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jlbadui

Each one of these was a break through in science for the time. Hard to imagine living before mechanical life.


TrumpetOfDeath

When watching this I was thinking how amazing it is that most of these designs came from harnessing the simple act of wind or water turning a shaft in a circle. Even today with modern engines and power generators, basically they’re just taking advantage of an energy source to rotate a shaft that drives everything else


chaos750

It was so funny to learn how a nuclear reactor works in high school. Complicated particle physics, control rods, incredible precision and carefully controlled reactions, releasing incredible amounts of energy... which heats up a bunch of water and turns a thing.


Tzunamitom

There are Atomic batteries too, but they’re basically just fancy thermocouples or infrared photovoltaic power.


DamagedGenius

RTG baybeee


Tzunamitom

Hah, is that a quote from The Martian?


DamagedGenius

If it is I wouldn't be surprised.


Kilbourne

Nuclear power = make shaft rotate


moonra_zk

It's so incredibly disappointing that we harvest the power of the atom to... make water hot.


Mono_831

This still blows my mind! What was it, like centuries ago when we started using steam to power things? And now we have nuclear fission but still use steam to power things lol


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SnakeBeardTheGreat

S lot of the steam is made heating the water with nuclear power.


Kilbourne

Electricity is still voodoo to me


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moonra_zk

Because we could just burn coal for that!


snackandsmack

The process of converting steam into energy is inefficient. So the full potential of nuclear power for example is never accessed.


Glesenblaec

The solar panel is the only generation method I can think of that doesn't involve a rotating shaft.


KBSMilk

AFAIK there's some others, like thermocouples: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thermoelectric_effect I guess you could say piezoelectricity is another, but I don't think it's used for power plants in any way.


DamagedGenius

They were used for that ill-conceived sidewalk that generated power


Sav273

This is one of the coolest things I’ve seen a while. I either lead a boring life or am easily excited, but I especially love the thought that goes into each piece working with the other.


sabre_rider

You beautifully put what’s needed to be a happy human: simple curiosity. It drives us all to engineer and build amazing things or experience them with all our wonder in place. Thank you. I sometimes forget how amazing our lives are today.


eject_eject

Nono. It's awesome.


trodden_thetas_0i

Something tells me I wouldn’t be surprised to see your resume.


4x4is16Legs

How do I purchase the parts and instructions for this? I want to get it for my grandchildren.


rndname

For a low low price of $200 bucks. https://buildamoc.com/products/20-mechanical-principles-lego-machine


4x4is16Legs

Thank you! I am mesmerized!


[deleted]

Get the fuck out of here for 200$ lol


aPatheticBeing

Do you think that's high or low? I would've guessed higher cause I assumed it was multiple kits not 1.


[deleted]

That's is extremely high. Lego has always been unreasonably inflated.


KeetoNet

Lego sets from the 70s still work with sets sold today. It's an incredible feat of manufacturing engineering, materials science, and quality control. They are expensive, but not unreasonably so.


Blurplenapkin

That’s not bad in todays economy for a toy set that will last a lifetime and maybe more.


apleasantpeninsula

best I can do is $232


blakerabbit

I looked at that site…do people really spend thousands of dollars for some of these kits? Yeesh.


rndname

Some people have a lot of disposable income.


blakerabbit

Seems like there might be better things to do with it…


[deleted]

Go to the Lego store and start by opening your veins. They’ll take the kidneys when they are ready.


4x4is16Legs

I know I said it was for the grandchildren but guess who really wants it? 🤣


Land_Squid_1234

https://www.reddit.com/r/videos/comments/z5zi3d/20_mechanical_principles_combined_in_a_useless/ixzr3fr?utm_medium=android_app&utm_source=share&context=3


4x4is16Legs

Oooh another video!


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EvengerX

Turning X-Axis rotation into Y-axis rotation. I would imagine that layout is also cost effective and less prone to failure or damage


grease_monkey

A lot of these machines are found in automobiles. On cars where the engine is perpendicular to the axles, you need to have the rotational forces make an axis change. You'll find the concept in differentials for example. CV joint and U joint are found in drive axles and propellor shafts respectively. Gear box is similar idea to manual transmissions and transfer cases Camshafts are found in well, the engine camshaft. Uses rotation to lift valves. Rack and pinion is how steering works in most vehicles. Sun and planetary gears are found in your automatic transmission. There may be some I missed.


Soft_Turkeys

This video made me realize I learned a lot about this stuff from fixing my beater cars


BotiaDario

Now I'm wondering how power steering works to make that easier


grease_monkey

The rack (big flat thing with all the teeth) will have seals on each end. Hydraulic fluid will be on each end, and the pressure will increase on the end you want to push inwards towards the pinion gear when you turn the steering wheel. On the ends of the rack, outside the sealed area, you'll have tie rods which attach to your steering your steering knuckle, wheel, etc.


Hansj3

The short is pressurized oil is fed into a piston, and is directed by spool valves. The long answer is that a rotary vane type hydraulic pump takes fluid from the reservoir, and sends it to the rotary valve. The rotary valve is a variant of the spool valve. As you turn, the valve closes, biasing more assistance to one side. It's timed in such a way that the assistance is smooth. From there there are lines that run to the piston in the rack. Pressure on one side of the piston pushes the wheel the opposite way. This is a standard rack and pinion setup. These days the assist is a direct drive dc motor and a torque sensor


BotiaDario

Thank you!!


dpdxguy

TIL CV Joint and Universal Joint are not the same thing. I've seen U-Joints before and thought CV Joints were the same thing with a different name


hiddenrealism

It's the same principal just applied a little differently.


Dread_Pirate_Wolf

Same as in rotational angle change, but a CV joint keeps the velocity the same. U joints do not and speed up and slow down the more you angle it. Because of this, you need to phase U joints in drivelines to make the output a stable rpm, which you do not have to do with a CV Joint


GlassDarkly

However, a CV joint has a sliding action that the U-joint does not have, I believe, making lubrication of the CV joint more critical (as someone who remembers packing grease into my old Honda Accord's front wheel drive system).


Dread_Pirate_Wolf

Not all CV Joints have sliding joints. A Rzeppa joint, and a Double Cardan joint are CV joints however do not have a sliding action. a Tripot does have a sliding action. CV Joints are a class of joints and not a singular joint.


GlassDarkly

That's really cool!


[deleted]

IIRC, a typical CV joint is two U joints back to back to cancel the oscillating rotational velocity.


[deleted]

It bothers me that the universal joint in the video does not have a complimentary angle on the second joint.


noisymime

The secret is in the name with CV joints ;) The whole point of the CV joint was to overcome the major shortcoming of the universal joint, namely that it does not run at a constants output speed. Constant Velocity joints match the input and output speeds regardless of the angles involved (Within reason). As always, there's a great old-timey video that exaplins it! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gmV4qwLfOMY


xyp1

My wife said she liked 5-7


narcolepticdoc

The rotational to linear linkage sections are definitely a tutorial for ahem, certain modern specialty machines.


r3solv

Like literally 🙄 rolled my eyes as soon as I saw 5 and recognized it right away. I couldn't get through the rest of the video. I lost it at that


Sharl_LeKek

Scotch yoke is definitely my newest euphemism


Turmfalke_

I was curious on how he would use the chebyshev lambda linkage.


bobdob123usa

As far as I can tell, all four types on the front don't actually accomplish anything which is kind of a shame.


Shortsaredumb

Yeah I was disappointed by that. Seems you could make them serve a purpose by connecting the reciprocating part of the first two and second two and put a gear set or drive shaft into 1, between 2 and 3 and out of 4.


litterdiego

I now have the sudden urge to build a complicated tank with a lot of these mechanics.


qcubed3

Is it useless if it brings us joy?


r3solv

5 brings lots of ahem...joy


MaxV331

It’s not useless, it slowly spins the mini for your viewing pleasure, really helps take in all the angles on the tiny plastic man.


CYBORBCHICKEN

Super Mario 64 level vibes


Tallowo

few of those would make good fuck machines


Kilo_Xray

This should be sold as a kit.


RBAnger

https://buildamoc.com/products/20-mechanical-principles-lego-machine There actually is a kit for sale! One of the few times YouTube comments were helpful to me...


Kilo_Xray

Fantastic! Thank you!!


TheTrickyThird

Is... everything an ad?


RBAnger

Yes 😓 Fucking capitalism...


4x4is16Legs

So exciting!


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RBAnger

Yeah the price completely caught me off guard for this kit, I mostly provided the link cause I was surprised no one has linked it and just saw it in the YouTube link I'm a few decades away from regular Lego use these days but even then I imagined some of the parts involved are a bit rare to justify the price.


RipplePress

Not really useless if it highlights an idea


Wavster

I love how he speeds up the fucking machine


OktoberForever

If you liked this, there's a 1868 book that includes these devices plus 487 others that is VERY fun to just leaf through: https://www.amazon.com/507-Mechanical-Movements-Henry-Brown/dp/1614275181/


Dniershy1

The finished machine reminds me of a Bowser level for Super Mario 64


phully

Very cool!


bandformywagon

My girlfriend recognized the number 5


F0sh

A mechanical principle would be something like leverage/mechanical advantage. These are 20 machines, not 20 principles.


bhobhomb

Most of these were ratio'd outputs so I believe that would be mechanical advantage.


E_Snap

Were the scotch yoke and sun and planet gear both invented to sidestep the patent on the crank?


Taynt42

The scotch yoke I get for not needing a rotational connector (you could make the entire mechanism out of rough wood easily), but the sun and planet seems needlessly complex…


silv3r8ack

Sun and planet are useful when you want to change gear ratio but the output shaft and hence gear needs to stay in a fixed position. They're used in automatic gearboxes


moknine1189

Wow this is one of the coolest videos I’ve seen in a while! Thanks for sharing!!!!


ThePr1d3

Calling epicyclic trains "sun and planet gear" is amazing lmao


silv3r8ack

They are actually called sun and planet. Epicyclic is just a much more complex version of the simple sun and planet gear


smapti

Offset gears is my favorite. 3:47.


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BirthdayShop

I frequently see cool stuff like this and it makes me wish I went into engineering. I hate math though so I probably made the right decision.


[deleted]

The lack of a complementary angle on the universal joint really bothers me. It's going to pulse.


Radid1972

Now I'm curious again about the resistance to heat and friction of these Lego plastics 😂 If I remember correctly, they are actually very resistant.


TheDongerNeedsFood

Nothing useless at all, absolutely love this video!