Hrafn

Thanks @2GodBDGlory! I hadn’t realized the second edition didn’t add much (and I agree a third edition could be great.) Maybe I will start with an Isogawa book for the holidays and go from there. Sariel’s book is too complex for my son at the moment.

My 6 year old has gotten into Technic and wants a book on the subject. I have a dog-eared version of Sariel’s first edition Unofficial Lego Technic book but I would like to get him his own book; unfortunately it looks like the second edition is out of print. Isogawa’s books seem too simple for him. What would you suggest for a precocious 6 year old - ideally something he can get value from now but grow into over time? Thanks!

@Stereo how about this? It does make orange/brown seem really dominant. Which makes the limited red selection look even sadder.

@Stereocould you explain what you mean by “stone” for nougat and dark orange? I organized the colors that way because I think Dark Orange is saturated while Nougat is desaturated. I agree that some Dark colors are darker than others, but no hue/column has both kinds of dark so I kept them all in one row (except for the browns, which I don’t think fit in any of the 9 hues). The blue-green colors are definitely less consistent with one another than the other hues are. Having 9 hue columns does sort of align with Cyan/Magenta/Yellow from the CMYK scheme, since those three are evenly spaced.

Thanks @Murdoch17. Sand red would be nice to have back but I would also like a less pink version to replicate the way most bricks look, especially in my New England town full of old mill buildings.

@Terron969 you are more likely to get a good answer if you ask in the Technic forum.

@idlemarvel I think Lego just made part/color combinations when they needed to - and they must not have felt a need for a gray 2x2 until 1984. As @JesseNight said, gray was mostly used for Castle sets at first (starting in 1984) and Classic Space (starting in 1979, but requiring fewer basic bricks since the sets were mostly vehicles). So prior to 1984 there just wasn’t a need for a gray 2x2.

Brick 2x2 (part 3003) was first available in the old light gray color in 1984: https://www.bricklink.com/catalogItemIn.asp?P=3003&v=3&in=A&colorID=9 Now I am nostalgic for the set it came in (King’s Castle, one of the first sets I ever got as a kid.)

I am sure there are many ways to do it, but this is the way I make sense of the current solid colors (other than those mostly devoted to skin tones). Dark, Saturated, Light, Pastel, Brick, Sand, and Fluorescent are the way I think of the rows. This makes Reddish Orange the “true” (saturated) orange, and Bright Light Orange the “true” yellow. Brown and Dark Brown don’t quite fit into the structure. I am really appreciative of the extensive modern color palette, having grown up with the very limited palette of the 80s - but looking at these colors makes me really wish we had a Brick Red color (similar to Tan / Brick Yellow and Medium Blue in terms of saturation and lightness) so we could build realistic brick buildings. Pastel Green would be nice, to add more foliage colors, and Light Red (like Coral but not fluorescent) could be handy as well. How do you organize the colors, and what key gaps do you see in the current palette?

Here is a two-way centrifugal clutch, based on the classic one by @piterx and using the “minions goggle” piece (https://www.bricklink.com/v2/catalog/catalogitem.page?P=68325#T=C) It isn’t 100% reliable with a PF-M motor run from a Lego LiPO battery, but at higher speeds (buggy driven by a BuWizz 2) it definitely is. Adding one of these helps a bit with reliability: https://www.bricklink.com/v2/catalog/catalogitem.page?P=11833#T=C

I think that is the first time I have seen someone find a good use for those Bionicle frames - nicely done. And the truck is great too 😊

I realize this was four years ago, but I was wondering if you had any further development of this project. The drifts seem quite well controlled for a Lego vehicle - what do you attribute your success to?

I need a two-way freewheel, not one-way. Piterx’s solution, while elegant, is also slightly too large for my application - three studs is the limit. The initial design I posted works except that it sometimes binds when the input is stopped and the output is free wheeling. A rubber band would help the parallelogram linkage stay in a square when the input is not turning, so that might be one direction to go.

Can anyone improve my bi-directional freewheel? It works ok (though only with the old, un-reinforced 8t gears). Input is yellow.

Do the 12 and 20 tooth spur gears mesh differently than just using the double bevel versions in a spur configuration? Are the spur gears less likely to skip under high torque?