LegoLord1880

The thing is I don't want to use lubrication anymore. I've had some bad experiences with olive oil leaving a residue that would gum up my pieces. If I remember right my dad still has some silicone oil that he used to put on his guns to prevent rust. Or maybe I can devise some kind of air cooling system...

How do I keep this from happening again? I thought using 40t gears as cranks would make them act like a counterweight.

So, last night I was testing out a new vacuum engine design. It was an inline 2 cylinder, with 4x4 pistons and 3 stud stroke, and had a new base and supercharger design. The supercharger had only one rotor(most have two) in an effort to save more parts and to not use up all the engine's power. I was running the engine at full throttle with a tiny Shark household vacuum and was measuring the RPM's with my tachometer. It redlined at about 2350 RPM, then slowed to 1800, and slowed even more to 1000, idled a few seconds around 650, and died. I tried turning the flywheel to restart the engine but it was stuck. After taking the engine apart, I discovered one of the pistons was stuck to the cylinder wall. It took a few blows against the Lego table to separate the components. There was a gouge in the piston, and an orange smear on the cylinder wall from one of the plates which I made the piston from. I'm pretty sure the two parts were joined by a sonic weld from the engine's vibrations and some heat from friction. Well, at least the new supercharger worked. Has this happened the anyone else before? What might have caused this, and was it really a sonic weld? I'm Interested to hear your feedback! Here's a link to some pictures on Bricksafe: https://bricksafe.com/pages/LegoLord1880/vacuum-engine-sonic-weld

Sorry, I fixed the permissions so everyone can see the picture.

They didn't put in that little tab because it would interfere with the shift forks.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Rplc_ztfolJY_4FcBVGWGT810qldf8Wb/view?usp=drive_link Here's a picture of one of my latest innovations: a working hit-and-miss Lego engine. I took my single side valve engine design and modified the valve to use a cam, and made a special governor mechanism. When the engine speeds beyond a set RPM, the governor pulls away the intake cam and the engine coasts until the governor closes again. This pushes the cam back into place, allowing the cycle to repeat. I designed the valve so the 1x4 panel piece closes off the vacuum hose while allowing the cylinder to breathe freely. Under no load, the engine fires about once every 5-6 rotations. Under a slight load, it can fire every rotation like a normal 2 stroke vacuum engine. Out of all the vacuum engines I've built in the past 5 years, this one sounds the best BY FAR.

I've tried that mechanism before but it takes up a lot of parts and space. It also can't keep the stick from coming out of gear. I think I'll adapt the mechanism from the Rebrickable link I posted. Thanks

I would go for that, but I only have one old style 2L driving ring and only 2 gray 16t transmission gears. Also, I don't like how they can hold position between neutral or in gear. I guess Lego's parts designers 35 years ago didn't think we'd expect so much from these pieces of plastic. Another reason I don't go with the old style is so I don't need a billion old style extensions to use 20t, 24t, or 12t transmission gears. The thing with shifting a four speed fast is the up-right-up motion from second to third gear ends up being a diagonal motion, and I accidentally engage second and third at the same time. That or I move the stick too far on that first "up" motion and it goes into 1st gear. An instant downshift like that is a good way to break stuff, especially since I usually put reverse gears in the top-left position.

Ok, I fixed the permissions so anyone with the link can see the picture. I think your setup would work, but it's not compact enough for my liking. Wear between the driving ring and shock absorber raises some concern. Nice username!

By the way, here is one of my shift linkage setups on a 4 speed manual. The 2 sides are symmetrical, with pieces removed for visibility. https://drive.google.com/file/d/1RSKHSAS-QLBC1ZzhbdCo6_61f7QC1Omu/view?usp=drive_link

That sounds like a good plan, but i'm fresh out of Lego motors that are are not burned up (I have a bad habit of overloading them). Recently I saw a MOC on Rebrickable that used rubber bands to pull a 1L beam into the groove on a 3L driving ring. I have built the MOC, but I don't know if his mechanism will hold up when stressed. I need to shift pretty fast when rev-matching my vacuum engines. Here's a link to the MOC:https://rebrickable.com/mocs/MOC-16840/Pleasedontspammebro/5-speed-gearbox-with-realistic-h-pattern-shift-neutral-and-optional-reverse/#details

A few months ago I decided to bite the bullet and order 3 of Lego's new 2L driving rings from the McLaren P1 so I could keep my parts up to date (and because I mostly build with studded Technic parts). I've been experimenting with manual transmissions with shift linkages using the new shift forks. I ran into problems getting the rings to hold in or out of gear like my 3L rings can. Is there a reliable way of getting the rings to snap into gear and hold position?

If you are trying to get POWER out of a Lego vacuum engine, you'll want multiple cylinders(3 cylinders are EXCELLENT at this) If you're going for a speed record, a single-cylinder engine is the way to go. if you really want a faster engine with more than one cylinder, I suggest you make valve timing for each individual cylinder, so they don't "stumble" over each other when firing.

HI everybody! A while back(before I did Rebrickable or EB), I built a transmission out of a Ford Model T. It is much different than almost any other gearboxes today, whether Lego or real. The real one from 1908 was like a modern automatic transmission. it had 2 planetary gear drums, one for first and second gear(the car only had 2 forward gear ratios to offer), and another for reverse. There was also a solid metal drum in the transmission for the singular brake, and a handbrake lever in the cab which put the car into neutral, then pulled the brake pedal to the floor.My Lego MOC of about a year ago only had the clutch and handbrake for controls( please look up a video of how to drive a model T to know what I'm talking about). I used a differential clutch for that MOC, which had a rubber tire connected by gear to a differential case. stopping this tire made the clutch transmit power. this was connected by a linkage to the changeover catch for a 2 speed manual gearbox. When shifting slowly from first to second gear, this would happen: the linkage would open the clutch, move the driving ring past neutral and into second gear, then close(engage) the clutch. this linkage was always reliable for me, and always resulted in a very smooth gear change.Would anybody be interested in instructions for something like this, but with all 3 pedals(clutch/shifter, brake and reverse)? I originally had this as a workbench post on Rebrickable. Please private message me here: - link removed - with your questions, comments, or concerns. Thank you for reading!