DLuders

317070 posted this of "A continuous variable transmission in lego, this is an automatic transmission which uses no motor or other mechanism to change gear ratio, but changes this automatically by the gears themselves.Forward: automatically switches gear ratio from 1:1 up to 5:1 Backward: gear ratio exactly 5:1 2 Power XL motors, one for the left side, one for the right side. The gear ratio is changed automatically by the gears themselves by detecting the power which they exert on their surroundings, which happens separately for the left and the right side. The force at which this happens can be controlled by a lego spring. This mechanism normally uses 2 differentials per motor, but then when the wheeles are blocked while in reverse, the motor still keeps spinning, and the maximum torque on the wheels is equal to the torque caused by friction inside the differentials. This is no good, but by adding a third differential this problem is solved. Now in reverse the gears act just the same as a regular 5:1 gear set. This robot can drive fairly well, however, the small gears inside the ouput differentials can't handle the torque from a power XL motor and break in 2 pieces when the robot is pushing against an object. The clicking sound is caused by an oscillating part in the gears, which is perfectly normal ;-) it isn't a bad gear connection or something breaking down. It is caused by the robot lying upside down, otherwise gravity prevents it from oscillating."

Nice MOC! It looks like the two Technic Shock Absorbers provide a "return-to-center steering" action:

The WHEELS are Bricklink Part 44772, "Wheel 56mm D. x 34mm Technic Racing Medium". They are The Lego Group (TLG) Part 4211845. The TIRES are a new size (94.3 x 38 R). They are TLG Part 4610381; they don't have a Bricklink number yet.

@ AlvinB: Do you have still have ALL of these cranes intact? How do you transport them to BrickFair, and how long does it take to set up one of these cranes for public display? I bet the neighborhood kids know you as "The Lego Guy"! Do you let any of them play with your cranes?

@ Fyredog: The 8479 Sticker Set is available on Bricklink.

Here is the Inanimate Reason website. Perhaps you are more interested in the Minds-i offerings (which uses Lego-like components and commercially-available Radio Control elements):

This is a nice Audi R8! There must be an invisible Lego Technic Figure operating all of the yellow levers! Do you have plans to place a slinky body on the chassis? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vpueBMBpftk

I like this very much, along with the your other MOCs. Your own music on the YouTube video is very good too. Do you have plans to add Building Instructions for the backhoe to the Jurgens Technic Corner download page?

Grepin uploaded the English instructions here.

@ alirezamalik: Nice Chevy! Could you tell us some details about your MOC? How long did it take to build it?

The 8366 Lego Supersonic RC set has these parts that contain key Radio Control (RC) components. I don't know of any alternate WITH INSTRUCTIONS.

On his Flickr photostream, "Good old Lego Builder" posted 6 pictures of his studded Lego Scania L76 Appels tow truck. He wrote that it was his "...first attempt at Lego building after some 20 years or more. Opened my old boxes with Lego and created this Scania L76 tow truck, based on the real one of Appels Autobedrijven Waalwijk of the Netherlands. The boom is extendable. Backwheels have suspension."

On his Flickr photostream, Ape_Fight posted 17 pictures of his completed Fiat 682/RN2 Bartoletti. He wrote that it has "Full Power Functions remote control, opening doors, dropping tailgate, lowering top deck, detailed interior."

I don't believe that the 66318 and 66359 Lego Technic Superpacks were marketed at all in the USA. In fact, the latest Lego catalog distributed by mail did not have any Technic sets in it at all. Perhaps the Superpacks would be most popular in Germany (reportedly the #1 buyer of Technic sets).

On his website, French AFOL Nico71 has some good tips on "How to Create a Building Instruction." He has some written tips on that website, plus this 24-minute :

Here is the Polish-to-English translation of the original LUGPol post, where he wrote: "Quite recently I bought a solar Lego and I wanted to use it in a project. Renewable energy is immediately associated theme of something that is natural - so he had to be a beast. I thought why not try something that walks?....Rolling mechanism is very easy, consisting of: 7x 24z [seven 24-tooth gears], 2x 8z [two 8-tooth gears], and 1x worm gear. Its effect can be seen in the pictures / video. It is powered by a mini-motor with a ratio 1:24. "Solar panel provides only 3V, so insect is very slow. The turtle will overtake him:) Speed ​​20 cm / minute is staggering. The best moves are on the flat, not too slippery surfaces." Here is the YouTube video by skorupa/ skorupa2009: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O8yURX6qMJU

Ever since the Lego Power Functions System (PFS) was launched in 2007 with the 8275 Motorized Bulldozer set, the Lego Technic "flagships" (released in the summer) have been more daring and complex with each passing year. The 8297 Off-Roader II (from 2008), 8258 Crane Truck (from 2009), 8043 Motorized Excavator (from 2010), and 8110 Unimog U400 (to be released in 2011) are all well-received. The question is, what should The Lego Group do for an encore? What would you want as the next (2012) Technic flagship? Does it have to be a wheeled vehicle, or can it be something else? What kinds of features do you want it to have?

One could substitute the new Lego W979667 Solar Panel instead. According to its description on LegoEducation.us , "The LEGO® Solar Panel provides sufficient power to operate the LEGO Energy Meter and motors. It delivers 5V, 4mA in direct light from a 60W incandescent bulb positioned 25 cm from the solar panel (2000 lux)." It's Part 9667 on Bricklink. On Philo's "LEGO® 9V Technic Motors Compared Characteristics" webpage, one can see that the old-style 71427 9V motor has a no-load current of 3.5 milliAmps, and can operate at ~200 rpm at 5 volts. The key may be to place the Insect-Bot in FULL SUNLIGHT, which would allow it to generate more current than a mere 60-Watt incandescent light bulb placed 25 cm away (2000 lux). In this Wikipedia article about "Lux", full daylight (not direct sun) has a brightness of 10,000-25,000 lux, and direct sunlight has 32,000-130,000 lux. On this TechnicBRICKS post, the catalog for the new Solar Panel adds that it can deliver "...5V, 20mA in direct light from a 60W incandescent bulb positioned 8cm from the panel (>10.000 lux)." So, even more current can be available in full daylight outdoors. Here's a short by Sparky1701 that shows a "Lego Solar-Powered Robot" operating via a flashlight (torch) indoors. Two old-type (3V) Solar Cells operate two motors for steering ability. "It's a very easy build--each LEGO solar panel is connected to a separate LEGO motor. Each motor has an independant driving wheel. When there's more light on one panel, the motor conencted to it drives faster--therefore the vehicle turns:"

According to this Bricklink inventory of the 4500 Rebel Snowspeeder set, there is a 2584c07 "String Reel 2 x 2 Complete with String and Dark Bluish Gray Grappling Hook". In LDDextended mode, if you do a search for the term "string" in the top-left corner of the LDD program screen, there appears a "String PP 0.3 0.30m Black" that you can use.

As noted on this Lego Technic Designers Blog post, the winner of the June 2011 Lego Technic Challenge is TLT803's Rail-Mounted Harbor Crane -- "This is my model of a rail mounted harbor crane. It has three RC functions: drive, lateral travel of the trolley, and raising and lowering of the container clamp. It can lift a maximum of 9.0lbs." PRIZE:

Over on TechnicBRICKS, Conchas/ Conchinhas recently posted a HUGE, extensive TechReview 13 of the 8110 Unimog U400, to include of the 7-part YouTube video series. In the TechReview, he discusses the possible errors in the Building Instructions noted on Eurobricks. is about "The Steering System":

In the Summer of 2010 (when the 8043 Motorized Excavator had problems with its Linear Actuators), it took about 6 weeks for The Lego Group to fix the problem and make replacement LAs available to its customers.

@ Audosoft: Once again we ask, how is your software different/better than the free Brickset online inventory system? "Keep track of your LEGO collection at Brickset! Brickset makes it easy to keep track of your LEGO collection and the sets you want. Simply search the site in the normal way then use the tick-boxes in the results list to mark sets as owned or wanted. You can now also record how many of each set you own, too! If you have your collection recorded at Lugnet you can import it to Brickset and start enjoying our enhanced features in no time at all. You can also send your collection to Peeron to get an inventory of the parts you own. To record and view your collection you must first log in. If you haven't already registered, register now -- it's free and easy!"

@ legodac: If you run Windows, use this key sequence: Start-->Control Panel-->System and Maintenance-->System. The "System Type" should list whether you have a 32-bit or 64-bit Operating System.

No, not again! It seems that (for the second summer in a row) the Lego Technic flagships have not been fully tested before releasing them. I suppose it's better to fix the problem(s) now before most of the world gets ahold of the 8110 Unimog set.