Sorter V2 Documentation

⚠ Under heavy construction

As of July 11, 2026, Sorter V2 is not yet in a position to be built.

The documentation that exists is incomplete. Any given page may be accurate, inaccurate, present only as an example, or badly out of date. We do not yet recommend that anyone attempt to build Sorter.

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Feeder — Channel core

Channel core

How-to guide

The drive under every C-channel, from the stator down to the stepper.

Author Spencer

Contributors barthel, BrickCycleAlice, Christoph and Danny

Parts needed

Printed parts

  • 1×
  • 1×
  • 1×
  • 1×

Motors

  • 1×

Bearings

  • 1×

Screws

  • 5× 16mm
  • 2× 12mm
  • 1× 8mm

Tools needed

  • Hex key, 2 mm

The channel core is a C-channel with no rotor in it: the stator, the NEMA bracket under it, and the gear train the stepper drives.

The parts list above is one core's worth. Build four, three for the feeder and one for the classification channel. All four are the same. Which rotor goes in, and what hangs off it, is on the four channel pages.

Fastener icons match the parts list: the silhouette is the head shape, the colour is the thread size. M3 M4 M5 M6

  • Colours. The stator is ash grey. The idler and input gears follow the feeder colour, charcoal by default. The NEMA bracket is charcoal on C1 and ash grey on the other three.

Step 1 Preparation

Idler gear (24T): press the 608-2RS bearing into it. No screw, no glue, no heat.

The 24-tooth idler gear with a black-sealed 608 bearing pressed into its centre, seen from above
The idler gear with its 608 in. Photo: BrickCycleAlice.

Step 2 Fit the input gear to the motor shaft

One M3 × 8 mm countersunk screw clamps the Input gear (12T, screw) to the motor shaft. It goes in beside the bore, parallel to the shaft, not into the side of the gear.

  1. Turn the gear until the screw hole lines up with the flat on the motor shaft.
  2. Push the gear all the way onto the shaft.
  3. Tighten the screw down onto the flat. Its head drops into the counterbore in the toothed face.

Stop when the head is seated and the gear does not turn on the shaft.

The charcoal 12-tooth input gear pushed onto the shaft of a NEMA 17, seen from above. A driver bit is turning the clamping screw, which stands in a hole in the end face beside the bore with its thread still showing. The flat on the motor shaft is visible through the bore next to it
The screw goes in beside the bore, parallel to the shaft. The bright shape next to it is the flat on the shaft. Photo: Danny.
The same gear and motor with the clamping screw driven fully home, its head sitting down in the round counterbore in the toothed end face, and the gear seated against the front face of the motor
Tightened, head down in the counterbore, gear all the way on. Photo: Danny.

Step 3 Fit the idler gear and the stepper to the NEMA bracket

  1. Drop the Idler gear (24T) onto its post on the bracket, bearing facing up.
  2. Lower the NEMA 17 onto the bracket. The input gear meshes with the idler as it goes down.
  3. Drive 3 M3 × 16 mm countersunk screws through the bracket into the motor.

Three screws, not four: one corner of the motor face is left empty.

The three-armed grey NEMA bracket seen from above, with the 24-tooth idler gear sitting on its post with the 608 bearing uppermost, the stepper motor bolted to the outer end of the bracket, and the raised hub at the centre of the bracket
Idler on its post, bearing up, stepper bolted on beside it. Photo: BrickCycleAlice.
Close view of the grey NEMA bracket, two countersunk screws driven near the edge with further mounting holes beside them
Closer on the bracket, two screws home. Photo: BrickCycleAlice.

Step 4 Mount the bracket under the stator

The bracket goes on the underside of the stator, held by four screws in two lengths.

  1. Two M3 × 12 mm countersunk at the tips of the two narrow arms.
  2. Two M3 × 16 mm countersunk through the wide plate the stepper sits on. The bracket is thicker there, and a 12 mm barely bites.

Turn the gear train by hand before you go on. It should run without a tight spot.

The stator ring seen from underneath with the three-armed NEMA bracket fastened across it, each arm reaching the rim
The bracket on the underside of the stator, arms out to the rim. Photo: BrickCycleAlice.

The finished result

A stator with the bracket, gear train and stepper under it, and an empty hub in the middle waiting for a rotor. Build four.

A finished channel core from directly above: the stator ring open at one side, the three-armed NEMA bracket fastened across it with the raised hub at its centre, the gear train at the ring's edge and the stepper motor standing outside the wall with its lead, and no rotor in the hub
One finished core from the top, no rotor in it. The opening in the stator wall is the channel's exit. Photo: BrickCycleAlice.

Next steps

Finish each core as the channel it is going to be: