Tutorials for RGM Parts/Mechanisms

[Boks]

This is a collection of tutorials on how to build parts/mechanisms for Rube Goldberg Machines.

Post your tutorials in this thread.

ellwilll has made a few good quality tutorials here, which I'll include in this thread. Yours should use a similar layout with step by step instructions. Don't forget to check spelling etc.
Be creative and original

Post in this format:
[Part Name] - By [Author]
[Description]
Tags: [Tag],[Tag],[Tag] (Key words relevant to the part, delimited by commas)
Difficulty: [Easy, Medium, Hard]
[Link]
[Small screenshot] (optional)
[Other notes] (Eg, Possible Extensions etc)

If you use these parts/mechanisms in your RGM, be nice and give the author of that part a mention in your Rube

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Doublehinge - By ellwilll
A fun something to release a new element.
Tags:
Difficulty: Easy
http://incredibots.com/?robotID=ellwilll4954026c90ee48.07262686

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Castle Trapdoor - By ellwilll
Reverses the flow of a rgb quite well.
Tags:
Difficulty: Easy
http://incredibots.com/?robotID=ellwilll4954e6e79488d7.10016862

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Level Downer - By ellwilll
A nice tool for getting a ball from high to low. unorthodox.
Tags:
Difficulty: Easy
http://incredibots.com/?robotID=ellwilll49553fcdac5eb8.51315728

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Triangular Diverter - By LSN
A way to make every other ball go somewhere else. Kinda looks like a shark.
Tags: unmotorized, divert
Difficulty: Easy
http://incredibots.com/?robotID=LSN4960f9324e1bf9.26000913
http://i43.tinypic.com/28l3knl.png
Possible Extensions:
--Allow multiple balls to be diverted to another track at once.
--Be able to divert to more than one track (would require more positions than just an "open" and a "closed" position; see the tutorial for what that means).
--Make it a double-headed diverter so balls can enter from both sides.

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Multiball Seesaw - By LSN
A seesaw-like apparatus that lets you put more balls into your rube. It also changes the direction of flow quite efficiently.
Tags: multiball release, seesaw
Difficulty: Easy
http://incredibots.com/?robotID=LSN49638e4cb55f36.33212726
http://i39.tinypic.com/2a0axs4.png

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Rotation Lift - By pokeybit
Linear ball lift using rotating circles, useful for raising balls to a higher position in a small amount of space.
Tags: Lift, Balls, Rotation
Difficulty: Medium
http://incredibots.com/?robotID=pokeybit4963931b9cd133.88962982
http://i41.tinypic.com/2moass6.png

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Multi-Ball Dominoe Release - By RobinDB
A simple method for releasing several balls at once.
Tags: Dominoe, Multi-ball release
Difficulty: Easy
http://incredibots.com/?robotID=RobinDB496405a0ab47e4.90873749
This is a convenient way to release multiple balls in a RGM.

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Pop-Up Bridge - By RobinDB
A mechanism for crossing a hole. Or something.
Tags: Bridge
Difficulty: Medium
http://incredibots.com/?robotID=RobinDB496551bc276501.20802051

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Flat-Flip Platform - By SUPACRAAZZEE
Good for bringing delicate or touchy bots to another level.
Difficulty: Easy
http://incredibots.com/?robotID=SUPACRAAZZEE4968f68d39b341.14255844

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The Huck-A-Pult - By SUPACRAAZZEE
A good catapult that is easy to make.
Tags: Catapult
Difficulty: Easy
http://incredibots.com/?robotID=SUPACRAAZZEE49694222b8bff0.17841148

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The Cliffhanger - By SUPACRAAZZEE
A good trapdoor.
Tags: Trapdoor
Difficulty: Medium
http://incredibots.com/?robotID=SUPACRAAZZEE49696f83effdc2.49588591

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T-Switch (a.k.a. Flip-Flop) - By LSN
Another switch-like mechanism that works nicely with multiple balls. More of a Marble Madness machine part than a RGM one.
Tags: switch, diverter, multi-ball, rocking motion
Difficulty: Easy
http://incredibots.com/?robotID=LSN49699d60de0044.98370175
http://i40.tinypic.com/b83i9h.png

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Catch Switch - By LSN
Yet another switch, but more interesting. It holds a ball until another ball triggers the switch, but then that second ball is caught until a third ball triggers it, etc.
Tags: switch, diverter, multi-ball, rocking motion, trigger
Difficulty: Easy
http://incredibots.com/?robotID=LSN496ac6dec3e6c1.28583517
http://i44.tinypic.com/w86qab.png

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Flingy arm - By ellwilll
Launch a new ball down a new track.
Tags: fling, catapult, introduce balls
Difficulty: Easy
http://incredibots.com/?robotID=ellwilll496a08e51af7d5.95872496

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The Flipper Flap - By Cheeseyx
The flipper flap bounces parts, to move your parts farther. It works best with thrusters, as they can provide better bounce.
Tags: Flipper, bounce, thrusters
Difficulty: Easy
http://incredibots.com/?robotID=Cheeseyx496a44491c3be4.12665875
Read the instructions first, then watch the minirube, which uses the flipper flap to bounce the ball around pinball style. Since the minirube uses thrusters to achieve better bounce, it is uneditable.

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Suspension Bridge - By ellwilll
Set another ball off on a higher level
Tags: high, low, motor
Difficulty: Easy
http://incredibots.com/?robotID=ellwilll4973385372e887.54946964
Other notes: The rotating arm can set off a lot of other mechanisms during its spin.

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[LSN]

Couple of things before my first tutorials:

How difficult is difficult? Like how much more effort on a 4 is needed for it to be a 5?

Should we have a prop bot that has some shapes we could use for standards? For example, it would standardize sizes for an average-sized circle, rectangle (stick), triangles, etc. I always load up a prop I have that contains just a single circle of an average size, then I build my props to fit that circle size. It could enable our props to be more compatible with each other, which can be both good and bad. It probably won't be needed when the measuring and units features are added, though.

Would it be useful to have tags in the tutorial description? That way a person browsing this thread can do a ctrl + f search on the page if they're looking for something of a specific flavor (like "unmotorized", "divert", "triangle", "pivot", "multiball release", etc.).


On the the tutorials:

Triangular Diverter
A way to make every other ball go somewhere else. Kinda looks like a shark.
Difficulty: 3/10
http://incredibots.com/?robotID=LSN4960f9324e1bf9.26000913
By LSN


http://i42.tinypic.com/x243fd.png

Possible extensions:
--Allow multiple balls to be diverted to another track at once.
--Be able to divert to more than one track (would require more positions than just an "open" and a "closed" position; see the tutorial for what that means).
--Make it a double-headed diverter so balls can enter from both sides.

[Boks]

Great work LSN, exactly the kind of thing I was looking for. I’m sure many people will find it useful or are at least inspired by it. Good suggestions also.

As for difficulty, I guess you should initially just go by your own opinion on how difficult it is to create that part. If the suggested difficulty is way out, people could recommend a more suitable difficulty level for it. It will probably be easier to gauge the difficulty when there are more parts to compare it to.

Original post updated.
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Parachute Jump
Destruction Site

[jayther]

Agreed, more tutorials would definitely give a better difficulty rating on other stuff. But, if I were to make a tutorial, I would determine the difficulty by the amount of time it takes, the accuracy of placement required, and the accuracy of the shapes themselves (size and rotation). The more time it takes and the more aches you have on your hand/fingers trying to position the shapes exactly, the higher the difficulty. x]
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--~>J'Brian/jayther
PS Penguins!!!

[skyliny]

I also made one, a very simple one

Incredicart - By Skyliny
A simple car with a lot of driving options thanks to the non-colliding middle.
Tags: car
Difficulty: 1/10
http://incredibots.com/?robotID=skyliny496328f54a3d84.26896633

Possible extensions: you could motorize the car if you want

[DAN07]

Hammer - By DAN07
Description: If you got a ball in a rube goldberg, and its going to slow, you may want to use this one.
Tags: Hammer,Ball,lock
Difficulty: 1/10
Link: http://incredibots.com/?robotID=DAN0749634a3ad208e1.16638810

NOTE! I know many can improve it much better, But i made the basic design.
_________________
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[LSN]

[pokeybit]

Rotation Lift - by pokeybit
Linear ball lift using rotating circles, useful for raising balls to a higher position in a small amount of space.
Tags: Lift, Balls, Rotation
Difficulty: 6/10
http://incredibots.com/?robotID=pokeybit4963931b9cd133.88962982

http://www.grow-room.org/pokeybit/pics/rotlift.png

Users were requesting this, so I thought I would add it to this very useful thread.

[funky3000]

TRAPDOOR
Difficulty: 5/10
tags: seesaw, accuracy required, multiball release

http://incredibots.com/?robotID=funky30004963cf5c8a36c9.54345518

this can be useful to weigh things down.
_________________

[xdarkcodex]

this topic is going to be awesome in a month or so.

[RobinDB]

Multi-Ball Dominoe Release - by RobinDB
A simple method for releasing several balls at once.
Tags: Dominoe, Multi-ball release
Difficulty: 2/10

http://incredibots.com/?robotID=RobinDB496405a0ab47e4.90873749

This is a convenient way to release multiple balls in a RGM, and I have used it in two of my own Rubes.

[skyliny]

[Boks]

[DAN07]

[skyliny]

about the incredicart: I think some very basic things could be nice for the beginners