LEGO Crazy Swing Arm Action Mechanism

This is what we're going to build today.

Pieces we're going to use today:

Let's build!

LEGO rack and pinion gears 2 - Mechanisms

Some of my favorite gears to play with in LEGO is rack and pinion gears. I guess I like watching the gears move from side to side.

This is what we're building today.

The pieces I'm going to use today:

I didn't have the pieces the book used, so I tried to use replacement pieces.

Pictured above are red and yellow flat pieces for the rack and pinion gears, 

but they didn't work out at the end. So, later on, 

you'll see orange pieces to make this mechanism work. 

Pictured here is size 5 gray stick piece. What you need is size 3 gray stick piece.

I thought I might have fun with a mini figure since my daughter enjoys collecting them so much.

These are the replacement pieces for the red and yellow piece pictured in the first photo.

The red and yellow pieces are pictured in the background.

Alternating Swinging Arms (Mechanisms) - Page 129, Build #170

Did I mention I like moving things? I especially like watching the gears move. So, this one was just perfect for today.

Parts we're going to use today:

Video for Swinging Arms:

LEGO Swing Arm Video

Simple Rack-and-Pinion gears (Mechanisms) - Page 115, Build #155

This is what we're building today - Rack-and-pinion gears.

Rack-and-pinion gears are used to change rotational movement (the yellow and gray gears with the rubber band going around it) to linear movement (the side-to-side movement going across the white pieces or racks). The steering system in cars is a good example of rack-and-pinion gears at work.

Parts I'm using today:

I'm making do with what I have. I'm pretty sure they'll work fine. If not, we'll just have to figure things out as we go.

Let's build:

1st design for the motor support.

In this state, it wasn't the white rack that moved from side-to-side, but the gears moving awkwardly.

So, I removed some support pieces, and stuck the motor on a bigger, anchoring piece. But this still moved things enough that the video didn't turn out very well. So, when I was recording the video, the gray platform had to be held down.

It was still neat to watch.

Here's a video. Enjoy!

Simple LEGO Rack-and-Pinion gears video

Have a great day!

Gripper Fingers (Mechanisms) - Page 188, Build #225

This is what we're building today. Another gripper!

Parts you need:

Let's get started! 

Here are some videos. Enjoy!

LEGO Finger Gripper Video 1.1

LEGO Finger Gripper Video 1.2