DrJB

GyroBoy Variant. I tried it and it works great, will need some tuning based on surface you put it on. http://forums.usfirst.org/showthread.php?20729-Gyro-Boy-Program

Thank you guys, appreciate all the feedback. This is definitely a MOC for the history books (if such thing exists) and your support/dedication is commendable.

Thank you, I just tried basebrick and not fully familiar with all features. Ultimately I want to include only few sets (those I'm willing to sacrifice/recycle) and no touch others. There is a learning curve of course. I'll try rebrickable shortly. This sounds very promising, and such tools come in very handy.

Thank you, exactly what I was looking for. Makes sense, but like I said, each of us has a 'unique' situation. Appreciate the feedback though.

Thank you for the feedback, though I'm not sure we're there yet ... For sure buying all parts from BrickLink will be expensive. What I'm looking for is what is the 'incremental' cost if one already has all the PFs and many yellow sets. So, and I guess many on here are on in the same boat, the question is: If you remove all the PFs, what are the minimum sets you need to purchase to build this beast? I guess the most 'sensible' (cost effective) approach would be: 1. Take away all the PFs, 2. Add 2x 42009 3. Purchase additional yellow curved panels and new narrow suspension parts from BL. Whatever is left, what sets would be more suitable to fill in the gap. What I am looking for is essentially a functionality that exists in Peeron, where you upload all your sets, then choose a set to build, then Peeron tells you whic parts you have enough of, which you have in the wrong color, and which parts you're missing. Two points: 1. You can't upload custom part lists to Peeron 2. I have around 50 wheels/tires, and if given a choice, I'd rather not buy duplicate parts again (like 2 more 42009)

That statement by itself is NOT complete, you need to read the second part 'however ...' to make sense. Typically most motors have a torque-rpm curve i.e., the rpm decreases as the load increases. Not sure if such curve is available for the PF motors ... (philo?) Where I got that from is? Well, graduate courses in Multi-Domain System Dynamics and Control, such as THIS

Thanks, I'll give it a try. Does Rebrickable have all original/official sets as well? I was under the impression it's for MOCs only.

I guess the reason for such a large number of gears for the outrigger function was the constraint that the designers had to use a single motor for ALL functions. Plus, powering a chassis functions from the superstructure, while ingenious (sending power through the turntable a la Jennifer Clark), has serious drawbacks. At the end of the day, you wonder which is more costly, the many gears needed to achieve such function, or an additional chassis-mounted motor.

My kids are very good at breaking sets apart in tiny bits. Often I'd want to know which set has 3 or 4, maybe more specific parts. Is there a tool for this? Granted, we all know how to search for a set given a single part/color. But a combined search, would for sure be helpful. Pushing this to the extreme, I'd want to upload a set of parts, and have a code/webpage spit out few candidate sets that have those specific parts. Makes sense?

No we do not. This topic started in the Technic theme and had a 'focus' on only AFOLs/Technic. Now that it's moved to the General Discussion, makes sense to merge, but don't let that bother you ... If it's 'annoying', just ignore it.

This reminds me of another hobby I used to have ... keeping fish/corals in a salt-water tank. That WAS expensive! I once asked a question in a forum about how to keep costs down (reduced water changes, bulk purchase of food, ... etc). What I was not expecting was an answer from an obnoxious SOB: "This is an expensive hobby, do not complain, either you can afford it, or get out". That same individual was a former banker and retired before he was 50. So, I'm not sure what segment/percentage of the population those wealthy individuals play in this hobby, but somehow TLG skillfully 'caters' to all budgets. Granted, some old/new sets are beyond our means, but take from it what you can afford and makes you happy. It's all about a healthy balance. Some try to offset the hobby by setting up stores on BrickLink ... all you need is to find what works for YOU.

While I certainly appreciate the tremendous effort already invested to put all of this together, it seems many of the studded parts, especially around the two superstructure battery boxes, might be difficult to get. Any chance to make such design 'fully' studless, and resort solely to flat/curved panels for styling, as in the 8043 motorized excavator?

That is absolutely true. A normal diff lock (in real life) would lock both left and right gears (in your picture). Otherwise, the middle diff gear would transmit twice the load.

My point was directed towards lego ... they call the set 'Lord of Skull SPIDER' ... and yet in the video it has only 6 legs, though 8 trans-orange parts. Other point, the English/French names are NOT the same. The French name translates to: 'The Lord of the Spiders Skeletons', but of course, that is all off-topic.

I stumbled upon this on Brickshelf and could not find any mention of it on EB. So here it is, amazing how many parts the MOCer painted, I like the metallic green the most. http://www.brickshel...ry.cgi?f=168512 Happy Perusing, and maybe this'll give you second thoughts about painting parts.

Very welcome, glad I could help. Now, I must add that, in the past, before the servo motor was introduced, and in applications where you can't have a motor keep on rotating e.g., steering, people have used a regular motor with a friction 20-teeth gear in between, That way, when the driven component reaches the max allowable position, the motor keeps on spinning (and is not blocked) and yet the clutch gear transmits no rotation.

Very nicely done. It's a pity the iPad does not have an IR feature. In contrast, most Samsung tablets do have IR, and you can turn them into remotes for your TV or anything compatible. In such case, I presume you could use the Samsung to control the Lego IR directly and no need for the EV3, correct? (You still need to port your APP to Android but that's not unsurmountable). That is, until Apple 'wakes up' and starts putting more 'features/technology' in their hardware ...

Call me a sucker for such details but, all spiders have 8 legs, and that one has only six ... humm?

I'd simplify as much as I can. An electric motor is a transducer, in a sense that it takes electrical power (voltage×current) and converts it into mechanical power (torque×rpm). As such, an electrical motor does not deliver speed nor torque. It delivers power instead. Now, how much torque/RPM depends on the mechanical load applied to that motor. In fact, each motor has a torque-rpm characteristic, which says how fast the motor spins, depending on how much load you apply to it (The converse is also true). Such power is the MAX (constant) a motor can deliver. If you want to get max torque from a motor, you need to slow it down, not by applying a smaller voltage, but by putting a series of gears to drop the RPM. There will be losses due to friction and so on, so any gear train you insert after a motor is bound to cause losses. A regular motor spins continuously as long as there is voltage applied to it. A servo motor rotates a given angle and stays there, it does not keep on moving. Maybe another way (under max voltage): 1. A regular motor will spin at MAX speed, and keeps on rotating until you disconnect it. 2. A servo motor will move to its max rotation angle (not speed) and keep that position until power is disconnected, then it returns to center. Hope this helps, otherwise ask again.

Has anyone calculated how much this beauty will cost? and what is the lower cost alternative? The approach would be to take the parts list and subtract 42009, then whatever other 'suitable' sets and the PF (those are cheaper directly from Lego, not BL)

They were first available in the Mars Mission MT-61 Crystal Reaper , and lately introduced in several Bionicle/Technic/Mindstorms sets. http://www.bricklink...colorID=11&in=A

Correct, I'm thinking a 4-speed only. I'm working on an LDD file and was able to move the center diff forward, that way there is more room in the vertical direction, and hopefully can 'cram' a transmission in there. Doing so, I also removed the unnecessary gears between the center and front/rear diffs. This is turning out to be a 'challenging' exercise. I bought the whole car assembled, but then dismantled it (for washing) and realized the connectors were in fact painted yellow (black original). You really can't tell the difference unless you hold them next to each other, at least from the outside. The guy I bought it from mentioned he'd gotten it from eBay, so for sure did not know either. Though, for the price, it was a decent deal nonetheless. Lastly, I'm not sure I like the door mechanism, a bit 'flimsy' for my taste ... but, the car looks sharp! Here is my (Work-In-Progress) LDD file http://www.brickshelf.com/cgi-bin/gallery.cgi?f=551132

222 views and not a single reply?

Many on here know of the iconic Crowkillers' car, of course. I was fortunate to get a built copy recently, took it apart, and now exploring putting a transmission in it. The space is tight. Rather than building a transmission from scratch, I thought of 'recycling' the designs from both 8880/8448 but to no avail (without success). There is simply no space to fit those. I also looked into Sariel's Enzo transmission and have more questions than answers (why does he use 2 motors?). There is also the one on Sariel's book's cover, and it looks promising, but I do not have such book (yet). Anyone has done an LXF/LDD of that? In any event, has anyone come up with a narrow footprint transmission that could fit in the Murcielago?

In some older sets, the construction was 'modular' and it made sense to label the sets. This also called for duplication as several of the bags had blue and black pins for the specific module. Nowadays somehow TLG bundles all similar parts together, this helps with their costs but also with sorting before you start building.