TOOLS

Gearing Ratio Calculator

Check out the Beta version my Lego Technic Gearing Ratio Calculator Tool:

This tool allows you to upload your Lego Technic project .ldr file and analyse the gearing ratios between any two connected gears or axles. Currently supports most gears, axles, worm gears, some differentials, cv joints and universal joints. See the video tutorial on how to use it. It is a work in progress and I would love to hear your feedback on it. Click here to try it out.

Note: As of 25 Septemeber 2021 the tool supports CV joints, linear speed via the radius of the component and improves on the frame rate for higher numbers of parts in a model).

Technic Elbow Art

This is a tool to create "Lego Technic Elbow Art" - a series of intertwined elbow pieces as a single sequence. Choose your dimensions and search parameters and search for new dense solutions and set a record! 

Download your Elbow Art as an .ldr file and build it yourself. Click here to try it out!

Lego Technic MOC 63 Speed Gearbox, including reverse!

5 Mar 2020

 

Here I demonstrate a 63 speed selectable gear box using 6 selectors. The gearbox implements all gear ratios from -32:1 to 31:1. Five differentials are used for this design. Interestingly it has trouble when inverting the input and outputs. The build instructions for this lego technic gearbox are below. 32 reverse speeds and 31 forward speeds can be selected as well as neutral.

More to explore

Spirograph Machine

19 Dec 2023

Here I present a Lego Technic Spirograph machine programmed using Powered Up. The powered up controller is used to maintain the desired gearing ratio between the turn table and the inner gear to draw a spirograph that replicates the real original spirograph drawing toy.

...read more

PI Day Lego Technic MOC using two lego differentials

14 Mar 2020

Here I present a PI Day special Lego Technic MOC that produces a gearing ratio of the match constant PI to 6 decimal places. This is using two differentials to produce a gearing ratio of 355 to 113. Celebrate PI day 2020.

More details of how to design two differential Lego Technic gearing...read more

Lego Technic New 12/20 Gear High Speed Friction Test

21 May 2022

The Lego Technic set 42140 App-Controlled Transformation Vehicle introduces two new gears - a flat version of the 12 tooth bevel gear and a flat version of the 20 tooth bevel gear. These gears are designed to have less friction.

In this follow up video I measure the high speed difference ...read more

Lego Technic Gearing Ratio Calculator Tool

16 Jul 2021

Here I present my new Lego Technic Gearing Ratio Calculator tool. This tool allows you to upload your Lego Technic .ldr (Lego Draw) file and it will simulate the gearing system and visualize it as well as showing the gearing ratios relative to the input component.

The tool can be accessed...read more

Lego Technic Binary Expansion of Pi

14 Mar 2021

This Pi Day video demonstrates how to approximate a gearing ratio of Pi by representing Pi as a binary number and using differentials arranged in a chain formation to create the binary representation. Each differential implements 1 binary digit. If the binary digit is zero the differential can be...read more

Lego Technic Applied Gearbox Theory Improved

20 Nov 2020

This Lego Technic video demonstrates an improved design of a Lego technic 2 speed automatic gearbox based on a theoretical approach. Typically a Lego automatic gearbox consists of two stages namely a gear selector and a torque detector. In this video, both of these components are improved upon.read more

Lego Technic Gearbox Theory Applied - how to apply theory to help design 2 speed automatic gearboxes

10 Nov 2020

This video applies lego technic gearbox, torque, and gearing ratio theory to design a prototype lego 2 speed automatic gearbox. First I describe the main components of an automatic gearbox, namely a gearing ratio selector and a torque detector. The ideal gear switch over torque point is described...read more

Lego Technic torque in practice - how to work with torque in automatic gearbox design

29 Oct 2020

n this video I present a ten level Lego Technic torque creation gadget for testing lego power function motors and automatic gear switching mechanisms. The effect of torque on a large lego PF motor is tested against the theoretical power curve to compare the optimal gear switching point in practic...read more

Lego Technic Optimal Gear Switching Ratios

17 Oct 2020

This video presents the relationship between lego technic motor torque and speed and shows there is an peak power for each electric motor.

The peak power is calculated and a formula presented relating the power operating point as a percentage of peak power. From this an operational power ...read more