Captainowie

Why don't you mount the phone on the vechicle itself? That would be far better than just running after it, but not as good as a proper distance/time measurement as others have noted.

Sounds like the axle is the way to go. Thanks folks!

Hi all. In general, is it better to attach a pivoting structure with a pin either side, or with an axle going all the way across? Would the answer depend on how wide the pivoting thing is? (e.g. the 2-stud wide base of a pneumatic cylinder vs. the 5-stud wide boom that cylinder is lifting). Does this make sense? On the one hand it seems unfair to place all the load on one part (if an axle is used), on the other hand, those pins look awful small next to a large boom. Owen.

Make sure that the bracket that holds the troublesome gear is secure - it looks somewhat tilted. There is a tan 3/4 pin that holds it to the frame that's pinned to the turntable, but I can't see it in your picture - if it's there at all it's not properly seated.

I see. That's certainly a viable option, but requires a level of knowing-what-you're-doing far in excess of what I possess!

I notice that you have the pneumatic switch offset from the rest of the mechanics, requiring the two universal joints. As far as I can tell, that input axle is the only constraint in placing that bit, so it shouldn't have been too much trouble to build it so that the axle could go straight through. I'm sure you have a good reason for doing that, just curious as to what it is?

The power supply converts high-voltage AC into low-voltage DC. You'll want something that converts high-voltage AC into low-voltage AC, which suggests that starting from a PC power supply is not going to work very well for you.

You may also want to consider that if then the wheels are only going to turn the same angle. You'd really want the outside pair of axles to turn a greater distance than the inner pair. Owen.

Really? Last time I checked, 12 was divisible by 4. :-) I know this was a problem with the old 14-tooth gears, but I haven't had issues with the 12-tooth ones. That said, I don't know what the issue is - perhaps the spring you've got doesn't centre with the axle in a 90 degree angle. I don't have any of that part to check. Edit: Beaten to it by DrJB by *that* much. Also, I had a closer look at the photos, and that's not the issue with the spring. I assume it's not just that you have your rack one tooth offset from centre?

NIce. I like the mechanical timing systems. Tell me, do you you find (as I tend to) that your modules aren't as interchangeable as perhaps they should be? Could you set up your loop with any module in any position - allowing for those that turn corners - or would that involve tinkering with the inputs or outputs of some modules?

I agree that, used in this way, they're running very inefficiently. "Wildly overpowererd" is probably an understatement. However, they're a heck of a lot cheaper than a lab power supply, and nearly as reliable. Could you explain what you mean by "gimmicking" the 12V rail? How else would you get 9V from the power supply? Owen.

Yes, it's primarily good for static models. I had GBC specifically in mind. This setup could easily power a dozen or more modules all day long, something that you can't do with a PF rechargable battery, or even a train regulator (I assume they're current limited? Happy to be corrected here). But for sure not ideal if you mainly build vehicles. I guess I assumed there were more non-vehicle builders here that this might appeal to. In hindsight, I don't know why I assumed that, given the vast number of vehicle-related topics! For that sort of purpose, you're probably better off just buying a 9V adaptor from your local electronics store and modifying a battery box to accept that, unless you want to power more than one battery box (not likely at a testing station, I'm guessing). The power supply can take up a lot of room on your table. Owen.

I love the way you've done the brake levers. I've never seen that before.

Hmm, I really thought this would have generated much more interest. Is it the way I've presented it? Is it the fact that the bulk of the information is on an external website, and the effort required to go there is just too much in today's time-poor society? Is it that this is not interesting? Perhaps lots of people have done this and I just haven't heard about it. Is it that most people build vehicles, which would make something like this less useful? Could it even be that "This Captainowie chap has only made a handful posts, so he couldn't possibly have something worth saying"? (I'd like to think it's not this, but you never know...) Or is it simply that it left the front page of posts so quickly that most people haven't had a chance to see it properly? Owen.

Re: mechanical randomness Depends on what you want to do with it. You can get a binomial distribution mechanically with a Bean Machine. For another point of view, the machines that draw lotteries select the numbered balls at random.

I found out the other day that the process of laying everything out neatly in groups is called "Knolling". Some pictures in this thread very good examples of this. Others not so much!

This actually could be quite a useful construct, if you used a longer axle and put a pin or something in the connector's hole. The cage of the diff would rotate together with the axle, except for a delay when changing direction. You may need to invert the connector so that the teeth on the gear don't interfere with the pin, and the small peg in the diff cage sometimes catches on the connector as it goes around, but it works well enough. Owen.

Ah, that would be one of those accidental transgressions of forum norms. Thanks Jim. Owen.

So you want to synchronise the movements of a given pair of pistons. Years ago I remembered reading something about this from Kevin Clague. A few months ago I tried to find it again, but had no luck. The only thing I could find was from the Wayback Machine, but there are no pictures to go with it. http://web.archive.o...encer/index.htm This might help you, if you can figure it out from the text alone. Owen.

Nice. What prompted you to turn the cylinders at the base of the crane arm upside-down?

Hello all. I have seen plenty of places on the Internet where people have hotwired their LEGO battery boxes and hooked them up to a laboratory power supply. I have also seen plenty of places where people have converted an old PC power supply into a cheap laboratory power supply. However, I've not seen anywhere on the Internet where people have done both. So I did it myself. Details here http://www.lugnet.com/~2801/PowerSupply Questions, comments, queries or concerns?

I have this: Plus a whole bunch of sets, GBC modules, etc. on display around the corner.

Thanks for the warm welcome everyone. Thanks, but I want to moderate your expectations somewhat. What you've seen has been cherrypicked from the last 5+ years of my work. That said, I'm particularly proud of the Spider module I took to Canberra - I haven't seen anything remotely like it from anyone else. Perhaps. But it'll have to wait until I finish the other things on my list. It's a long list. :-)

Hello all. I've recently put a detailed introduction in the Technic forum, which is where I'll be spending most of my time. http://www.eurobricks.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=93537 Then I saw this forum, and figured I should say Hi here too. Owen.

Hello all. After a few weeks of lurking I have decided to sign up and begin posting. I have been missing a place to discuss Technic online since LUGNET/technic was deserted. Who am I? My name is Owen, I'm in my early 30s. I currently live in Geraldton, Western Australia, but my home is in Canberra, Australia. I have never really had any dark ages, only periods of time when other things were more important. My collection grew rapidly when I acquired a disposable income, but I have been quite restrained with my purchasing. I have a modest collection of about 20k parts, almost exclusively Technic. What do I build? Physical: I have been interested in Technic, to the exclusion of almost all other LEGO, since I was about 10 years old. I always prefer a model that does something over a model that just looks pretty, and I always prefer a mechanical solution to any particular problem over an electronic one, so I haven't played much with Mindstorms. Currently my focus is on GBC modules. I have had small GBC displays at , and . I am relatively new to participating in conventions, and am finding that building for display is a rather different beast than building for yourself. Virtual: I have been using the LDraw system of tools for a very long time. I won the last Scene of the Month contest that was held on ldraw.org before they stopped happening. My picture graced the homepage for over two years. I contributed some of the LDraw files for some of the early models for Blakbird's Technicopedia. I have a lot of experience with LD4DStudio. My narrowly missed out on a major prize in the competition it was created for. I am at least partly responsible for the creation of the Technic Action Figure LDraw parts. Unfortunately, I still haven't made much progress on the project that I wanted to use them in. It's gonna be awesome though! (at least, in my head it is). I generally use SR3DBuilder these days, but I notice that many of you use LDD. I tried it out a few years ago, and decided it wasn't very good for Technic models. It seems to have improved somewhat in that regard, so I might have to give it another shot. Studless or Studded? This is a bit of a tricky one. The majority of the parts I have are studless, but most of them are on display (I tend to build my sets and keep them on display until I need the parts). On the other hand, I find studded building much easier to get my head around. In early 2013 I decided that I needed to get better at building studless, so I rearranged my work area with a studless focus. I'm sorry to say that it hasn't helped much, because it seems I'm always pulling out my bricks and plates. Oh well, I guess I'd better practice a bit more then! I will finish with the usual plea from a newcomer to forgive any accidental transgressions of forum norms, and I look forward to future Technic discussions. Owen.