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Does anyone have any experience turning the Grand Carousel (10196) into a direct drive? I NEED MORE Power!! 🙂 That puny tire is not working. I tried a bigger motor (of course) but I think I need to try and drive it direct. Which opens up a slew of other questions, like how do you spin the damn thing if not with that puny tire? Can the drive mechanism be top down? Things that make you go Hmmmm….
Thanks in advance for any guidance/advice!
By ‘direct drive’, do you mean it’s spinning the axle down the center of the carousel? You can do that and get a Power Functions XL motor. The problem is that Lego makes axles in one thickness, if the weight of the carousel is too much for the speed you want to go at, the axle will twist up like a Twizzler.
By ‘direct drive’, do you mean it’s spinning the axle down the center of the carousel? You can do that and get a Power Functions XL motor. The problem is that Lego makes axles in one thickness, if the weight of the carousel is too much for the speed you want to go at, the axle will twist up like a Twizzler.
Yes Ben, that is it exactly. I have three different size motors. I can attach to the Carousel in the center but I am wondering if this will even work and how the thing will spin. Just wondering if anyone had experience doing it. Maybe had some advice.
@solscud007 How did you power yours?
I work alot with technic gears and such. So maybe i can help.
As much as i like the xl motor its to big for your build. A medium motor gear down to give you more torque and with short connection should stop the axle from twisting while giving you the power you need to rotate at a decent speed. Another thing you could do is use a chain so stress is more spread out along the gear so you dont break gear teeth.
Something like this might work
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Interesting idea! Never thought of a chain. I was thinking of the gearing within the center column. I also thought of some sort of gear drive from under the main platform, but I thought this would be very difficult. I could also try rigging up a shorter shaft direct to the top ring. Not sure if that will drive the weight though of the bottom and larger scale ride-ons.Thanks for the continued support and ideas!
I like the chain cause on its side its only a stud tall is it doesnt force you to build a hug platform. And i like the worm gear because although its simple it puts alot less stress on a motor. I would also suggest that you use a friction gear (https://www.bricklink.com/v2/catalog/catalogitem.page?P=60c01) on the chain part to prevent damage to the chain as a worm drive is not movable from the gear end. This would let you rotate the carousel for positioning purposes.
I’ll be interested in seeing how well that works. In GBC, we avoid the worm gear. My understanding is that in real life, worm gears are awesome, but Lego worm gears jam easily, which means they then strip out. I learned that one the hard way at BFNE16 and had to rebuild my gear box from scratch during public hours.
I see you posted your carousel on flickr. Rock on.
I did, thanks! My kids love it!
Sweet! It’s moving along pretty quickly there though, have you thought about gearing it down?
Hey Ben! Yes, I have been messing around with it but I just wanted to get it done and I actually posted it to a contest that was ongoing. It is jerky and fast. I need to slow it down. Still considering alternative gearing (Chain, direct, etc). If you have ideas I am open.
I also want to mess around with the ships over time to make them more stable. Some are quite heavy (like the Star Destroyer one). Without Kragle, it is tough to keep together with repeated use and the uprights need better footholds on most of the ships. I modified most of them but some were just really tough to get the holders in the right spots. Oh well, work in progress keeps me occupied!
Next project is the new UCS Falcon! It has been sitting in my basement for a couple weeks now and I REALLY want it built and displayed. I just need to build a way to display it first! Coffee table or?????? Anyone have any ideas? I saw the lexan box on Brickset, but it would still need a stand of some sort. I thought of a custom sized fish tank, but again it still needs a stand. I was looking for 24″ wide glass shelving but there does not seem to be a way to support that out there. Sigh….
I saw that one too Josh! Thanks! Lotsa good ideas. As he said with hanging (although I would love that), I am worried long term it would bend the bricks or collapse altogether. I’m leaning toward the custom table idea with maybe a Space Slug-esque diarama inside. Gotta look into the wood and glass costs.
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