We know LEGO is a very versatile medium to build with but this is beyond what we considered possible. Seven speeds and a reverse gear were built into the gearbox for this LEGO vehicle. It’s not completely an original design, but adds to the five-speed design found in a ten-year-old LEGO set. See it demonstrated in the video after the break. The design uses a sequential gearbox; shifting is accomplished by clicking the stick up or down depending on how you want to shift. If you’ve got enough parts on hand you can build this using the assembly photos that [Sheepo] posted.
Can’t get enough of the gears? Check out this model of a double clutch transmission.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jHWDSnWk2jU]
[Thanks James]
This is THE definition of awesome.
That’s awesome. It seems like he has to stop throttle input before changing gears. What’s up with that?
@andrew-
Presumably the let off of throttle is for the same reason that cars have a clutch, which would prevent gears from improperly engaging.
I have the kit they refer to on their site (the red supercar kit)… Must rebuilt it at some point!
Urge to Lego… rising…
Now THIS is pure art. Amazing.
What kit is this? Must get it.
Incredible.
Suddenly the HaD crowd approves Lego posts again ;)
Great work :)
I will take Lego before Arduino any day.
I was floored when I saw this on autoblog. I’ve brainstormed different tranny types in Lego for years, but never got to his level of construction.
The first lego tranny in a Technic set was a 3-speed direct(no spring-back center shifter) linear shift slush box. No reverse.
Hey, anyone thought of using an Arduino to control the input motor, and solenoids for gear shifting? *ducks and runs while laughing*
how about the 8880 4-spd? http://www.brickset.com/detail/?Set=8880-1
this is what win is made of
And yet it’s still sturdier than a Chrysler transmission.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IwwPFJzIJhE
The let off was just for that video, this one shows him shifting with the throttle “pressed”
Dear God, my life is complete. Take me now.
Holy Fucking Shit!
Why do i want this now?
I don’t need it but i want it.
(holds napkin to foaming mouth.
The only difference I see is fwd and reverse. A ‘normal’ manual transmission slides different ratio gears onto the main gear/shaft. I didn’t see anything like that happening.
Although I know very little about Arduinos and stuff like that, Lego I understand completely… but engineering a 7 speed gearbox still blows my mind. Well done!
This is absolutely amazing.
The gear system is WIN,
adding all the other stuff earns the prefix EPIC-.
i really like your Lego Veyron!!
Very nice work!!
This is without a doubt the most amazing lego project ever. EVER. Also arguably the most amazing model car project ever created.
Just wow.
Also this page needs a donation button, win of this caliber must be rewarded.
So, this must be the magical 7 speed gearbox that USF1 fussed so much about!
how the heck are parts so nicely placed together and still there is space for extras like popping
It’s things like these that bring me to this site hoping that one day I might learn something… Just incredible. And to think all I had was some Capsellas(sp) to keep me occupied..
Constant mesh gears and dog clutches, a nice model, but not really nothing new. Performance under a load would be impressive, will the dog clutches cam out or not?
Geez, when did Lego get dogs and shift forks? When I built a trans, it was old-skool sliding gear stuff.
I might have to paw through the new Technic catalog for some new stuff, I’ve got a model of a Ducati desmo bevel head that isn’t working right.
don’t like Lego’s but this stuff is great!
The steering wheel’s on the wrong side…
This has to be one of the coolest things I seen made of legos.
I didn’t know one could make a transmission out of them I wonder how he did the sliding gears and dog clutches on this.
Oh wow, I have that kit! I remember trying to hook a Lego RCX to it when I was younger, but I can’t remember if I ever got it working; maybe I’ll take another look…
I would also like to see this doing some useful work of some kind.
I wonder how and where the wear would show?
That is to say that observing it would be interesting.
Maintaining it…perhaps too interesting. ;)
What about “LEGO Hacks” tag?
@Ivan: seconded!
Incidentally, the ‘sliding gear’ type gearboxes people refer to in comments are known (afaik) as “crash gearboxes” due to the way the gears come together.
I always thought that was an apt name ^.^
@strider_mt2k: If you check out the website, you’ll see that this was, actually, build for use in a larger functional Lego RC model of a Buggatti Veyron.
@Moggie100: Yes, although most “crash boxes” in real cars are actually still constant mesh; they just use dogs instead of synchros. I’m sure sliding-gear automotive transmissions exist, but I’m not aware of any examples — other than reverse gear, which uses a sliding idler gear in most manual transmission designs.
Win! .. I want one! … Love it!
That bring up fond memories of the 4 speed gearbox with clutch that me and my dad build some 25 years ago :)
this is a really cool car, but does it actually drive in any gear other than 1st and reverse? ive seen a few videos of it but ive never seen it drive faster than 1st gear and ive never seen it shift while moving, other than reverse…
that is awesome