Technic Parts We Would Find Useful

[Zerobricks]

3 minutes ago, msk6003 said:

Considering recently introduced parts, 3x19 frame and 11x19 technic base plate, we need 19L liftarm too.

I think it would be too fragile.

[oracid]

5 hours ago, Zerobricks said:

I think it would be too fragile.

I think not.

I made and I use a 25L liftarm, it is not fragile at all.

[2GodBDGlory]

7 hours ago, oracid said:

I think not.

I made and I use a 25L liftarm, it is not fragile at all.

Well, I'd guess it would be a situation where builders who understand the limitations of the part would be able to use it properly and usefully, but less experienced builders might have unrealistic expectations of its strength, and put it into situations where it would break.

[howitzer]

16 hours ago, gyenesvi said:

If so then why are other themes adding new (even technic) parts and recolors like crazy? Some of them never used in the technic line. They are even adding technic parts that could have been very useful if actual technic usages would have also been considered. Just a few recent examples:

 

Some more buildable/reusable towball arm would have been more useful.

 

Would have been more useful with 2L pin instead of that long bar that sits there uselessly.

 

Not bad, but expected this with 2L axle first, maybe more usages for that variant.

 

Recolored for a botanical set where it's hardly visible, but not for multiple recent green technic sets..?

Such a part would have never been recolored for a technic set I guess. Especially not to a color that is very similar to the only existing color (yellow). I don't even understand how this got recolored, even the yellow would have looked okay in that star wars set..

You know, I'm not a part or set designer nor a design director or in any other position in TLG for that matter, so it's a bit hard for me to think of justifications for these very specific parts. All I can say is that someone inside the company needed/asked those specific parts and got what they wished while others maybe didn't. I'm not saying that TLG (or rather the people inside) works completely rationally either, there is probably some "unnecessary" part designs while other "necessary" ones get overlooked. The bottom line is that they can't and won't cater to every wish of every AFOL or anyone else, there are limits and those limits are not known to anyone outside the company. I'm only making guesses as to what common sense about this sort of manufacturing says, coupled with my knowledge of the product and its history.

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These examples just tell me that 1) the addition of new parts is not really a big issue, 2) they don't really try hard to bring the maximum out of the part selection. I guess they have some part quotas to limit new ones, but they don't really try to think systematically or negotiate across themes.

My guess is that they have quotas for various themes/departments and sometimes the quota in some theme is underfilled by necessary parts so they get stuff that's nice to have but not really necessary. It may also very well be that someone directing the whole process in the management gives better quota for their favourite theme while other themes get the short end of the stick - hard to say but very possible wherever there is humans making decisions. It's also very much possible that they don't coordinate much across themes, especially with Technic, as it's so different from other themes.

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Actually, the most practical ones missing are only the 4L and the 6L, not too many parts.

Bricks are quite different in my opinion, because in system builds, it is much easier to join bricks to form longer parts. Bricks are meant to be stacked with overlaps and also they are designed visually to form a continuous looking surface. These are not true for liftarms though.

Even though I wished for many lengths of links in this thread, in practise, introducing just the 5L and the 7L would go a long way already, exactly because we can almost build 5L and 7L suspensions, all other parts are available (towball arms, driveshafts), except the steering links. In fact, if I had to bet, I would have thought the 5L to appear sooner than the perpendicular version of the 6L.

6L isn't really needed with the thin versions around while 4L would definitely be useful, as would the 5L and 7L links. You're right that those are not much to ask for so I hope the designers find a way to introduce them as soon as possible.

I don't think bricks are that different, and plates and tiles especially not so, odd lengths would definitely be useful (and 5L plate actually was released recently so there's that) but I'm not holding my breath for them either.

[Thierry-GearsManiac]

What about a zero-backlash clutch ring-like part ?

By fitting clutch gears at each end of such a part, we could also build compound gears which can rotate freely on axles : useful for gear stacking in advanced and more compact mechanisms like clock movements.

(Currently, only the Z16/Z24 combination already exists as the v.2 differential body (6573)).

 

[Ngoc Nguyen]

I want a pair of gears that fit into a 3x5 space and has a higher meshing ratio than 12:20. The only smaller combination available is 8:24 but the 24z gear sticks out so it is just inconvenient to build around.

Edited November 5, 2024 by Ngoc Nguyen

[LegoTT]

15 hours ago, Thierry-GearsManiac said:

zero-backlash

That would be a nice thing to bring to lego !

A zero-blacklash actuator with irreversability, like a mini-LA without backlash would be great for fixing all these backlashing directions !

[gyenesvi]

7 hours ago, Ngoc Nguyen said:

I want a pair of gears that fit into a 3x5 space and has a higher meshing ratio than 12:20. The only smaller combination available is 8:24 but the 24z gear sticks out so it is just inconvenient to build around.

That would be neat, but I don't think anything bigger would fit into the 3x3 space. I think even a 22T gear would touch the limits, but not sure.

[efferman]

An 10z/22z combo fits into this space

 

[gyenesvi]

4 hours ago, efferman said:

An 10z/22z combo fits into this space

 

That's interesting!

[Thierry-GearsManiac]

On 11/5/2024 at 9:54 AM, Ngoc Nguyen said:

I want a pair of gears that fit into a 3x5 space and has a higher meshing ratio than 12:20. The only smaller combination available is 8:24 but the 24z gear sticks out so it is just inconvenient to build around.

"the 24z gear sticks out" : do you mean that its outer diameter is too big for building close to it (it indeed doesn't fit into à 3L space) ? Or do you mean that its teeth do skip too easily, even in the presence of a half thickness spacer (bushing, thin liftarm) ?

[howitzer]

1 hour ago, Thierry-GearsManiac said:

"the 24z gear sticks out" : do you mean that its outer diameter is too big for building close to it (it indeed doesn't fit into à 3L space) ? Or do you mean that its teeth do skip too easily, even in the presence of a half thickness spacer (bushing, thin liftarm) ?

It doesn't fit into 3L space. Bush-like parts however can be fitted next to it, as the recess is just deep enough to allow the teeth to pass (as is with 8T gear).

[SNIPE]

I was thinking of wanting lego to make a 2L fric pin but with a stud on one end (and NO stopper) but I think a stud with a 1L bar under it would be even more useful because it would work with:

friction pins
frictionless pins
friction axle pins
frictionless axle pins
pin block connectors (before lego made the pins have square holes 😡)
studs with bar holes
any part with an axlehole *WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO*
and so much more.
 But the bar would have to be like 1mm shorter than 1L because axle pins are funny, so it would not sit fllush with their barholes.

Edited November 27, 2024 by SNIPE

[gyenesvi]

8 hours ago, SNIPE said:

I was thinking of wanting lego to make a 2L fric pin but with a stud on one end (and NO stopper) but I think a stud with a 1L bar under it would be even more useful because it would work with:

The concept would be interesting, I could have used such a part in a recent build..

8 hours ago, SNIPE said:

But the bar would have to be like 1mm shorter than 1L because axle pins are funny, so it would not sit fllush with their barholes.

But this might be a problem, because if they'd make it 1mm shorter to make it usable with axle pins as you say (or pins with towballs), then when inserted into a regular pin, it might be too loose, because those pins hold bars best in the middle (right at the distance when those axle-pins stop the bar), so then it could become just a bit short to reach the middle firmly.

[SNIPE]

1 hour ago, gyenesvi said:

The concept would be interesting, I could have used such a part in a recent build..

But this might be a problem, because if they'd make it 1mm shorter to make it usable with axle pins as you say (or pins with towballs), then when inserted into a regular pin, it might be too loose, because those pins hold bars best in the middle (right at the distance when those axle-pins stop the bar), so then it could become just a bit short to reach the middle firmly.

that's true for very short bars like the 1x1 tile round with bar on top, but it should be fine here.

its why I had to cut my 6L rigid  hoses slightly too short in order to make some 2L rigid hoses, and these work fine with normal pins as well as axle pins.

Edited November 28, 2024 by SNIPE

[msk6003]

I never thought this but recently I needed root 2 length beam.

Like diagonal part of this part. This can make 45' connection very easly.

[gyenesvi]

36 minutes ago, msk6003 said:

Like diagonal part of this part. This can make 45' connection very easly.

I have thought about that recently too, and even designed a few parts, I will post them later. I think it would be good with cross holes on the end, rotated 45 degrees, so that things on the two ends can connect in a non-diagonal direction. The length could be square of 2 or the double, as in the part above.

[SNIPE]

Oh actually, I just figured out why my 1L bar with end stud would never be made by The Lego Group.

because if you put it in the tube of a 2x2 or larger brick youll never got it out again

[SNIPE]

This but where theres only 1 3L beam and you can't separate the halves,

it would have a steel bearing ring around the inner outside which is thin though to still allow the part to have a central square hole but only on one side, the other side is round,

unlike the 28 tooth turntable, which gets locked rotationally if you slide a beam thru the middle.

Around the square hole will be 4 pinholes also. These may sound useless but are far from it.

Maybe the bearing would just be part of the 2 halves, i.e the whole part is metal

if the rollers in the bearing can't fit next to where the outer pinholes go then just put them in-between the pinholes , that way they can be bigger

Edited December 6, 2024 by SNIPE

[Aurorasaurus]

@SNIPE If you can do some drawings (ms paint will do) I can try design this part for you. Do you have access to a 3d printer?

[SNIPE]

5 hours ago, Aurorasaurus said:

@SNIPE If you can do some drawings (ms paint will do) I can try design this part for you. Do you have access to a 3d printer?

here

the 4 inner pinholes and square hole would rotate independantly to the 3 pinholes on the beam but the problem now is how will they be thru pinholes when the otherside also has pinholes, but it rotates independantly.

we cant have capped pinholes because the pins would need to go right the way to the end , if it was a capped pinhole the pin woud not go all the way in, if it was capped but the wall was moved out, then the part is slightly larger than 1L and so is useless.

the square hole on the other side is a large round hole, so that beams that go thru it do not lock both half together in rotation.

also ignore the chamfer, it wouldnt be like that on the real part.

lego should have made:

• linear saftey clutches
• small turntables,
• rotation joints
• wheel hubs
• and anything else

all use a standard connection that has no backlash! so you can swap stuff out .

As for the 3d print design,  I don't have a 3d printer but thx anyway, it would also require buying and super gluing in a ball bearing ring and 3d printed plastic is usually very weak.

I guess one fix would be to just have 2 pins on both sides  but now some parts won't fit right beside it

anyway, another 2 useful parts:

Edited December 6, 2024 by SNIPE