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 Any given page may be accurate, inaccurate, present only as an example, or badly out of date.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 — Classification channel

Classification channel (C4)

How-to guide

The lowest channel, where the part is imaged. The finned rotor and its cap.

Author Spencer

Contributors barthel, BrickCycleAlice, Danny, ReveryX and Daddy-O's Bricks - Bill

Parts needed

Printed parts

  • 1×
    The classification channel's rotor. Printed ash grey.
  • 1×
  • 1×

Bearings

  • 1×

Screws

  • 6× 12mm

Tools needed

  • Hex key, 2 mm

Build a channel core before you start. This page turns one core into the classification channel. It does not build the core.

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
A channel core, no rotor in it yet. Photo: BrickCycleAlice.

The classification channel is the last stage before a part drops into the chute, and the one the machine identifies the part on. It is the lowest of the four and sits flat on the top plate, with no support structure under it.

One per machine. The drive is the same core as the other three. The rotor and its cap are what make it the classification channel.

  • The finned rotor, not the faceted one. The fins carry a part smoothly across the stage, which is what the camera needs.
  • The Rotor cap goes on this channel only. It plugs the open bore through the middle of the finned rotor.
  • No output guide. A fin would sweep straight through where the guide sits. The two guides belong to C2 and C3.
  • The camera lamp hangs on later, at arranging C-channels, with the channel standing.

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

Step 1 Preparation

Output gear (130T): press the 6806-2RS bearing into it. No screw, no glue, no heat.

The 130-tooth output gear lying flat with a black-sealed 6806 bearing pressed into its six-spoke hub
The output gear with its bearing pressed home. Photo: BrickCycleAlice.

Step 2 Bolt the output gear to the rotor

The Output gear (130T) bolts to the open side of the Rotor (finned).

  1. Turn the rotor so its open side faces up.
  2. Put the gear on it and line up the six holes. If it does not sit flat, turn it over.
  3. Drive one M3 × 12 mm countersunk screw at the outer end of each of the gear's six spokes, until the head is flush in the countersink.

It does not matter which way round you turn the gear. The six holes are the same all the way round.

The grey 130-tooth output gear with a black-sealed 6806 bearing pressed into its centre, bolted onto a white rotor behind it, with a countersunk screw at the outer end of each of the six spokes
Output gear bolted to a rotor. The joint is the same on the finned rotor. Photo: BrickCycleAlice.

Step 3 Cap the rotor

Press the Rotor cap into the open hole at the top of the rotor, spigot first from above. Push it until its flange sits flat on the rotor. No screw.

Step 4 Drop the rotor into the core

Lower the rotor onto the raised hub in the middle of the NEMA bracket. The output gear meshes with the idler as it goes down.

Turn the rotor by hand. It should go all the way round without a tight spot.

Render of the classification channel from above: the finned rotor sitting down in the stator ring with its fins running out to the rim, the rotor cap seated as a round disc in the middle of it, and the gear train and bracket outside the ring
The finned rotor down in the core, capped. Rendered from the part geometry, not from a build.

The finished result

A channel core with the finned rotor capped and dropped in. It goes onto the machine first of the four, before the three above it, and its camera lamp hangs on there too: see arranging C-channels.

A finished classification channel on a wooden bench: the white finned rotor sitting down in the black stator ring with a small grey cap at its centre, the stepper motor at the left and the orange output gear showing at the gap in the ring
A finished classification channel, the capped rotor down in the core. Photo: ReveryX.

The photo shows a white rotor and a black stator. Grey is now the recommended colour for both.

Back to C-channels.