Roll Hexfinity Lift System BeginnerKit Motor Mount

Two Motor Options: This kit is for the motor that comes in the Maker's Beginner Kit - ZC002. I have another model for the Hexfinity Lift Motor for TT Motor (USB). If you are trying to decide which motor to buy, I recommend the TT Motor. It's a more powerful motor, it comes with all the gearing pre-assembled, and it is USB powered. The motor in the Maker's Beginner Kit has one advantage, though, it's quite a bit faster.

Hexfinity Beginner Kit Lift Motor – Endless Marble Motion

This is where Roll Hexfinity stops being a marble run, and starts becoming a marble machine. The Hexfinity Lift already lets you bring balls back up and create continuous layouts. This release fully automates it. Plug in a motor, drop it into your Hexfinity build, and suddenly your layouts become living kinetic sculptures — endlessly cycling balls through tunnels, bridges, spirals, merges, and lifts.

This changes everything. 

The Motor

This system is designed specifically for the affordable and easy-to-find motor from the Bambu Lab Maker's Beginner Kit. Unlike my other motorized Hexfinity Lift System model, for the TT Motor, this one requires a bit more work, but if you already have the Maker's Beginner Kit, you already have everything you need. You'll need to print and assemble the motor gear-box and battery-box from the beginner kit. Details below.

Comparison:

• Power: TT Motor plugs directly into USB-A power, Beginner Kit Motor uses 4 AAA batteries
• Price: Both are quite afforable
• Fit: The TT Motor fits nicely within one Hexfinity hex. The Beginner Kit gear-box is L-shaped and hangs out the side
• Speed: The Beginner Kit motor is almost twice as fast.
• Strength: The TT Motor is a bigger, stronger motor.
• Noise (Gearbox): The TT Motor's gearbox comes pre-assembled and is quite and smooth. My Makers-Kit 3d-printed gearbox is a little rattly and noisy. It works fine though.

If you are deciding which motor to order, I'd recommend the TT Motor. It's easier to assemble, USB power makes it easy to either run on battery or plugged in, and it's more powerful. However, as noted, if you already have the Beginner Kit, this one works great, too, and is quite a bit faster lifting the balls, which might be just what you want. You choose!

In This Release

This set is an add-on to the Roll Hexfinity Lift System. You'll need to print out either that set's Lift Starter Kit, Mini Motor Kit or some selection of it's pieces to use with this set. The Lift leaver activated, and this kit has everything you need to use the Bambu motor to activate that lever.

The motor repeatedly presses the Hexfinity Lift lever exactly like your finger would.  The result:

• fully automated lifts
• endlessly cycling marble paths
• hands-free operation

Because the lift itself remains modular: you can integrate this into almost any existing Roll Hexfinity set.

Included Parts

The motor mount system consists of six printed parts. 

• Main motor mount body 
• Lower drive cam-gear 
• Upper motor gear
• Axle
• Outer sheath
• Sheath cap

Speed

The main advantage of the MBK Motor is speed. It's much faster, even though it's a smaller motor:

Pre Assembly

Assembly of the Beginner Kit motor mount is almost identical to the TT motor mount. However, there is a pre-assembly step. Everything you need is available from Bambu Labs' Maker's Beginner Kit Page and your own 3D printer. To get you started:

Download the Assembly Instructions (the instructions include the 3MF print profiles you'll need. you do NOT need the “3D Model” unless you want the STL files). Find these 4 files in your download:

1. Print: Printed Parts of 030 Motor.3mf
2. Print: Printed Parts of AAA Battery Case.3mf
3. Follow Instructions: 030 DC Motor Assembly Guide .pdf
4. Follow Instructions: AAA Battery Case Assembly Guide.pdf

For the Motor, I do recommend you print out the 2nd plate which is an assembly tool. You'll only use it once, but assembly is nearly impossible without it.

After you assembled everything, turn it on and make sure the motor runs smoothly.

Assembly

Now that you've assembled the Maker's Beginner Kit motor's gearbox and motor and connect them together, you can proceed to printing and assembling the Roll Hexfinity Maker's Beginner Kit Motor Mount included in this release. The assembly is essentially identical to the assembly for my Roll Hexfinity TT Motor Mount, so I'm going to refer you over there.

Further Reading

To learn more about how to set up and use the Roll Hexfinity Lift System, please read the detailed descriptions of the first two releases:

1. Roll Hexfinity Ball Lift System
2. Roll Hexfinity Lift System TT Motor Mount

Trouble Shooting

For general troubles shooting of the Lift System, see the Roll Hexfinity Ball Lift System description. There is one thing you might run into with this kit:

• Motor Jams: You might find the motor jams, and if so, make sure the cover sheath is installed. Unlike the TT motor mount I originally designed, where the sheath is entirely aesthetic, for the Beginner Kit's motor, which is much faster, it serves a functional purpose. The lever bounces after each lift and the cam comes around so fast the lever and cam can collide mid-bounce. The cover sheath prevents the lever from bouncing too high ensuring smooth operation.