The Five Tilted Rings LEGO GBC Looks Like a Fun Amusement Park Ride

Constructed entirely of LEGO Technic pieces by builder Akiyuki, this is ‘Five Titled Rings,’ an incredibly impressive LEGO Great Ball Contraption (GBC) consisting of five tilted rings that continuously pass balls up from one ring to the next higher one in the tower. My mind is blown. Granted it doesn’t take much, but still.

In the video, Akiyuki slowly builds the two bottom rings of the tower and adds balls to demonstrate the movement of the rings and the mechanics of their ball-passing, then finishing constructing the rest of the tower. The amount of ingenuity it must have taken to build something so impressive – I can’t even imagine. For reference, I still struggle with the LEGO sets sold in the little plastic bags in the checkout lanes at Target.

Nicely done, Akiyuki. If only passing basketballs was so soothing to watch in the actual game of basketball, then maybe I could take a nice relaxing nap while watching a game instead of yelling at the television and foaming at the mouth. My doctor says sports could kill me. Watching them, not playing them, just to be clear.

[via The Awesomer]

This Epic K’Nex Ball Machine Is a True Mechanical Marvel

Some people build simple stuff using K’Nex, but others like to build huge contraptions like this. This is The Citadel, a huge K’nex ball moving machine built by YouTuber Shadowman. It took him about 3 years to build it.

knex_ball_machine_1zoom in

The machine features more than dozens of unique sections, lifts, and mechanisms that separate balls into 17 different paths. It also has little K’nex men working all over it, giving it a construction-type feel with lots of catwalks and stairs. It has three total motors, one of them powers all three floor lifts.

The actual time to build it was about one year, but with breaks it added up to about three. It is an amazing feat of engineering and it is a lot of fun to watch in action. Check out more pics over on Flickr and the build process here.

[via Geekologie]

Clockwork is a Giant K’nex Ball Machine

Look at this crazy K’Nex machine. It took 8 months to create, has over 450 feet of track and it includes over 40,000 K’Nex pieces, 8 motors, 5 lifts, 21 distinct paths, and a computer-controlled crane. That’s insane.
giant knex contraption
This crazy contraption is called “Clockwork,” a giant K’Nex ball machine created by YouTube user austron. This is his fifth major ball machine and their largest, most complex K’Nex structure.

Check the video. It’s a wild ride that takes a full 5 minutes! It’s insane to me that people create this stuff. I just wish I had the talent to make a massive machine like this. I don’t know about you, but I could watch it do it’s thing all day long.

[via Geekosystem]