Marxpek

This is my attempt at building a proper and most importantly; fun to drive ripsaw with somewhat realistic performance. The 8 buggy motors and 4 BuWizz seem to do the trick.. I tried to replicate as much as i could from the original design, obviously the drive-train works differently; the real EV1 has 1 motor with a clutch system in the rear differential to power the tracks from the rear alone, which i did try to replicate by adding the fake V8 and rear diff, which does function, but i disconnect it most of the time while drive outside because it has a habit of getting jammed by leaves, rocks and twigs, the gears used to connect to the fake V8 are all exposed. Here the sprockets are powered in the front and rear and each is connected directly to the slower output of 2 buggy motors, giving this thing crazy speed and torque. The suspension is set up like the real EV1 and works fine, but does require a track tension system, the real thing has a suspended front sprocket to keep tension on the tracks, in this case it would mean loosely suspended buggy motors, an idea i did not like and did not try, yet. I am using a simple lever, spring and wheels to keep tension on the track but it works fine and looks ok. For the body i tried to capture the look and feel of the real thing, using as little as possible panels and using beams for the boxy look with just the exposed framework seemed the right thing to do, i am sure it is filled with illegal connections, i go by the rule: "if it fits without force, it fits". The body is surprisingly solid, it can be lifted from several positions and it can take some abuse from driving, and abused it, i have.. The are 2 seat for Technic figures and the electrical wiring functions nicely as a seat-belt for them. I have added 2 sets of LED's on the top bar, i do not think the real EV1 had that, but it seemed the most "natural" position to me and it works nicely since they are aimed down a bit. And here you can see it in action! please leave a like if you can and help out my tiny channel: I hope you like it!

Hey all, i made a BuWizz motor review video, i hope it is helpful.

Me again: silly video.. reused my X-MAXX bodywork and turned it into a crawler/offroader with rc-grade tires: i wanted to avoid using cv-joints here, so i made a bulky, but very capable and strong solution for that; i made both front motors and hub assemblies pivot for steering. The rear axle is just a "solid axle" (without the actual axle..) and the linear actuators are used as longer versions of the 6L or 9L links, yes they do slighty change length when the axle twists compared to the body, but it is not noticeable at all. it drives fairly fast for it's kind but has torque to spare, and if you drive it well, something i clearly can't.. it will go about anywhere,

Hey all, me again with some silly videos. i set out to make a nice fast boat, something i never did before: it uses a BuWizz and 2 buggy motors geared up 1:1.67 for power and steering, 2 counterrotating 3D-printed props and a 3D-printed waterproof buwizz case, all by own design. Like most of my MOCs: it's pretty basic, but its fast. I wouldn't make a submarine with it.. water may be able to get past the rubber seals via the PF wire's ridges or through the 3D print itself over time, but It is certainly good enough for a boat and heavy splashing, It is exactly 9x9x5 studs, and is fairly easy to build with, it is also a fair easy object to print. Maybe some of you have a use for it. The 3D files are free for download and can be found in the description of this instructional video:

thank you! the hulls are from the 7244 set.

Here is something i created to test if it is worth it for me to buy a buwizz. The s-brick has a brick built case around it, to replicate the Buwizz design. The battery is a 7.4v LiPo ) i had this in the attic from my abandoned rc plane hobby. THIS THING IS DANGEROUS! sorry for the caps but really do not do this unless you are sure what you are doing, shorting or puncturing batteries like these can start a fire instantly, this one can deliver 34 amps, wich is insane (about 10 buggy motors) and never needed in Lego just in rc plane motors. Nothing was modified, not even the battery, the battery wires are just wedged between a regular plate and a 2x8 lead plate, taped to the LiPo. So this basically replicates a buwizz on slow settings, i do not dare to hook up a 11,1v 3 cell LiPo to the sbrick, the sbrick can handle the 11 volts but the LiPo fully charged will deliver something like 12,6v not worth the risk to me. This battery obviously has more amps then what the buwizz battery can deliver but the sbrick here is the weakest link, the buwizz will allow for more amps used and more importantly it will give that beloved 11 volt, which my creation lacks. My conclusion is: i want a buwizz..

Hello all, it's me again with yet another silly video. I used the old 9v system lead plates and a 9v wire and 3 pf extension wires to connect 2 BuWizz up in series, making them produce over 22 volt on one of the PF connectors Like the video tells you: it is a bad idea, so i did it anyway: Of course this is just simply overvolting your motors, potentially damaging them (over time). This is a pretty dangerous idea; in some spots your are just 1 stud of from shorting the sytem and probably melting the wires, or worse, killing the BuWizz, I will not explain how i made the circuit, if you are not confident that you can create it yourself; it is probably a bad idea to do so. The difference is as expected, no torque lost and double the speed, but electrically things change as well. The BuWizz in series should still have their 5A (surge) protection, this will not double when in series, however the current drawn from by the motor should theoretically double when you double the voltage, so there are limitations to how much the system can deliver, double the buwizz, half the motors.. there is a good chance a buggy motor will melt the 9V wire, worth a shot i guess. It also came to my mind i might not need 2 buwizz for this, but it felt wrong to hook up 1 buwizz in series from 2 ports, might work but somehow i didn't dare to try it, yet.. Do not try this at home unless you are absolutely certain you understand the circuit, also making a mistake in the app can cost you dearly (reversing polarity on 1 buwizz would be bad..) and you should be willing to burn up your motors, although i have had a few people tell me Lego motors can withstand 24v with ease, i am a bit sceptical myself tho. There is still the built in "thermistor" on the pf motors (except the m) that cuts the circuit in the motor for a while when overheating, but that is made for overcurrent, not for overvoltage, so i am unsure, I have not damaged any parts myself, having a multimeter at hand is a must, check, check, doublecheck.. now what could we do with this?... ;)

Hey all, it has been ages since i have been on EB, no particular reason, it just slipped my mind.. but yesterday a friend reminded me about EB, so here i am...with another silly video. Being a metalworker, i tried to combine hobby and work. I set out to make a functional angle grinder that could cut steel. It is pretty basic, 4 buwizz and 4 buggy motors drive a portalhub geared up 1:5, the hub holds a 3D-printed part with a M14 nut to hold the original metal chuck and abrasive disc, DO NOT TRY THIS AT HOME, it is seriously dangerous, i have seen discs shatter and explode, luckily not in the Lego version.. so that was my small reintroduction here, i will try to be more active again.

thanks for the tip i wasnt aware of that.. i just grabbed what i had near, i did clean it afterwards with some ipa. But as you can see... I have zero to none experience with lego and lubrication, i tried it once in my speedracers but sand and dirt sticks to the lube then destroys any moving part, so i never looked into that again. If i need it again i will use more suitable slippery stuff.

well i learned a thing or 2 about supporting gears for high speed in my speed racers. the (stronger newer ridged style) z8 gear is driven from opposing sides by 2 z40 gears, this really helps with how the gear teeth are loaded, when a gear is driven from one side it gets pushed outwards aswell, causing friction and slight sideways load which is never a good thing, driving a gear from 2 sides helps to keep it centered and thus loads the teeth in a better way. and ofc the WD40 does wonders.

I dont think this happens anymore indeed. And of course protection is a must.. LOL, yeah true.. that what i get for having kids.. and what can i say.. i am a builder not a cleaning lady :) 2x 40z gear between 2 buggy motors, those mesh with a single 8z gear, which axle goes through a portal hub and through the 3D print. So no bearings, but as mentioned before, i did use WD40 on the axle and the 8z gear and used it as short as possible to prevent parts melting and fusing together or worse.. come off..

heh, lots of response for such a simple build.. you awnsered it yourself, just too see if it can be done. this is the worst of the "damage" it kind of wipes right off, like you can see on the axleholders, but i barely used it besided what is shown in the video, to prevent damage. kind of true yes, but the disc assembly is also held by the portalhub and the 3D print, not just a single axle. but again: do not try this at home.. it has improved with this yes, but especially the thin cutting discs can shatter when they get jammed, become uneven or get sideways pressure/flexing, as a daily user of these discs i can confrim these can still shatter violently.. 10k rpm is no joke. I had to use wd40 to prevent melting the gears, axle and hub. as my 6k rpm card shooting machine learned me..

This is, by far, the best train MOC i have ever seen, the mechanical detail is next level. awesome job!

Hello all here is my latest build, inspired by the Traxxas X-MAXX 8s remote controlled car. The idea was to build a car as "compact" as possible while using 8 buggy motors, 2 for each wheel to give it decent power, as you might notice the buggy motors are at a 90 degree angle from each other, this is to prevent them sticking out the front and back, the chassis needed tall shock towers anyway so it was a nice fit. The front suspension and steering is built fairly sturdy, however crashing with this power, you can brace all you like, it is just going to break as you can see in the video.. The newer type cv-joints are used at the motor end, but since i did not want to use the new hub with its reduction, i used the "old" cv joints with the hubs, and yes, it does "eat" the joints and/or the hubs when something is not sitting correctly. the front has a dampener, a large thin pneumatic actuator, normally hidden by a panel, it is shared with both sides and does.. very little.. but is was fun to integrate. The front springs are from the 8420 motorcycle, adjustable in stiffness, but less stiff them most people imagine them to be, these just seems to fit the build, sadly i didn't have more yellow ones for the rear. The steering uses 2 servos, not only to give it more torque for steering, but also to help reduce the slack from the gear rack to the 12z gear, The two 12z gears on the rack are both offset by 1 tooth, but against each other, the long axle going to the servo's are under a bit of stress but nothing serious, it really helps reducing the slack on the steering. To further prevent slack from the hubs they are steered with the front links and stabilized the rear links, the next picture shows the 2 gears on the same rack (car is upside down), you can also see the imprint of a 5L axle from the bumper on the 5x7 frame after a crash.. The rear suspension has the same drive setup, but since it is more fixed and less likely to get damaged in a crash, it never destroyed any joints or hubs, here i also integrated dampener in the form of small pneumatic actuator on each side, which again.. do very little.. but was fun to integrate, it also has a torsion bar going from one axle to the other to prevent body roll, let's just say it was fun to integrate :) The grey springs are the exact same as the yellow ones, but these come off the Lego 8369 rc "dirt crusher" set, i happened to have these 4 spring, considered to get 2 more yellow ones, then i saw the price.. and went with mismatched colors.. so please forgive me i cheaped out... The body started out as a crawler body, and got heavily modified, extended in every way, added 4 seats for Technic figures and a new color scheme, It is fully detachable with 5 pins. The front and rear lights are in the chassis but they line up perfectly with the translucent bricks on the body, making it easy to get to the buwizz for charging or turning them on. The video and pictures have some inconsistencies in them, i know.. but i have had 3 horrible crashes, that required rebuilds plus some roadside repairs here and there, some i forgot to give the proper fix later on.. shooting the video took me a bit longer because of the same reason, i need to practice my driving skill... or not go to a skatepark when it is wet... or just not build in overkill mode... Thanks for reading! if you have questions or comments, feel free to ask of course! Marx.

thanks all, yes i called it a "torsion bar to prevent body roll" I see, will edit it, thanks! some dampening of the springs, barely works tho.. well yes and no, the gear rack mesh with the 12z gears has about zero slack, you cannot move it by hand unless you force it, but the rest of the steering (links, pins,hubs) has the same slack as usual, so it helps, but that is about it. The 2 servos do help a lot with steering, just because of the doubled torque, this was the main reason to use them. I've had several fast models spray their parts over concrete sidewalks or walls sadly, the sound i grew used to, the walk towards the crash site however...it is the worst... "are my electronics ok?..." it gets expensive fast.. i consider myself lucky to "only" have destroyed 2 buggy motors with all my models crashes.. I fear with this weight and power any part can get destroyed in a head on collision, i think the only way to reduce the repair bill is to disassemble it.. make it bigger, rear wheel drive only, a crumble-zone steering unit and maybe put in a few more motors in it! much safer ;D

I designed this platform a few months back, it never really suited any build, because it is a bit silly having 3 tracks, but for a mad max style vehicle however.. so i decided to rebuild it. Why 3 tracks? because you can fit more motors.. because you get more power while steering... because you can lose a track and keep going...because it avoids the need for ground-clearance all together.. because it fits... and because it is Mad Max! The tracks are a modular design with each an L-motor and a suspension system integrated. It will be controlled with a buwizz, running the outer tracks on the "tracked steer" module and running the middle track normally, but all off the same slider, this way the inner track will have the same speed as the fastest track, making it able to steer with more power. bit odd steering setup but it works pretty well. The name RazorTrack is pretty self-explanatory, at least.. the plan is to use some bionicle stuff to make it "sharper". It will need a good bodywork now, something i am not that great at, esp. on this scale with limited mounting points, but I will try my best. More later, Marx.

Thanks Jim, the bionicle parts will be used to spike/spice it up a bit, the base will of course be Technic.

Lovely, Mad Marx you ask, Mad Marx you get! Can we use Bionicle parts? it started out as Technic, but..

took me a while, but here is an instructional video for the ones that wanted to build it,

I'd like to present my latest BuWizz creation: I like to think of it as a tribute to my beloved 8366 and 8475 sets, which I never get to play with, because i need their motors for other projects, projects like this..It also explains the somewhat cheesy name of the car.. This is a 8475 / 8366 hybrid on steroids and the most fun i have had with an RC car in ages! Here is the video: i hope you like it!

So i found some time to take some detailed pictures (yet i didn't find the time to clean up the ripsaw, so please ignore the sand...) I have also tried to run this with just 4 motors (while leaving the other 4 in the setup) the motors struggled to a bit, i think the drag from the other 4 idle motors is a bit too much, i will have to do a decent conversion before a can say anything useful about a 4 motor version. I will update this later.

Thanks all, glad you like it! I wouldn't know, i started out with 8 motors, the point was to have torque to spare, always, but 4 might be fun to drive as well. but: Yes this could easily be built with 4 motors, just replace the front motors and build some bracket for the sprockets in stead, I have no idea about the power left then, i will soon try to run it on just 4 motors and 2 buwizz (with the extra motors as drag) and see what happens. There are not a lot more picture at the moment, when i have a bit more time on my hands i make some and post them here. No building instructions at the moment, maybe if the demand is high and i have a good 4 motor conversion. If someone else is curious what "EV1" stands for: Extreme Vehicle One. All i could find on the EV1 where some old videos and this from renderhub, it was my main lead in the build actually: https://www.renderhub.com/dmitriykotliar/ripsaw-ev1 The frame holds fine, in some rare occasions the front wedge can get a bit loose (check the end of the video driving off a high curb, front comes loose there), In the video you see it fall off a steep slope, just minor damage. The tracks are the biggest issue, when they get dirty they do not run as smoothly and then they sometimes run off the sprocket, or even break open. Also sharp turns at high speed with some good grip might pull off the tracks as well. You are right in a way, but It is not the middle bending up, it's the outsides of the frame with the buggy motors that are getting pulled down a bit by the tracks, honestly, it could use a bit more reinforcement which i might do, but it never gave issues. Again, thanks, I'll be back with more detailed pictures and a update on 4 motor drive soon, hopefully.

So i made a review/comparison video for this motor. It is a rather long and slow video, but it has timestamps in the description. I hope it helps you to decide whether this is the motor for you or not. It did surprise me in some cases.

4: 10 3: 6 5: 4 13: 3 8: 2 15: 1 Amazing competition! Well done everyone!

6. "Paper" Plane - A17 This is my entry, a functioning glider made from Lego. A fully static build with just 39 parts, it may not appear complex, but a lot of thought and testing went into this project, it took 17 rebuilds of the frame and wing positions to get to this design, what i loved about this project was the fact that i had to venture into unknown building techniques, as well as building as light as possible, it resulted in several never before seen connections (to me at least). It does take a bit of practice and tweaking to get good flight results, like any paper plane; small adjustments can have a big impact on the flight characteristics, but once you get the feel for the plane it goes pretty well. for further details you can visit my thread here: I hope you like it! I have had tons of fun testing this concept!