George Staples' Lego Technic TRANSMISSION Tutorial

[DLuders]

On MOCpages, George Staples posted this excellent Lego Technic TRANSMISSION (Gearbox) TUTORIAL. He wrote that "I've had this one in the building stages for quite a few weeks. I would have had it up sooner, but things come up. So here it is, my transmission/gearbox tutorial. I have built a couple of different transmissions here to show you different types that are out there. I also take very little to no credit for these designs. The only one I really "came up" with is the 5+R, but it was based on the 4 basic 4 speed.

"Transmissions, or gearboxes give your creation the ability to change speed, and tourque ratios. The first thing I Should go over is gear ratios. Now if you are really lazy, or just short on time, I highly recommend Sariel's Gear Ratio calculator. Heck I recommend it even if you are good at calculating gear ratios. The main reason being that it allows you to enter a whole gear system, and then enter a motor, and it will calculate the theoretical RPMs (Rotations Per Minute) and torque. It also has a handy little gear coupler, which allows you to find where you can put gears realitive to one another.

"Anyway, back to gear ratios. A gear ratio is the number of teeth of the drive gear to the follower gear. The drive gear is the gear that is being powered, and the follower gear is the gear that is connected directly to the drive gear. So if you have a drive gear with 24 teeth, and a follower gear with 8 teeth, the gear ratio would be 24:8 or when reduced, 3:1. When calculating a gear ratio, it's best to reduce the gear with the smallest amount of teeth to 1. Don't get overwhelmed with gear ratios, you can always use the previously mentioned calculator.

"I have included 4 different types of transmissions in this tutorial. They are:

Linear 5 speed:

Automatic Transmission:

4 speed + Reverse:

5 speed + Reverse:

Recommend visiting that MOCpages topic to read the explanations and the various pictures. His

demonstrates all four of the transmission gearboxes:

[timslegos]

Very helpful tutorial, i have always wanted to know more about Lego gear boxes that are used in super cars.

tim

[DLuders]

It's still hard to beat Paul Boratko's Custom Lego Technic 5-Speed Transmission Gearbox (282-piece kit that can build both of the designs seen below). Instead of the parts kit noted above, one can download the PDF Building Instructions and Parts List from Paul's Crowkillers.com website. The instructions were prepared by Eric Albrecht (Blakbird).

Edited May 26, 2012 by DLuders

[allanp]

Just to add a bit more choice there is also some of my designs.

By shear co-incidence, Sheepo came up with the same 5f+1r design for his landrover defender 110.

[1980-Something-Space-Guy]

Interesting read. I had never saw anyone make an automatic transmission out of Technic pieces, and I'm a sucker for gearboxes. Thanks for the link.

[88high]

Just to add a bit more choice there is also some of my designs.

By shear co-incidence, Sheepo came up with the same 5f+1r design for his landrover defender 110.

AllanP's designs are my favorite:) I used his gearbox in my Supercar, and it worked flawlessly. I am thinking of incorporating the AWD-2wd-difflock in my next trialtruck.

[allanp]

AllanP's designs are my favorite:) I used his gearbox in my Supercar, and it worked flawlessly. I am thinking of incorporating the AWD-2wd-difflock in my next trialtruck.

Thanks man

[sama]

I like the automatic transmission.

[legotechnicblue]

Can you make instructions allanp?

[legotechnicblue]

Or can you at least show more pictures of the bottom of the 5f+1r gearbox?

[tibivi]

That gearbox is buildable from those pictures, I had no problem with it.

give it a try

Tibivi

ps: it works great Allanp

[legotechnicblue]

I can't see what is behind/under the top level of gears. I also built the transfer case 2. Works great! Thanks

Edited March 13, 2013 by legotechnicblue

[Hei Li]

Great Post! Thanks !

[rm8]

AllanP's designs are my favorite:) I used his gearbox in my Supercar, and it worked flawlessly. I am thinking of incorporating the AWD-2wd-difflock in my next trialtruck.

Designs are perfect for supercars, but bad for trial.

The weakes part - 12t gears at diff. They will slip at obstacle when you lock diff.

Better and safer way to lock this diff is to connect rear and front axle shafts directly with another axle and drive ring.

[allanp]

Oooops, didn't see the posts after mine

Designs are perfect for supercars, but bad for trial.

The weakes part - 12t gears at diff. They will slip at obstacle when you lock diff.

Better and safer way to lock this diff is to connect rear and front axle shafts directly with another axle and drive ring.

It's the same whenever you use a diff in a trial truck, you must have some gearing down after the diff to protect those weak inner gears.

[legotechnicblue]

Thanks allanp

[legotechnicblue]

So what would you recommend for sets I should buy mainly for parts for a supercar I am planning to build. And any tips for building a supercar?

Edited April 10, 2013 by legotechnicblue

[Someonenamedjon]

this http://www.eurobricks.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=66152

[legotechnicblue]

That is the same forum we are on!

[DLuders]

@ legotechnicblue: I really don't understand why you're asking about a Supercar when this topic is about a Transmission Tutorial, but you could look at this Rebrickable webpage to consider building szecs' car from a 8070 Supercar set. You will have 84.7% of the required parts for that car by getting the 8070 set first.

Edited April 10, 2013 by DLuders

[legotechnicblue]

Ok well I am just searching for any help from the experts such as yourself as this is my first supercar and moc. Is there a certain forum I should be on for this?

[DLuders]

@ legotechnicblue: You're on the right forum, but you should (1) find the most-appropriate, existing topic to "bump" with your new post, or (2) create a new topic within this forum.

[Meatman]

@ legotechnicblue: I really don't understand why you're asking about a Supercar when this topic is about a Transmission Tutorial, but you could look at this Rebrickable webpage to consider building szecs' car from a 8070 Supercar set. You will have 84.7% of the required parts for that car by getting the 8070 set first.

Where are you seeing 84.7%? I am seeing about 1/2 of the needed parts.

[DLuders]

In Rebrickable, type in the 8070 set as one that you "own". Then, go to that hyperlink for Szecs' car above, and it will show you that you own 84.7% of the "EXACT MATCH" parts.

Edited April 10, 2013 by DLuders

[Meatman]

In Rebrickable, type in the 8070 set as one that you "own". Then, go to that hyperlink for Szecs' car above, and it will show you that you own 84.7% of the "EXACT MATCH" parts.

I am still not following you here. You mean that out of all of the parts in the 8070, 84.7 of those are exact match parts? Because his custom car has almost 2,100 parts and the 8070 only has 1,281 which is slightly more than half.

According to what I am seeing there, the 8070 has 1,007 of the same exact match parts. Are you sure that you don't have another set included in there?