the unofficial lego® technic builder's guide

354 Pages·2012·23.88 MB·English

™
WHAT WILL YOU BUILD?
THE UNOFFICIAL
The LEGO® Technic system opens a new realm of building  Build custom differentials, suspensions, transmissions,
possibilities. Using motors, gears, pneumatics, pulleys, and steering systems ®
linkages, and more, you can design LEGO models that  Pick the right motor for the job—and transform its proper-
realy move. ties to suit your needs LEGO TECHNIC
The Unofficial LEGO Technic Builder’s Guide is filled with  Combine studfull and studless building styles for a stun-
building tips for creating strong yet elegant machines and ning look
mechanisms with the Technic system. Author Paweł “Sariel”  Create remote-controlled vehicles, lighting systems,
Kmiec wil teach you the foundations of LEGO Technic build- motorized compresors, and pneumatic engines BUILDER’S GUIDE
ing, from simple machines to advanced mechanics, even
This beautifully illustrated, full-color book will inspire
explaining how to create realistic to-scale models. Sariel, a
you with ideas for building amazing machines like tanks with
world-renowned LEGO Technic expert, offers unique insight
suspended treads, supercars, cranes, bulldozers, and much
into mechanical principles like torque, power translation, and
more. Your Technic adventure starts now! Paweł “Sariel” Kmiec
gear ratios, all using Technic bricks. You’ll learn how to:
about the author
 Create sturdy connections that can withstand serious
stress Paweł “Sariel” Kmiec (http://sariel.pl/ ) is a prolific blogger
 Re-create specialized LEGO pieces like casings and and Technic model builder. He is YouTube’s most popular
u-joints, and build solutions like Schmidt and Oldham LEGO Technic builder, a guest blogger for the official LEGO
couplings, when no standard piece will do Technic blog, and a 2012 LEGO Ambassador.
INSPIRATIONAL MODELS, COMPREHENSIVE BUILDING ADVICE, AND
BUILDING INSTRUCTIONS FOR OVER 40 MECHANISMS
THE F I N EST I N G E E K E NTE RTA I N M E NT™ THIS BOOK IS NOT AUTHORIZED OR ENDORSED BY THE LEGO GROUP.
www.nostarch.com
PRICE: $29.95 ($30.95 CDN) SHELVE IN: HOBBIES/LEGO
Kmiec
®
THE UNOFFICIAL LEGO TECHNIC BUILDER’S GUIDE
®
The Unofficial lego Technic
BUilder’s gUide
The Unofficial
®
lego Technic
BUilder’s gUide
Paweł “Sariel” Kmiec´
®
The Unofficial lego Technic BUilder’s gUide. Copyright © 2013 by Paweł “Sariel” Kmiec´ .
All rights reserved. No part of this work may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or
mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage or retrieval system, without the prior written
permission of the copyright owner and the publisher.
Printed in China
First printing
16 15 14 13 12 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
Figures 3-17, 3-18, 3-19, 3-20, 3-21, 3-22, 3-23, 3-24, 3-44, 4-5,
ISBN-10: 1-59327-434-3 6-11, 10-24, 11-29, 11-37, 14-16, 16-4, 19-3, 19-4, 19-8, 19-14, and
ISBN-13: 978-1-59327-434-4 19-15 by Eric “Blakbird” Albrecht
Figure 15-13 by Jano Gallo, used under Creative Commons Attribution-
ShareAlike 3.0 Unported
Publisher: William Pollock
Production Editor: Alison Law Blueprint images (Figures 19-2, 19-5, 19-6, 19-18, 19-19, 19-20,
Cover Illustration: Eric “Blakbird” Albrecht 20-1, 20-6, 20-7, 20-8, and 20-9) are royalty-free images purchased
Interior Design: Octopod Studios from The-Blueprints.com.
Developmental Editor: Tyler Ortman
Author’s photo by Magda Andrzejewska
Technical Reviewer: Eric “Blakbird” Albrecht
Copyeditor: Julianne Jigour The following software has been used for illustrations:
Compositors: Lynn L’Heureux and Riley Hoffman MLCAD by Michael Lachmann
Proofreader: Paula L. Fleming LDView by Travis Cobbs and Peter Bartfai
Indexer: BIM Indexing & Proofreading Services LPub by Kevin Clague
For information on book distributors or translations, please contact No Starch Press, Inc. directly:
No Starch Press, Inc.
38 Ringold Street, San Francisco, CA 94103
phone: [phone]; fax: [phone];
about the
author
Paweł “Sariel” Kmiec´ is a LEGO Technic enthusiast based
in Warsaw, Poland. A prolific blogger and model builder,
Sariel’s LEGO creations have been featured in many maga-
zines and the world’s most popular LEGO blogs, and have
even prompted the LEGO Group to use his help in developing
some of its products. Sariel is a guest blogger for the official
LEGO Technic website and is a 2012 LEGO Ambassador for
Poland. He is YouTube’s most viewed LEGO Technic builder.
Check out his models and more at http://sariel.pl/.
about the
tech reviewer
Eric “Blakbird” Albrecht is an aerospace engineer living in
the northwest United States. He maintains the globally
known Technicopedia, in which he documents the history of
every Technic model beginning in 1977, all of which are on
display on his shelves. Eric is also an avid user of LEGO CAD
tools and has generated over 1,000 photo-realistic renders
of official models and MOCs (My Own Creations). He has
created dozens of sets of instructions for some of the best
Technic MOCs from around the world, averaging 1,500 parts
each. Check out his site at http://www.technicopedia.com.
brief contents
foreword by Fernando Correia.......................................................................................................................................xv
preface ................................................................................................................................................................................xvii
acknowledgments ...........................................................................................................................................................xviii
part I basics
chapter 1 basic concepts ............................................................................................................................................ 3
chapter 2 basic units and pieces .............................................................................................................................. 9
chapter 3 studless or studfull? ............................................................................................................................... 17
chapter 4 axles, bushes, and joints .......................................................................................................................31
part II mechanics
chapter 5 gears and power transmission basics ...............................................................................................43
chapter 6 chains and pulleys ...................................................................................................................................57
chapter 7 levers and linkages ................................................................................................................................. 67
chapter 8 custom mechanical solutions ...............................................................................................................77
chapter 9 the LEGO pneumatic system ............................................................................................................. 103
chapter 10 pneumatic devices ................................................................................................................................ 115
chapter 11 building strong ...................................................................................................................................... 137
part III motors
chapter 12 an inventory of LEGO motors ........................................................................................................... 163
chapter 13 LEGO Power Functions system .........................................................................................................171
part IV advanced mechanics
chapter 14 wheeled steering systems ..................................................................................................................191
chapter 15 wheeled suspension systems ............................................................................................................ 203
chapter 16 tracked vehicles and suspensions .....................................................................................................241
chapter 17 transmissions .........................................................................................................................................251
chapter 18 adders and subtractors ...................................................................................................................... 277
part V models
chapter 19 form vs. function .................................................................................................................................. 295
chapter 20 scaling a model .................................................................................................................................... 307
chapter 21 the modeling process .......................................................................................................................... 315
afterword ......................................................................................................................................................................... 325
index ...................................................................................................................................................................................326
updates and additional resources ............................................................................................................................. 334
contents in detail
foreword by Fernando Correia ................................................................................xv
preface ..................................................................................................................xvii
acknowledgments .................................................................................................xviii
part I basICs
1
basic concepts .......................................................................................................... 3
speed...................................................................................................................................................................................... 3
torque .................................................................................................................................................................................... 3
power ..................................................................................................................................................................................... 3
friction ................................................................................................................................................................................... 4
traction .................................................................................................................................................................................. 4
rolling resistance ................................................................................................................................................................ 4
backlash ................................................................................................................................................................................ 5
efficiency ............................................................................................................................................................................... 5
vehicular concepts .............................................................................................................................................................. 5
driveshaft ..................................................................................................................................................................... 6
drivetrain ..................................................................................................................................................................... 6
driveline ........................................................................................................................................................................ 6
steering lock ................................................................................................................................................................ 6
turning radius ............................................................................................................................................................. 6
FWD, RWD, 4×4, 4WD, and AWD .......................................................................................................................... 7
weight distribution .................................................................................................................................................... 7
center of gravity ......................................................................................................................................................... 7
ground clearance ....................................................................................................................................................... 8
2
basic units and pieces .............................................................................................. 9
the Technic brick ................................................................................................................................................................. 9
pins, for joining and rotating .........................................................................................................................................10
beams, the studless alternative ....................................................................................................................................12
the half stud as the minimum building unit .............................................................................................................. 14
two tricks for building with half studs ........................................................................................................................15
3
studless or studfull? .............................................................................................. 17
LEGO evolving ................................................................................................................................................................... 17
studfull building ................................................................................................................................................................18
reinforcing studfull constructions ....................................................................................................................... 19
studfull advantages .................................................................................................................................................20
studfull disadvantages ...........................................................................................................................................20
studless building ...............................................................................................................................................................20
creating rigid studless connections ....................................................................................................................21
studless advantages ................................................................................................................................................22
studless disadvantages ..........................................................................................................................................23
combining the styles ........................................................................................................................................................23
get inspired by Technic sets .................................................................................................................................. 24
methods for connecting bricks and beams .......................................................................................................27
even vs. odd ..............................................................................................................................................................28
4
axles, bushes, and joints ........................................................................................ 31
axles .....................................................................................................................................................................................31
standard axles ..........................................................................................................................................................32
modified axles ..........................................................................................................................................................33
flexible axles..............................................................................................................................................................34
bushes .................................................................................................................................................................................35
half bush ....................................................................................................................................................................35
regular bush ..............................................................................................................................................................37
bush with a long pin................................................................................................................................................37
universal joints ..................................................................................................................................................................38
part II meChanICs
5
gears and power transmission basics ..................................................................... 43
drivers, followers, and idlers .........................................................................................................................................44
gear ratios ..........................................................................................................................................................................45
efficiency and gears .........................................................................................................................................................46
backlash and gears ......................................................................................................................................................... 47
controlling rotational direction ..................................................................................................................................... 47
an inventory of gears ......................................................................................................................................................48
worm gear .................................................................................................................................................................48
8-tooth gear ............................................................................................................................................................. 49
single-bevel 12-tooth gear ...................................................................................................................................50
double-bevel 12-tooth gear .................................................................................................................................50
14-tooth gear ...........................................................................................................................................................50
16-tooth gear ...........................................................................................................................................................50
16-tooth gear with clutch .....................................................................................................................................50
single-bevel 20-tooth gear ...................................................................................................................................51
single-bevel 20-tooth gear with pin hole .........................................................................................................51
double-bevel 20-tooth gear .................................................................................................................................51
24-tooth gear ...........................................................................................................................................................52
24-tooth gear with clutch .....................................................................................................................................52
24-tooth gear with crown .....................................................................................................................................53
36-tooth gear ...........................................................................................................................................................53
40-tooth gear ...........................................................................................................................................................53
differential gears .....................................................................................................................................................53
viii contents in detail
turntables ..................................................................................................................................................................54
knob wheel ................................................................................................................................................................55
Hailfire Droid wheel gear ......................................................................................................................................55
obsolete gears ..........................................................................................................................................................56
6
chains and pulleys .................................................................................................. 57
chains ...................................................................................................................................................................................57
pulleys.................................................................................................................................................................................. 59
string and pulley systems ..............................................................................................................................................61
simple pulley system...............................................................................................................................................62
differential pulley system ......................................................................................................................................63
power pulley system ...............................................................................................................................................65
7
levers and linkages ................................................................................................ 67
levers ................................................................................................................................................................................... 67
classes of levers .......................................................................................................................................................68
from levers to linkages........................................................................................................................................... 69
linkages ...............................................................................................................................................................................71
Chebyshev linkage ...................................................................................................................................................73
Hoeken’s linkage ......................................................................................................................................................73
pantograph ................................................................................................................................................................73
Peaucellier–Lipkin cell............................................................................................................................................. 74
Sarrus linkage .......................................................................................................................................................... 74
Scott-Russell linkage ..............................................................................................................................................75
scissor linkage ..........................................................................................................................................................75
Watt’s linkage ........................................................................................................................................................... 76
8
custom mechanical solutions ................................................................................. 77
a stronger differential .....................................................................................................................................................77
differential locks ...............................................................................................................................................................78
a custom differential ..................................................................................................................... 79
an axle with a differential lock ..................................................................................................... 81
ratchets ...............................................................................................................................................................................82
linear clutches ...................................................................................................................................................................83
eccentric mechanisms .....................................................................................................................................................84
Scotch yokes ......................................................................................................................................................................85
a scotch yoke ................................................................................................................................. 86
Oldham couplings .............................................................................................................................................................87
an oldham coupling ....................................................................................................................... 87
Schmidt couplings ............................................................................................................................................................88
stepper motors ..................................................................................................................................................................88
Geneva mechanisms ........................................................................................................................................................89
a geneva mechanism ..................................................................................................................... 90
reverse lights .....................................................................................................................................................................90
flashing lights ....................................................................................................................................................................91
contents in detail ix