Weird Suspension Idea

[Rishab N]

So today one of my new pens broke and while looking at it I just thought of an odd idea: What if I took the spring out of the pen and used it in Legos?

Usually I'm a purist for these types of things albeit not a very strict one as the only things i hate are cutting and gluing, but I just had to try this. It proved to be easier said than done as the spring was very tightly placed inside the pen and it refused to budge. I eventually had to use a hammer to crack the pen and take the spring out. Once i got it out I threaded it onto an axle which proved to be a snug fit, but it worked. I made a basic suspension similar to the one in Dikkie Klijn's Mclaren. (Sorry for pic quality used my phone)

This worked reasonably well. I also put it on a regular suspension piece

Here it is compared to a normal hard suspension piece. It's a bit softer than that, but unfortunatley I don't have any softer springs to compare it to.

I just thought it was an interesting idea. If any of you want to try it, here's the pen I used http://www.amazon.co...t/dp/B001GAOTSW Not really cheap so I wouldn't recommend purposely breaking any new pens for this. I'd love to see if there are other pen springs that could work too.

Thanks for reading and back to being a sort of purist

Edited August 25, 2015 by Rishab N

[aminnich]

I love it, i actually just got a whole bunch of those pens for school. I might just have to "break" some of them. Great Idea!!!!

[LegoCube]

Here it is compared to a normal hard suspension piece. It's a bit softer than that, but unfortunatley I don't have any softer springs to compare it to.

Looks better and softer... I like it. For me the standard suspension feels too hard.

I am sure similar springs can be found extremely cheap from some bulk shopping site...

Edited August 25, 2015 by LegoCube

[RohanBeckett]

congratulations! you just discovered what Lego did with the 8860 Car Chassis prototype - as shown on the box!

:)

I'm not sure this set ever shipped as per the box image - I have a feeling they just hadn't finalized the shock absorbers in time for the box printing.

[1974]

.. came to this thread to see that picture, does not leave dissapointed ..

I got in a bunch of trouble with my parents because I destroyed all the ballpens in the house back then

A spring by itself can be used to make shooting LEGO. Big nono back then

[RohanBeckett]

I used to make shockers with rubber bands... probably got the idea from some old Ideas book.

I think 8090 got me my first real set of shock absorbers - although it was be a couple of decades later before I finally got the Car Chassis, and it's wheels.

[1974]

I used to make shockers with rubber bands... probably got the idea from some old Ideas book.