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Scattered over the last few months I've been working on a proof of concept of an improved paddle shifter unit for the Porsche 911 GT3 RS (42056) that uses the stepping principle from Attika's stepper. After several redesigns I finally came up with something that I'm so content with - because of its reliability and sturdyness - that I thought it would not only be valuable as a 42056 MOD but could be of interest to other car builders too.

Just like Attika's stepper this setup relies on the interaction with a 90 degree indexer. And just like the orginal 42056 unit it makes use of silicon bands to return the paddles. I tried to hide the silicon bands inside the unit, but that would give too much unbalanced stress to the whole shifting system. The operation is optimal when the bands are close to the paddles.
 
About the operation of the shifters: Each paddle pulls a pusher against a central knob gear independently. When the central knob gear gets pushed over the 45 degree point the 90 degree indexer takes over and completes the 90 degree step. This completion makes the knob gear push the pusher outwards, which allows the pusher to be pulled back into it's starting postion by the silicon band. While being pulled back, the 5x7 frames to the sides of the unit (with their smooth sides facing outwards!!!) make sure the pusher is pulled back inwards too.

The video shows a setup that mimics the situation in the Porsche, with the 90 degree indexer integrated in the gearbox. When combined with the indexer, the unit itself can be used in the original Porsche as is.

Feel free to add comments or post (suggestions for) improvements.:classic:

LXF-file here.

On 16-10-2016 at 0:52 PM, Didumos69 said:

Unfortunately I couldn't get it to function properly with the rest of the shift train of the Porsche. The movement of the pushers wasn't sufficient to get the shift axle in front of the gearbox to get over the 45 degree point, which was needed to have a correct interaction with the 90 degree limiter. This means that for the Porsche the alternative unit based on Attika's stepper is not really an option. However, it might very well be an option for a different model.

On 17-10-2016 at 3:17 PM, Didumos69 said:

Turns out that having to revert to the original mechanism - with two side knob gears - isn't that unfortunate :classic:. My adjustments to the casing and the removal of the change-over catches and rubber connectors made the return of the shifters far more smooth. But today I discovered that there is another advantage; the paddles need not return as far as in the original unit. In fact, the paddles can be brought one stud closer to the steering wheel. That's a nice thing! And because the lighter return of the paddles requires less silicon power, I was also able to move the silicon bands (red ones in this case) inside the unit, without introducing additional bending.

To summarize the advantages compared to the original:

  • Lighter operation
  • Paddles 1 stud closer to the steering wheel
  • Less travel required to shift (about 1.5 stud)
  • Silicon bands inside the unit
  • More realistically angled steering wheel
  • More reliable

And this is what it looks like:

LXF-file here.

 

Edited by Didumos69

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Amazing work Dudumos, it looks pretty robust and works really good, and it is amazing how fat you can shift it with the paddles or override it without jamming anything in the system, i really like it.

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That is great! The work you have done on the 42056 is amazing, and now that I'm done with using the rims on my moc, I'm going to build it, and definitely incorporate this! Good work

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Hats off to our favourite Porsche philosopher :wink:, you have improved the whole thing a lot :thumbup: ! I have a clue why you used the tan gears instead of knob gears, but maybe it´s worth to go a bit further in depth into your magic cube?... 

1 hour ago, Didumos69 said:
... I tried to hide the silicon bands inside the unit, but that would give too much unbalanced stress to the whole shifting system. The operation is optimal when the bands are close to the paddles.
..............

Your idea to "hide" these awful looking rubber bands (and even more disgusting yellow bushes) wasn´t so bad IMHO! 

Oh could somebody please make paddle shifters which actually look like or at least just give a glimpse of the look of real paddle shifters behind the steering wheel...

EDIT: Your Porsche has become something like this now (please watch 11:30 :pir-grin: !!) :

 

Edited by brunojj1

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@ImanolBB, @Rodzilla4, @brunojj1, thank you guys!

12 hours ago, brunojj1 said:

I have a clue why you used the tan gears instead of knob gears, but maybe it´s worth to go a bit further in depth into your magic cube?...

The reason for not using knob gears at the bottom side of the unit is simply because I don't have enough of them. They do fit in perfectly though and I did use knob gears in the LXF-file. When braced well bevel gears are strong enough and won't slip in this kind of application. However, the advantage of using knob gears is that you can't make a mistake with the orientation of the axles involved. It's important that one of the axles has a 90 degree orientation and the other has a 45 degree orientation, so the mesh makes a 45 degree orientation difference.

About the operation of the shifters: Each paddle pulls a pusher against a knob gear independently. When the knob gear gets pushed over the 45 degree point the 90 degree indexer takes over and completes the 90 degree step. This completion makes the knob gear push the pusher outwards, which allows the pusher to be pulled back into it's starting postion by the silicon band. While being pulled back, the 5x7 frames to the sides of the unit (with their smooth sides facing outwards!!!) make sure the pusher is pulled back inwards too. To repeat this process the paddle doesn't need to go all the way back. Half way back is enough to make the next shift.

When a paddle sits in its default position the attached pusher does not block the knob gear. If it would it would obstruct the operation of the other paddle. For me this is convenient, because it allows the shifter axle to be operated from outside the unit, which in turn paves the road for HoG shifting, something I incorporated in my ultimately playable Porsche.

12 hours ago, brunojj1 said:

Your idea to "hide" these awful looking rubber bands (and even more disgusting yellow bushes) wasn´t so bad IMHO! 

Oh could somebody please make paddle shifters which actually look like or at least just give a glimpse of the look of real paddle shifters behind the steering wheel...

I agree on the yellow bushes, but color vomit is a different topic:wink:. I left the half bushes yellow to get a reference to the original and because I try to reuse parts as much as possible when I make modifications.

12 hours ago, brunojj1 said:

EDIT: Your Porsche has become something like this now (please watch 11:30 :pir-grin: !!) :

Modding the real Porsche, cool, huhu!!!

Edited by Didumos69

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Thanks @Myers Lego Technic!

13 hours ago, Rodzilla4 said:

That is great! The work you have done on the 42056 is amazing, and now that I'm done with using the rims on my moc, I'm going to build it, and definitely incorporate this! Good work

When you build this be sure to place the 5x7 frames to the sides of the unit with their smooth sides facing outwards. That gives the pushers exactly enough space to return smoothly.

Edited by Didumos69

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17 hours ago, brunojj1 said:

... but maybe it´s worth to go a bit further in depth into your magic cube?...

Here's a video showing the mechanism from close-by:

 

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Thanks for your effort! You´ve shown a "simple" solution which is hard to achieve though - great job again :thumbup:! You should build your own "ultimate" manual chassis from these experiences, entirely and literally "detached" from the 42056!

Concerning the use of the tan gears I caught you - I was right with my suspission that you used them to avoid 45 degree position instead of the required 90 degrees :head_back: . After having rebuilt it according to your LDD file (I´ve overseen it yesterday, sorry!), I had several problems which are usual I suppose, such as jamming and slacking. Every detail is important to make everything work accurately as shown in your videos! There is still a lot of bending parts to make a proper shift. I like your innovation with the 90 degree cross axles which shift the central knob gear, this is the very crucial part. But I think there is some impovement necessary to prevent it from disengaging due to free rotation while spinning outwards from time to time (sorry, but I can´t explain it better in English). I tried several solutions which didn´t satisfy me much, none of them was working to 100% - means completely without jamming... Unfortunately there is too little space in my almost original Porsche to put some shift pedals in of which variant I was satisfied most on the test module. We´ll see, maybe I´ll work another day on it and come back to it tomorrow.

 

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19 hours ago, brunojj1 said:

Thanks for your effort! You´ve shown a "simple" solution which is hard to achieve though - great job again :thumbup:! You should build your own "ultimate" manual chassis from these experiences, entirely and literally "detached" from the 42056!

Concerning the use of the tan gears I caught you - I was right with my suspission that you used them to avoid 45 degree position instead of the required 90 degrees :head_back: . After having rebuilt it according to your LDD file (I´ve overseen it yesterday, sorry!), I had several problems which are usual I suppose, such as jamming and slacking. Every detail is important to make everything work accurately as shown in your videos! There is still a lot of bending parts to make a proper shift. I like your innovation with the 90 degree cross axles which shift the central knob gear, this is the very crucial part. But I think there is some impovement necessary to prevent it from disengaging due to free rotation while spinning outwards from time to time (sorry, but I can´t explain it better in English). I tried several solutions which didn´t satisfy me much, none of them was working to 100% - means completely without jamming... Unfortunately there is too little space in my almost original Porsche to put some shift pedals in of which variant I was satisfied most on the test module. We´ll see, maybe I´ll work another day on it and come back to it tomorrow.

Thanks for the compliment! I have some ideas for a MOC in which I want to incorporate many of the insights gained from modding the Porsche.

About the tan bevel gears: I'm a bit confused whether you understood my notes on the tan bevel gears. They have been used with the same orientation knob gears would have had if I used those. So they do not change the orientation of any of the axles involved and should not affect the behavior. I used bevel gears in the bottom section of the unit and inside the 5x7-frame with the indexer for convenience only. I don't have enough of them and they wouldn't fit within the 5x7-frame together with the indexer. If you want to implement this in the Porsche I strongly recommend to use knob gears instead, because they will make sure all involved axles have the correct orientation. Here's a cutaway of the complete shift-train as I intend it to be used in the Porsche:

960x450.jpg

LXF-file here.

About your observations so far: The disengaging of the pusher that you're mentioning should only happen when you hold the whole unit with one of its sides facing downwards. In that case the pusher at the side facing downwards may fall outwards before it engages the central knob gear. However, when you hold the unit close to horizontally - the way it is supposed to be used - this should never happen. If it's still not reliable when you use it horizontally (as in: not each shift succeeds) my guess is that there is something wrong with your build. In that case I can only think of the following things to take into account:

  • I think it's fair to say that every single part used in this unit is essential for its correct behavior. For example, when you would leave out the black pins connecting the upper and lower thin liftarms in each of the shift-levers, that would decline the shift-levers stability and introduce a lot more undesired bending. Also replacing the 1/2 pins with 3/4 pins anywhere in this unit would decline its overall stability. Also the 3L axles that help the pushers return correctly should be held loosely by pins with pin hole to give the pushers enough space to return smoothly.
  • The 5x7 frames to the sides of the unit should have their smooth sides facing outwards. That gives the pushers exactly enough space to return smoothly.
  • It's important to make sure that - apart from the resistance induced by the 90 degree limiter - the entire shift-train rotates with minimal friction.
  • It's important to make sure that all moving levers inside the unit have some play to make them move smoothly. Especially the pushers need some play to make them return smoothly.
  • And last but not least: The unit relies on its interaction with the 90 degree indexer. If it's not connected to such indexer it won't do anything. But I suppose you haven't missed that one :wink:.

Still, when you find a way to improve the whole unit in any way, I would be highly interested :wink:!

Edited by Didumos69

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5 hours ago, Didumos69 said:

..............

  • And last but not least: The unit relies on its interaction with the 90 degree indexer. If it's not connected to such indexer it won't do anything. But I suppose you haven't missed that one :wink:.

Still, when you find a way to improve the whole unit in any way, I would be highly interested :wink:!

Thanks, that helped! I usually tend first to go towards "crash test" and many try-and-errors while changing here and there some details, examining the whole thing to be fool proof and don´t take care about all of the details at once. You are right, every minor detail is very important! Sounds silly, but I got it right only after putting a second silicon band onto the indexer and straighten the central knob gear within the cube. Strangely the latter one was working even in 45 degrees position before (not without jamming of course). Now it works like a charm, nothing left to improve technically :thumbup: !

Now let´s go into our local pubs and have a talk with our real friends :drunk:. Cheers!

Edited by brunojj1

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2 hours ago, brunojj1 said:

Now let´s go into our local pubs and have a talk with our real friends :drunk:. Cheers!

Great! Thanks for coming back on this and thanks for testdriving this unit alltogether:thumbup:

Have a nice time in the pub with your friends and don't forget to bring this shifter along to show it to them, haha. And when you do, don't forget to give credits to the original designer :wink::wink::wink: (just kidding).

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Last night I integrated this paddle shifter unit into the Porsche (42056). Unfortunately I couldn't get it to function properly with the rest of the shift train. The movement of the pushers wasn't sufficient to get the shift axle in front of the gearbox to get over the 45 degree point, which was needed to have a correct interaction with the 90 degree limiter. This means that for the Porsche the alternative unit based on Attika's stepper is not really an option. However, it might very well be an option for a different model.

In my Porsche I re-established the two side knob gears and by doing that the mechanism is back to what it was in the stock build. The knob gears serve as levers that amplify (double) the paddle movement. The good thing is that I was able to keep the improved casing and could get rid of the rubber connectors and change-over catches. I posted a video of the integration of this unit into the Porsche in my ultimately playable thread.

LXF-file of this version can be found here.

Edited by Didumos69

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On 11-10-2016 at 7:42 PM, brunojj1 said:

Your idea to "hide" these awful looking rubber bands (and even more disgusting yellow bushes) wasn´t so bad IMHO! 

Oh could somebody please make paddle shifters which actually look like or at least just give a glimpse of the look of real paddle shifters behind the steering wheel.

Turns out that having to revert to the original mechanism - with two side knob gears - isn't that unfortunate :classic:. My adjustments to the casing and the removal of the change-over catches and rubber connectors made the return of the shifters far more smooth. But today I discovered that there is another advantage; the paddles need not return as far as in the original unit. In fact, the paddles can be brought one stud closer to the steering wheel. That's a nice thing! And because the lighter return of the paddles requires less silicon power, I was also able to move the silicon bands (red ones in this case) inside the unit, without introducing additional bending.

To summarize the advantages compared to the original:

  • Lighter operation
  • Paddles 1 stud closer to the steering wheel
  • Less travel required to shift (about 1.5 stud)
  • Silicon bands inside the unit
  • More realistically angled steering wheel
  • More reliable

And this is what it looks like:

LXF-file here.

Edited by Didumos69

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Fantastic solutions, I like them a lot :thumbup:

What´s the advantage of the 3L levers + half bushes at the front section instead of 4L #32006? 

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20 hours ago, brunojj1 said:

Fantastic solutions, I like them a lot :thumbup:

What´s the advantage of the 3L levers + half bushes at the front section instead of 4L #32006? 

The 4L ones could collide with the red 7L thin liftarms at the opposite (right) side when the right paddle is pulled. They should actually slide over each other, but the moment they meet might give a little stutter. But maybe it will still work out okay with the 4L ones. I might give it a try, because it would look more balanced.

Edited by Didumos69

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20 hours ago, brunojj1 said:

Fantastic solutions, I like them a lot :thumbup:

What´s the advantage of the 3L levers + half bushes at the front section instead of 4L #32006? 

 

16 hours ago, Didumos69 said:

The 4L ones could collide with the red 7L thin liftarms at the opposite (right) side when the right paddle is pulled. They should actually slide over each other, but the moment they meet might give a little stutter. But maybe it will still work out okay with the 4L ones. I might give it a try, because it would look more balanced.

I tried using the original 4L liftarms and it works just fine, so I re-established them. There was one minor issue: When the right paddle is pulled, the upper end of a 3L pin running through the red 7L thin liftarms at the right side hits the re-established 4L levers. But not before a complete shift has been triggered, so this actually serves as a perfect block. To get the same behavior for the other paddle I replaced the blocking 3L pins on both sides with a 3L pin with 1L axle. Altogether I think this unit has matured into an excellent replacement of the original paddle shifters. Thanks for keeping me sharp!

I updated the LXF-file: Note that the newly added 3L pins with 1L axle need to be inserted half a stud deeper than what this file shows. LDD does not allow a full insertion.

800x450.jpg

Edited by Didumos69

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Does the Porsche set include all parts needed for this modification? Just ordered the set as a christmas present to myself - should arrive by the end of the week... :thumbup:

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18 hours ago, pheonix16 said:

Does the Porsche set include all parts needed for this modification? Just ordered the set as a christmas present to myself - should arrive by the end of the week... :thumbup:

No it does not. I incorporated this in my ultimately playable Porsche for which I have an LXF-file available. You would need alot of extra parts though. But you could also consider starting with the 'must-have'-mods only and build the model following these errata. You only need a handful of extra parts for that version.

Edited by Didumos69

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3 hours ago, dpkong said:

I've put this into the 42056 including the mod for the front suspension. Wonderful indeed. Thanks Didumos69

Good to know this worked out fine for you! Thanks for letting me know :thumbup:.

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On 19.12.2016 at 10:33 AM, Didumos69 said:

No it does not. I incorporated this in my ultimately playable Porsche for which I have an LXF-file available. You would need alot of extra parts though. But you could also consider starting with the 'must-have'-mods only and build the model following these errata. You only need a handful of extra parts for that version.

thx a lot for the link- I took to your essential version- which worked a treat! :thumbup: But I'll order the parts I don't have flying around to implement some of the more advanced mods.

Just got done building the model- best I ever laid my hands on.:sweet::sweet::sweet:

If only they had printed a couple of parts rather than doing stickers- e.g. why is the Porsche emblem on the steering wheel not done the same way as the hubcaps?!? On my older models most of the stickers broke over the years- that shouldn't happen in this price range... :sceptic: 

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Great unit however there is an error in it concerning the vehicles steering. Swap the black cog at the top of the unit with the grey axle bush and will enable the steering to be turning the correct way. Hope this helps..

 

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7 hours ago, Wallet Inspectior said:

Great unit however there is an error in it concerning the vehicles steering. Swap the black cog at the top of the unit with the grey axle bush and will enable the steering to be turning the correct way. Hope this helps..

I designed it to match the other mods in the ultiametly playable version. But if you want to use this in the stock build or in the errata-version then you're right.

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