ozacek

A bit like those cumbersome alternatives ? :)

My bad, I actually only looked at technic sets, and only bionicle makes use of those parts (if that can be considered technic...), so I assumed they were only used as decorative parts.

haha :) Actually in the end I like my approach of meshing it. Maybe it's not 100% ideal, but it holds very well, supports some torque without slipping, doesn't cause pressure in the gears, and the support liftarms can be moved on the outside if one needs the inner part of the turntable free.

Nice! Very clever use of those parts.

When I discoved the existance of this part (24014), I was really curious what uses it could possibly have. But when looking up the models that make use of it, I was disappointed: it's only used as a decorative element. Now I'm planning to build a MOC with a mechanism that actually makes use of this part (already have an idea how). I don't know if I'll succeed, but I was wondering if anyone has ever used this part as a functional element in some mechanism?

Someone actually pointed that mistake on Rebrickable, but it's very easy to fix, you just have to move the switch lock under the frame to the other side.

I think vehicle-related functions are better motorized, but for other types of mechanical functions I'm begining to lean towards manual. More functions can be packed in (motorized functions do take a lot of space), and models can also be smaller (I really like small/mid-sized models with lots of functions). One of my favorite 2018 set is still the small 42084 Hook Loader.

Thank you, I appreciate :) About the 32124 1x5 plate, it's just because it has studs and I prefer to build completely studless. Lego indeed still uses that part, but they also use regular lego parts in technic sets, which I don't (in fact, whenever I build other people's MOC's, I always do without all the regular parts). Speaking of other people's MOC's, the next on my list is your 675LT Spider. I don't particularity want to build a McLaren Spider, but I really want to see that roof mechanism in action! :)

Personally I don't build with chains & rubber bands so I don't actually own any, but you're right, in a case this like, a chain really would be the best approach. Maybe I should order some for next time.

I wonder about that... maybe it could have been achieved if I could move the actuators up, but they had to be there because of the dense gearbox. In any case, I tried many pivot approches and that's the best I could find.

Right, I did notice that, but it would require yet another gear to reverse the rotation, which complicates things and I didn't want to spend more time on that particular model since it's not a realistic render anyway...

Thanks Doug for all the pictures. It's so much easier to understand than with a description.

There is: (it's also on the rebrickable page for the model, along with more info)

Ah well look at that! Surely that makes things easier, I didn't know that part existed. Like the Genie says in Aladdin, I feel sheeepish :) I guess I should change the question to "Does anyone have a better way of driving a new large turntable with an old worm gear" then.

What exactly are the new & old worm gears? I know of type I & II (4716 & 32905), but as far as I know it's only the shape of the axle whole that changes. Thanks! That's actually much less than 1/2 a stud. The blue axle on that image is 1/2 a stud too high:

I'm not sure whether this question has been posted before (couldn't find it). Does anyone have a decent way of driving the newer 60-teeth "type 3" large technic turntables with a worm gear? After spending some time in MLCad trying to align parts based on Sariel's solution with technic bricks, that's the closest match I could come up with: It's not an exact match, but it seems to work pretty well, although it doesn't leave much space for anything else on the turntable... On the following picture you can see the actual mismatch - the axle is the ideal position. Sariel mentions in his book "it's very difficult to mesh with a worm gear".

Once again I probably have different opinions than the majority, but if it were to happen to me I would probably feel more proud than anything else that they would actually pick a design of mine, out of all those out there. Plus you have to consider that yes, they steal the design itself, but they still have to produce all the bricks, package, marketing, sell. It probably can't be qualified as a "quick buck". In any case, I definitely think it shouldn't prevent you from release public instructions for all the others! Like @vectormatic puts it, "Lego designs by their very nature are open source" and I like that idea. For that very reason I also make public everything that I build, even if it sometimes takes a lot of time. I take from the community, I give to the community :)

Right, most people prefer to choose a machine and fit mechanisms in it, but I prefer to choose a mechnism and fit a machine around it :)

I actually build more for the fun of making interesting mechanisms, whether or not they have a real-life applications or meaning.

I have lots of other projects... I guess anyone who wants to do that can pick up from there, instructions are available and for free.

Pure technic building fun :)

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I really wanted to build the Volvo L350F, being the only model that makes use of all 4 motors types, but I personally don't really like construction machines. So I decided to make it Xerion-colored, and replace the digger bucket with a harvester of the same width (23L). Like the bucket, it can be raised & lowered, and tilted up & down. Tilting up moves the harvester away to make way for an array of teeth. Additionally, the harvester is set in motion when the vehicle moves forward or backward. The instructions for the harvester tool are available on Rebrickable.

Right, but the small linear actuators do not have enough range for that. The big ones would need to be used, which is basically a complete redesign of the wings..

Following my previous post asking for opinions about the design of a hay rake's rake arms, I finally completed the whole design. It uses the Xerion's power output axle in order to drive some of its functions, and It has a few particular features: 1) the wings can be raised & lowered with a switch (linked to a changeover catch). This was a major design challenge, considering the weight of the wings and the fact that we're limited by the power of the Xerion M-motor & clutch-gear. In the end, the biggest issue came from what might be a design flaw in the 'Gear-16 with clutch' part. While most gear are just a tiny bit narrower than 1L, these ones are exactly 1L. Because of that, when bound by two liftarms, friction is inevitable (like happens in 42055's gearbox). And to make things worse, in a design like mine where the gearbox is in-between the two wings, the weight of the wings pushes on those bounding liftarms and friction goes through the roof. To solve that, firstly I attached the pulling part of the wings to the upper & lower liftarms of the frame, so that the weight would work towards releasing pressure instead of creating it. Secondly, I redirected the pushing part of the wings to a support frame underneath the whole structure, bypassing the structure's liftarms altogether. The wings lifting brings another subtle problem, which I only noticed at the end of the first draft: you can't actually use two universal joints, because then both wings will go up & down in opposite directions! Therefore one side as to use 3 gears to invert the rotation. However gears take up much more space than U-joints, which complicates further the design of the wings' attachment to the body, already a difficult & critical part. 2) the rakes' rotation can be started/stopped with a switch (linked to a changeover catch) Both functionalities make use of the same driving gears. 3) the tractor's steering is transmitted to the rear wheels through steering arms, as the head rotates with the tractor Based of mentalspagat's hey rake for 8284. A clever design, I like it (although tough to implement without using a studded 'Technic Plate 1x5 with center axle hole' part - I don't build with studded parts). 4) a pair of levers allows to simultaneously either raise the support legs + engage the coupling to the Xerion, or lower the support legs + release the coupling. This was the other difficult thing. I really like the support legs mechanism from the Xerion's A-model tool, and also the coupling mechanism from the B-model tool. I though it would really be nice to have a single lever that achieves both at the same time. Which is also very convenient: as soon as you detach from the tractor, the support legs are also lowered so that it stands by itself right away. To achieve that, it requires the use of a part that has an axle hole (so that we can rotate an axle with a lever), but also lets that axle sliding loose, otherwise preventing any rotation of the head. Luckily, there exists a single part that meets those requirements: a changeover catch! 5) the follower-wheels under the wings have a small, limited turning radius in order to be able to follow in curves The tricky thing here was to give some freedom of movement without giving too much. An engine crankshaft part is stuck in-between axle connector parts, which have a recess making them a bit less than 1L-width, allowing for some leeway. ____________________________________________________________________________________________________ Instructions available on Rebrickable.