Custom LEGO shock absorber ideas

[SNIPE]

Hi,

Currently I'm working on getting an idea built called a lego stair climber, it works by having two rails either side of it which have wheels attached, the rails have a slider which also pivots that joins to the body so the wheels can drop down and grip the surface, the sliders slide by gravity meaning when there is a ditch it falls down by itself when you drive over it, reversing brings it back out of the ditch again.

I was thinking about creating my own, quite long shock absorbers and there is some questions that I need to ask in order to start choosing parts:

• What thickness inner tube will I use, do you think an axle with lots of springs put over it will be too flexible and therefore weak?perhaps find lego springs that can fit over but then I would need the bit which compresses the spring to be able to slide over the pin joiner and have little 'play' so it does not wobble which will effect the strengh. Icould use threaded metal axles but those are short but would allow for the spring to be Shortned by putting a nut on the axle.

• What sort of springs (need to be 'LEGO springs' should I use, the car body and internals are made to be as light as possible. The travel rate max of the car is 24L (min) excluding the height tire and wheels.

Edited July 12, 2012 by SNIPE

[DLuders]

Is your creation going to be something like these Lego Stair Climbers? From the

, there is more information at http://blake-foster.com/project.php?p=20 (stair climber I) and http://blake-foster.com/project.php?p=21 (stair climber II). I'm not sure why you need Shock Absorbers for slow-motion wheel movement like these have.

[SNIPE]

The car has two slider rails either side which have wheels on the end, on the other end is the slider rail guidel which also rotates since it is attached to the body by a pin.

The slider has stoppers so it can only rotate -/+ 90 degrees, when going off a drop it tends to rotate down by gravity.

On a continuous flat surface,the sliders are positioned horizontally so -90 would rotate the slider down so it is vertical.

The springs rebound help when it is going faster because it pushes the load from the car down on the wheels which lets it grip better.

Edited July 12, 2012 by SNIPE