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Did you know one of the architects of the Falkirk Wheel (Tony Gee) originally made the gearing mechanism out of LEGO? [1] The Falkirk Wheel is a "boat elevator" in Scotland. It was opened on May 24th, 2002 by Queen Elizabeth II. [2]

This is just a bunch of random facts. Let's get down to my build:

P1020900.JPG

This is it. The specs:

  • 2 PF Battery Boxes
  • 2 PF Switches
  • 4 PF M-Motors
  • 2 PF IR Receivers
  • 6 short turntables
  • A bunch of panels (but not enough in the same color default_cry4.gif)
  • A bunch of (mainly) 24t gears
  • And a bunch of other parts

There are more pictures in my Picasa folder here:

https://picasaweb.google.com/118373039699891060648/LEGOFalkirkWheel?authuser=0&feat=directlink

First Video:

Second Video:

https://vimeo.com/37868205

Thanks for taking a look at it!

Joey "jojoguy10"

[1]: Falkirk Wheel PDF file

[2]: Falkirk Wheel Wikipedia Page

Edited by jojoguy10

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you are doing a cracking job! can't wait to see it finished :D I live just around 40 minutes from the real thing!

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you are doing a cracking job! can't wait to see it finished :D I live just around 40 minutes from the real thing!

Thanks! I know it's not much to look at, but I AM done :-). I'm hoping that I'll win with creativity more than the actual build, but we'll see :-)

jojoguy10

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Looks awesome, and very original! maybe you could fit a few of Alissar's boats on it.

tim

HAHA! Maybe :)

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I been on the Falkirk wheel my self,what a great attraction.

Cool! I, sadly, have never been on it (or even in Scotland for that matter default_tong.gif ) default_sceptic.gif

Edited by jojoguy10

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Looks awesome, and very original! maybe you could fit a few of Alissar's boats on it.

tim

Who's boats? :laugh:

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I would love to have a go at building the wheel myself,i said to my dad i would,but i would use droid wheels.

x784.1067198462.jpg

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I would love to have a go at building the wheel myself,i said to my dad i would,but i would use droid wheels.

x784.1067198462.jpg

Ya....that was my VERY first idea.....but I don't have SIX of those :-( (I don't even have ONE default_cry4.gif)

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You only need 4 then have 2 turntables in the middle,there only 15 uk pound each on bricklink.:tongue:

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You only need 4 then have 2 turntables in the middle,there only 15 uk pound each on bricklink.:tongue:

Actually....you need ALL 3 (3 on each tower) to be the same size for the mechanism to work. That way it's always a 1:1 ratio :-)

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You need to gear it down it turns to fast.

I see what you mean about the ratio,i wounder could you gear it behind or in-front of the droid wheel instead of it coming from the gearing of the droid wheel,this may mean that you only need two.

Will not work.

Edited by Alasdair Ryan

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You need to gear it down it turns to fast.

I see what you mean about the ratio,i wounder could you gear it behind or in-front of the droid wheel instead of it coming from the gearing of the droid wheel,this may mean that you only need two.

Hmmmm...maybe, but I wanted to try to stick with the original mechanism. But I see what you mean.

I also tried using the speed controller, and that worked....sort of. Sometimes, it would only power ONE of the motors. Too confusing. That's why it's so fast. Plus, I was using M-size motors :-)

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Wow, nice one!

Cannot see the photos here though, also g+ just shows blank white spaces

Edited by Omikron

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Very nice. I've never heard of this before but it looks awesome. Lots of gears in there too. Well done. :thumbup:

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you are doing a cracking job! can't wait to see it finished :D I live just around 40 minutes from the real thing!

I'm only half an hour away too; it's an amazing pice of engineering. Inspired idea jojoguy10!

Edited by chorlton

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This is awesome! I live right near the Falkirk Wheel, & I've been to see it a few times. It really is a fascinating piece of engineering.

The thing I find the most incredible about it is that the Wheel is so well designed, built & balanced that to rotate it takes roughly the same amount of electricity as it would to boil a kettle.

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This is awesome! I live right near the Falkirk Wheel, & I've been to see it a few times. It really is a fascinating piece of engineering.

The thing I find the most incredible about it is that the Wheel is so well designed, built & balanced that to rotate it takes roughly the same amount of electricity as it would to boil a kettle.

Yes...it's an AWESOME work of machinery, mechanics, and engineering! :-D

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