://jacquesmattheij.com/sorting-two-metric-tons-of-
lego/)

~~~
phaedrus
Why I've been meaning to build a "Lego Refractory" instead: a leaf blower at
the bottom of a 10ft tall acrylic tube, with exit doors at various heights. It
would sort Legos by their terminal velocity in free-fall.

~~~
jacquesm
I've tried just that but could not get it to work. If you manage to get it to
work reliably this is likely the fastest mechanism you could make.

Some problems that you will run in to:

\- the timing will need to be _very_ precise

\- you will likely need sensors before the stations

\- Lego bricks come in all shapes and sizes and will respond unpredictably to
air currents

\- you will need a way to arrest momentum or they'll shoot right back out

Still, this is orders of magnitude faster than my contraption _if_ you can get
it work.

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supahfly_remix
Amazing. Is there a mechanical "program" (similar to a player piano roll) that
sequences all of the actions? I didn't see one.

~~~
amdavidson
There are drive shafts at the bottom of the device that drive mechanical
linkages.

~~~
MBCook
There is one obviously visible cam (yellow half-circle) that seems to control
the little wheel that shoots a single piece into slots that move over the
sorting bins.

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Mizza
This gives me very strong ASMR.

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chrisbennet
Its never too late to have a happy childhood.

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scrp
Add 2013?

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anonlastname
Isn't there a simpler way to do this by lining up the mixed axles parallel to
each other and then lifting the longest ones with a perpendicular bar?

I recall seeing this mechanism in WWII archive footage. A factory worker came
up with it and he was praised for improving efficiency.

~~~
bowmessage
Maybe less complex in terms of moving parts, but also sounds less space
efficient.

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Kagerjay
this is so ironic, I was googling around this morning trying to find out how
lego organizes and classifies different blocks. This was the first video that
came up

