aeh5040

Eurobricks Knights
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  1. Probably the Tower of Hanoi solver. Still not completely happy with it, as it's not really reliable enough to run at a show: https://youtu.be/MHBsQS34Tu8
  2. This looks extremely useful! Thanks for putting in all this work.
  3. I've now built this, and I regard it as one of the best sets ever. It's a pity there wasn't a bit more effort put into making it beautiful (especially the base), but the mechanics are outstanding, and it's a real pleasure to witness it IRL!
  4. To be more precise, to a good approximation the Earth's axis points in a fixed direction relative to the stars (towards Polaris, in fact). This is what the model does, which requires that this part does rotate relative to the main sun-earth arm. This is achieved through gearing. Arguably the nicest feature of the model.
  5. 8480. Incredible blend of form and function. Every part is there for a reason. Some of them for more than one reason. Also some nostalgia as it was my first complex post dark age set.
  6. I am far from a typical builder, but fwiw: Ideally I prefer to do things that have not been done before, so there is no actual mechanics to copy. Mechanics always comes first. If I can shape it into something elegant, that's a bonus. Whatever parts are needed (but in practice not much system). Dunno really - ideas from random sources, imagination, building on others ideas... Lots of trial and error. Start with the hardest bit. Lego has its own constraints. See above. Start with official sets. There is lots to learn from the designers!
  7. Thanks for the enthusiasm! Indeed I had to do some prying to adjust it. There is actually a better way, which is to use clutch gears, like in the later "Pangolin" Surprisingly, they do not seem to gradually slip over time. Of course, it would need a redesign to incorporate them into Synchropods. I've been meaning to do this but have not got around to it. I also have the key parts collected for a 33 pod mega version....
  8. Hopefully this will quiet down all the moaning! 😉 It looks quite useful. Even just for rigidly connecting two parallel liftarms it is quite handy, while the additional hole brings plenty of further possibilities.
  9. Yeah I agree. I like the look of many parts of it - the rings, the core structures etc. But the base is just a mess. I guess some of it is colour coding to help with the build - the unsecured 3L blue liftarm matches the exposed blue axle pin (which I think should be 1/2 a unit lower btw), and there is probably a red one on the other side. But it would be so easy to tidy these things up at the end. Still, let's not lose sight of the many positives. It's a very clever piece of engineering, and completely unexpected as a set. We can hope that it heralds a new era of interesting mechanisms.
  10. Wow! Brilliant! This is clearly it. I am quite surprised and impressed that they got it so accurate, and even more impressed with your powers of deduction. I had actually started to ponder the possibilities of 8t-36t, but I don't think I would ever have got it.
  11. Oh yes, well spotted! Although I wonder whether that is a 20t or 36t (or even a turntable again). It is looking very much as if all the gears are horizontal, so really the task is to connect the 20t that turns the big turntable with the central vertical axle, with the correct spacing and ratio ... I've kind of got obsessed with this!
  12. Cool - thanks for sharing. There are some tantalising clues in that last one. The teeth on the lower grey (16t?) gear appear more widely spaced than the black one above it, suggesting that we are looking at the former head-on while seeing the edge of the latter. Don't know whether that helps, but I still think there are probably gears not on the centre line of the handle. Is it possible that the black gear is another small turntable, not a 36t? Not that this would necessarily help with our difficulties! Clearly we need to track down the young lady in the photos and bribe her to spill the beans.
  13. Very impressive! Possibly taking the prize for [gears : other parts] ratio!
  14. Can't have too many orreries! That's very nice and neat. I like the exposed gearing. Of course strictly speaking you need to offset the sun slightly to account for the orbit of Jupiter 😉