Elliottc

Do you need an engineering degree to design models?

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Hey! I'm new to this site, I have a tonne of lego, mainly technic, I'm 21 years old and I'm a huge AFOL. I've always wanted to design something cool, I'm thinking of building a RC snow mobile, But! how does one go about designing something like that? I really want to get into building awesome things with my lego and I have spent a lot of money on it.

Also what is your personal process of replicating a real world object?

Cheers!

Edited by Elliottc

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I am quite certain that there are many great models out there built by guys who don't have any type of degree in engineering. :wink:

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how does one go about designing something like that?

in the same manner by which one arrives at carnegie hall, i would expect. build a thing, then re-think it, then build it again. this will develop your chops.

i'm a blue-collar schlub with no college education whatsoever. i never let that stop me.

KEvron

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The elegance of Lego is that you can tinker, take things apart, and rebuild as often as you wish. R/C cars is a well established hobby that I'm sure you could find the knowledge you need just by reading books on the subject and asking advice from experienced builders of Lego and people into R/C hobbies. All you would need is the very basics of any kind of engineering knowledge not the entire knowledge needed for a degree. IIRC, there are even books on Lego machines people have built that probably have all kinds of mechanisms and ideas that would be useful to you.

Good luck, and have fun. That's what it's all about. :classic:

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Hey! I'm new to this site, I have a tonne of lego, mainly technic, I'm 21 years old and I'm a huge AFOL. I've always wanted to design something cool, I'm thinking of building a RC snow mobile, But! how does one go about designing something like that? I really want to get into building awesome things with my lego and I have spent a lot of money on it.

I do have an engineering degree, but I still suck at designing models. Most of the great designers you'll find on this forum have no special technical background.

If you want to do an R/C snowmobile, start by downloading the instructions for Han's snow groomer. It is a masterpiece and has many related features. Build it and you will know everything you need to.

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I've been doing this since long before I had an engineering degree. I mean, I was about 10 when I got my first "expert builder" set (the early small race car, so less Technic than a modern Desert Racers set). It comes down to time on task - sit down, build something. Think about what you did wrong and how to fix it. Rebuild. Test. Redesign. Repeat...

If you can out your computer next to your build area that will help, but I think you really want to be building in CAD as well as Lego. Get the various LegoCAD programs, especially SR3D, and get used to modelling in those too. That way you can build with the "infinite" Legoin CAD and the real Lego. So you can store model designs in CAD rather than buying duplicates of everything.

One of the key things for me is having both the last version and the next version in front of me. CAD helps with that.

Sometimes it's a grind - I've spent probably 60 hours on the drive system for my current MOC and it still sucks. The problem is gearing down and transmitting power, without losing too much to friction - I want a slow movement, lots of torque, times six, and the friction is killing me. So I will keep redesigning it.

Edited by Moz

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I think having a degree would most certainly help you think outside of the box and more than likely provide you with an advanced outlook on how things should work, but I don't feel it is a necessity for Technic building... I have met quite a few Mechanical Engineers at various shows that were completely overwhelmed by just how a simple drivetrain worked... At Kidsfest in Pittsburgh there was a fellow probably in his 50's who told me that he was an Engineer for the airlines and we must have talked for about an hour about the Technic line of Lego.. When he left the show, he had 3 bags full of Technic sets from the Lego store that they had set up there...

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All you need for a degree: the ability to spread your legos out over a kitchen table. then simply start building! i am a 16 year old high schooler, so if i can build something, i am sure you can to! the best advice i can give you is to just build, don't worry if it sucks or doesn't look good; all that will come with time.

tim

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I'm a Civil Engineer who has had only fair success at making MOCs, but engineers can "think spatially". Paul Boratko has a quote on his Crowkillers website that says Lego Technic "Studless building is like playing chess, you must always plan 5 moves ahead." Some people think that Technic is "too hard", but with practice it becomes easier to understand. Engineers can grasp the complexities of Technic construction, but so can graphic designers, artists, musicians, and many others.

To model a snowmobile, you may consider finding a good picture of it and then reading Sariel's "Scaling Tutorial for Vehicles". LegoTechnicModel05 has a nice Snow Groomer with building instructions.

Edited by DLuders

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I don't think Technic builders need an engineering degree. I don't have one; my degree is in Geographic Information Systems. For the time being, I'm a contract vehicle driver on a military installation.

Gear ratio basics is the only thing I can think of that people need to know when designing a Technic moc. The rest just comes with experience.

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I've been doing this since long before I had an engineering degree. I mean, I was about 10 when I got my first "expert builder" set (the early small race car, so less Technic than a modern Desert Racers set). It comes down to time on task - sit down, build something. Think about what you did wrong and how to fix it. Rebuild. Test. Redesign. Repeat...

If you can out your computer next to your build area that will help, but I think you really want to be building in CAD as well as Lego. Get the various LegoCAD programs, especially SR3D, and get used to modelling in those too. That way you can build with the "infinite" Legoin CAD and the real Lego. So you can store model designs in CAD rather than buying duplicates of everything.

One of the key things for me is having both the last version and the next version in front of me. CAD helps with that.

Sometimes it's a grind - I've spent probably 60 hours on the drive system for my current MOC and it still sucks. The problem is gearing down and transmitting power, without losing too much to friction - I want a slow movement, lots of torque, times six, and the friction is killing me. So I will keep redesigning it.

I am lucky in that i can use all the lego cad programs to degrees but i dont boast about it or do i ? ,but i would not say it is best to build in cad first rather than in the real,i am also 21 with no degree but i don't think that matters to much.

All you need for a degree: the ability to spread your legos out over a kitchen table. then simply start building! i am a 16 year old high schooler, so if i can build something, i am sure you can to! the best advice i can give you is to just build, don't worry if it sucks or doesn't look good; all that will come with time.

tim

Oh i thought you were a 20 something. :laugh:

Edited by Alasdair Ryan

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I have an engineering degree - and I have hard enough time putting together LEGO Technic sets...

As the others have chimed in - it's not about education - it's about practice. Though those with Engineering degrees may have some additional 'practice' with some similar skills that would be beneficial/applicable to Technicing...

Though there is a bit of a relationship between LEGO and Engineers ... which I always wondered: does LEGOing help make engineers/ or do engineers just naturally love lego? ;)

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I have an engineering degree. I only started Technics a couple of years ago. I still do a lot of trial and errors. I think having an engineering background may help with problem solving. There are different types of engineering degrees -- mechanical, electrical, civil, chemical, computer, etc. Calculating the power loss due to friction in a Technics drive train is not my idea of fun... :classic:

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Also what is your personal process of replicating a real world object?

Just keep trying until satisfied. I your expectations are high, it wont be anytime soon. But that is the best part, for me.

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I'm a mechanical engineer (machine constructor) and when I had been building my first big MOC project (showed here) I was constantly thinking that it would almost be easier to design the whole thing in real than using LEGO. Obviously it wouldn't be easier, but using LEGO (or other modeling systems) ties your hands in many ways. That means to solve problems, you have to think outside of the box. There are stuff that doesn't exist in the LEGO world, and that is a common thing in engineering (tube-axle for example).

To deal with these, you have to thinker the shit out of LEGO, and this (according to my very limited experience with LEGO) renders my degree almost useless. (and renders LEGO a very exciting hobby)

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I'm a mechanical engineer (machine constructor) and when I had been building my first big MOC project (showed here) I was constantly thinking that it would almost be easier to design the whole thing in real than using LEGO. Obviously it wouldn't be easier, but using LEGO (or other modeling systems) ties your hands in many ways. That means to solve problems, you have to think outside of the box. There are stuff that doesn't exist in the LEGO world, and that is a common thing in engineering (tube-axle for example).

To deal with these, you have to thinker the shit out of LEGO, and this (according to my very limited experience with LEGO) renders my degree almost useless. (and renders LEGO a very exciting hobby)

Agree 100%. Granted, I'm coming out of a 12+ year dark age...but I'm a Dr. of engineering (:blush:) and to me, building with lego is more like doing a crossword puzzle. You need to come up with lots of synonyms (albeit of a mechanical nature) until you find one that fits your specific constraints.

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Nope. Check this out:

I think being mechanically inclined helps too. He repaired his first tractor engine at age 8?

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"The Lego Kid" lives about 40 miles from Portland, Oregon USA (according to this article). Maybe he'll join this Eurobricks Technic Forum. Perhaps he'll go to the nearby BricksCascade event in Portland (June 2-3, 2012) to display his MOCs! :thumbup:

warren.jpgP1050290.JPG

Edited by DLuders

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where did you get the pictures David?

I just did a Google search using his name (from the video) together with "Lego". I left a message on his family farm's Facebook page, so perhaps he'll see this Technic forum soon.

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I think that it is the other way around :-) I think that making a Lego models when you are a kid turns you towards engineering. I am an architect and industrial designer, and I think that Lego has a lot to do with it. I wanted to be an astronaut, but when I was 10 I realised that I want to spend a rest of my life building stuff, destroy them and then rebuild them, and then destroy them an improve them, and then destroy them again and make them even better, and then destroy them and do something totaly different. An engineering degree only lets you do all that in a larger scale :-) I just love to watch old buildings getting torn down, especially when you get to "sit in a front row" and then you get to build something newer and better on the sam place. In Lego I love to solve different problems, make a large scale differentials, make prototype truck chasis, or new type of suspensions, that don't exist in real life, because you are very limited with Lego, you can't replicate the real modern technology, but you can get pretty darn close. And what is most important, it makes your brain working overtime, and believe that is most important. I think that I will never complete a single lego design, because I am never satisfied with my models, there is allways a better way to do something, so as soon as I am finished with one design, I tear it down and do something else, I am to old to be playing with complete models, My girl and my friends would think that I am nuts :-) :thumbup:

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I think that I will never complete a single lego design, because I am never satisfied with my models, there is allways a better way to do something

Typical architect :laugh:

Edited by Lipko

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