White Board Magnetic Marble Lift

thingiverse

This thing is for a powered "screw" lift or auger that works in conjunction with my White Board Marble Track, which can be found under its own separate listing. I decided to split these two things into different listings because this project involves several complex pieces and separating them will make it easier to understand the individual components required for either one. If you want to see the separate track pieces, visit https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:4239477. As of 4/27/2020, I will be spending the next few days adding documentation, pictures, and STL files to this project. The powered lift consists of three distinct parts: the motor drive that I built entirely out of Lego pieces, the printed outer case and screw lifts, and the printed Lego-style plate used to mount the motor drive to the whiteboard with magnets. I won't delve deeply into the details of the motor drive because there are several ways to achieve this using different Lego parts. The goal is to create a drive system that turns the lift screw at about one revolution per second. To accomplish this, I utilize the Lego 71427-002 9V motor with a total gear reduction of 9:1 (two sets of 24-tooth and 8-tooth gears) powered by a 9V battery pack. I have pictures documenting my approach, but the essential aspect is to end up with the standard Lego axle shaft protruding from one end to engage the lift screw. Study the Base Case carefully to locate the three cross holes that fit the Lego axle pieces, which help position the Base Case and prevent it from twisting on the drive motor assembly. The most critical dimension is that the center of the drive shaft should be 21.6mm away from the whiteboard. This distance corresponds to one and two-thirds regular Lego piece thickness (thin pieces are a third as thick as standard pieces) plus the 5.6mm between the center of a side hole and the bottom of a standard 9.6mm-thick piece. The motor drive base piece is printed to match my drive motor, which may require some creativity on your part. The printed case and short screw pieces can be printed without support, but I used an Ender 3 printer with no issues. However, the 160mm screw pieces will necessitate supports to maintain their structure during printing, so it's advisable to print them on a raft. During my prints, a few of these pieces broke loose from the bed. To assemble and align the cases, use the Lego axle shafts featuring a "+" pattern. The same applies to joining the screws together; refer to the alignment and joining holes for clarification. There are ample magnet attachment points available, but I only needed half of them to secure the entire assembly on my whiteboard using magnets. Your results may vary based on your whiteboard's material and the type of magnets you use, so I've included numerous magnet cutouts. Materials: - Marbles: 14mm in diameter (available at https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07WP8JZSK/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o03_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1) - Magnets: 15mm x 2 mm (available at https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07G48647D/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o05_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1)