MEMTJEGO

Working Rudder Design

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Hi all,

I'm interested in ideas that anyone has used to make a working rudder.  Im looking for a gearing solution starting from the ships wheel and finishing on the rudder.  (not a "Skull's eye Schooner" type solution). 

My main hangup is the fact the the lego ships wheel just has a pin and not an axle so I don't know how to make that turn a gear.  Thanks in advance.

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Well, gear working rudder mechanism has been done before in some MOCs before, but its much simpler if you just went the traditional and realistic way to just attaching a piece of string and do it that way instead. I can tr and look out for the gear mechanism methods a bit and see if I can find them again for you

Captain Becker

EDIT: Here we go, a quick google job usually helps :wink: 

 

Edited by Captain Becker

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Yes, I saw that video.  but my main question wasn't answered in this video.  If that is an unaltered Lego ships wheel, how is that gear attached to it?

 

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Simply by using a lightsaber blade, 4L bar: https://www.bricklink.com/v2/catalog/catalogitem.page?P=30374#T=S&O={"iconly":0} 
Its pushed inside the steering wheel, and it has that black gear which then starts to rotate all the others. I have not tried this myself though, as I am afraid of harming my beloved Lego pieces. It could be that the bar has been modified somehow to attach it better, or glued onto the steering wheel. But what I can tell, it just simply pushed in between the pin slot in the steering wheel. I must dig this further.

EDIT: Also it might be that he i using a different kindof steering wheel as thee are two kinds of them. One whit a solid pin, and one whit the slotted pin like this: https://www.bricklink.com/v2/catalog/catalogitem.page?P=4790b#T=S&C=88&O={"color":88,"iconly":0} I think it miust be the slotted pin one that he is using as I cant see how a 4L lightsaberr bar would fir into a solid pin one.

EDIT2: Just tested it whit both of the steering wheels. You need the slotted one to make this type of gear steering mechanism to work. Cant fidnd any othe methods to make a geared steering atm.

Edited by Captain Becker

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I always use this gear:

32072.png

The official ship's wheel handles fit very nicely between the knobs.  

Most recently I've used a method that is actually much closer to how ships really steer.

24804629307_cf7f71a92a_z.jpg 27895012599_e62c735d00_z.jpg

On the bottom of the left/first MOC image, the thread is tied to a red "tray" that has a technic plate in the middle of it. The tray moved the technic plate side-to-side  The technic plate is attached to the rudder.  See below.

38776240485_d41d75b7ff_z.jpg

The rudder comes off easily.  This model gets frequently displayed, and I just remove the rudder before transport.  I line up the rudder into the tray, wiggle it to ensure the wheel turns both directions, and I'm ready to show off the steering capability. :pir-grin:

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I've use phreds method and before I've used two other methods that work quite well.  This is the closest to the real thing I've come up with. 

I have been wanting to try the string gear method but haven't wanted to jam a bar in the wheel lol

37371315634_6178c0ea7e_z.jpg

The rudder is chain driven

38080451021_b8c227fbfd_z.jpg

This was fairly reliable but I modified later to this:

26588539609_a31aa77a56_z.jpg

38235193166_6fc8a496ee_z.jpg

The chain drive needs to to be crossed to work

IMG_20171223_015323IMG_20171223_015511

The only issue is the wheel needs to be centered to the Axel which I accomplished with the old clutch bushings

IMG_20171223_023739

Another overall shot of the drive

IMG_20171223_015412

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Roadmonkey, thanks for the great images. :thumbup:

I like the use of the helicopter element attached to the chains. 

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On 10/8/2018 at 1:45 PM, Phred said:

Roadmonkey, thanks for the great images. :thumbup:

I like the use of the helicopter element attached to the chains. 

It really makes for a neat motion

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On 9/18/2018 at 6:33 PM, Phred said:

I always use this gear:

32072.png

The official ship's wheel handles fit very nicely between the knobs.  

Most recently I've used a method that is actually much closer to how ships really steer.

24804629307_cf7f71a92a_z.jpg 

On the bottom of the left/first MOC image, the thread is tied to a red "tray" that has a technic plate in the middle of it. The tray moved the technic plate side-to-side  The technic plate is attached to the rudder.  See below.

38776240485_d41d75b7ff_z.jpg

The rudder comes off easily.  This model gets frequently displayed, and I just remove the rudder before transport.  I line up the rudder into the tray, wiggle it to ensure the wheel turns both directions, and I'm ready to show off the steering capability. :pir-grin:

 

What is this "red tray" mechanism you are talking about. I cannot see enough of it to understand it. Do you have a drawing or more pictures? 

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Just popped into this topic on a whim (not much of a pirate builder myself, though I loved Barracuda Bay). But I thought I might mention another option similar to the knob wheel mentioned above—the new gear plates that have appeared in several themes. They're a bit bigger than the knob wheel, but flatter as well, so could potentially be made to fit inside the deck more easily depending on how it's built. The reason it occurred to me is that it's used interlocked with the ship's wheel piece in one of the Super Mario sets, so could possibly be made to work for this purpose as well. It has also been used in combination with the knob wheel itself, so it's possible that a solution with both might work. Again, a more experienced ship builder would probably be able to find out a little more about the advantages and disadvantages a part like this might have—I just wanted to suggest it as another possible option!

 

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10 hours ago, Lyichir said:

Just popped into this topic on a whim (not much of a pirate builder myself, though I loved Barracuda Bay). But I thought I might mention another option similar to the knob wheel mentioned above—the new gear plates that have appeared in several themes. They're a bit bigger than the knob wheel, but flatter as well, so could potentially be made to fit inside the deck more easily depending on how it's built. The reason it occurred to me is that it's used interlocked with the ship's wheel piece in one of the Super Mario sets, so could possibly be made to work for this purpose as well. It has also been used in combination with the knob wheel itself, so it's possible that a solution with both might work. Again, a more experienced ship builder would probably be able to find out a little more about the advantages and disadvantages a part like this might have—I just wanted to suggest it as another possible option!

The use of those new gear plates is quite an idea indeed. I see this is an old topic so, these pieces weren't released yet. But now it could be a good thing to see a system of rudder using them... :thumbup:

Thank you for sharing ! :pir-huzzah2:

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