Some new parts that would come in handy would be a camgear, a limited slip gear casing, and a axle extender (two drive shaft collars molded together so you can fasten two axles together). In the picture below are the lego versions of these if vex made these it would be awsome. To the left is a cam gear, commonly used to turn horizantle energy into spining rotational energy. In the middle is the limmited slip gear casing it is used for a axel to if one wheel gets stuck it sends that wheel energy to the free one. Three small gears go inside of it and one gear powers it my touching either of the larger gears the axels hook onto a gear on either side inside the cylinder. On the right is a steering piece grooved for gears that can be used for steering or linear movment.
I agree. especially the piece on the right in your picture. It has the potential to make linear movement with gears much easier.
It’s called a “rack” as in “rack and pinion”. And I agree, one would be very useful.
That whould be awsome if we had that for vex
maby you could adapt the lego pieces to allow the vex parts to do that with a few simple tools. I will try that and tell you how it works.
Even if you can they wouldn’t be FVC legal.
Build your own rack and pinion… It can be done!
Hint - Sprockets are involved.
Blake
I made a makeshift linear slide with chain zip tied onto a 1 medal bar and then a sprocket that pushed into the chain and griped it. I used it for steering
i’ve been able to recreate rack n’ pinion type action but a differential(limited slip w/e) sure would be nice, i could use crown gears too
that works with tread too, exept tread you can sucure on the side so it doesn’t touch the sproket at all.
i know someone who used lego chain because they didnt have any vex chain, the sprocket was just sorta shoved on.
Some LEGO gears will fit VEX shafts. With a little playing you can even fit LEGO beams to VEX parts. The hole lineup is kind of strange. For 6 VEX holes line up with 9 LEGO holes. And the holes are sized so that the VEX screws fit them nicely. Just be careful torquing things down too hard as the LEGO parts could crack. I have used the LEGO differential in VEX designs in the past. Generally the gearing doesn’t line up for snot though. Build a small LEGO gear box and just feed VEX shafts into it and things tend to work out alright. Also some of the LEGO shaft connectors will work with VEX shafts. I know this won’t work for competition but for those of us who just build for fun, combining different systems is a great thing. Don’t forget, erector sets have the same hole spacing and sizing as VEX. They can be found at garage sales and flea markets sometimes rather cheap. I’ve also found some at WalMart on sale real cheap too.
Enjoy
Ray Moore
Get Moose and Squirrel!