General Part Discussion

[Timewhatistime]

53 minutes ago, dhc6twinotter said:

 Nevermind, I think it's the new 8T clutch gear.  Apparently it was originally black before they decided to use red in the model.

Seems quite plausible to me...

I imagine the situation as follows:

Designer: "We need a new gear... let's make it black so that it will blend in as much sets as possible without standing out or disturbing too much. LEGO fans will like it for its inconspicuousness and versatily."

Management (choking and shaking the unicorn): "We've got an even better idea..."

[HydroWorld Outlook]

51 minutes ago, Bartybum said:

Technically speaking reliable Technic stepper mechanisms have been possible for well over a decade now. The reason this part likely exists is so that they have an immediate way of having nine gears, since that's how many the gearbox has.

I know that, I just thought this particular new piece was quite interesting since this is the first time - or at least one of the first times - that LEGO has introduced a 9-base Technic part.

[msk6003]

For new 18/14 gear meshing, @Sariel already did test even before 11 years ago. I timestamped to 18t gear but 64 also has test.