Pawel Sariel Kmiec - The Unofficial LEGO Technic Builders Guide

This is one of those books that just amazes mecomplex ideas made easier to follow with what are basically toy pieces of plastic.

JAMES FLOYD KELLY, GEEKDAD

This book boggles the mind! Even if youre an accomplished builder, some of the techniques that Sariel shares are sure to expand your repertoire.

KRIS BORDESSA, WIRED

I would recommend this book for any adult builder who is interested in becoming more familiar with Technic and using Technic in their own creations. It is definitely an asset that deserves a place on the shelf.

JOSH WEDIN, THE BROTHERS BRICK

A very well-organized and clear guide to getting the most out of your hobby. Start at the beginning, work towards the end, and youll be an expert modeler and maker of things LEGO Technic.

GREG LADEN, NATIONAL GEOGRAPHICS SCIENCEBLOGS

Sariel is a legend in the LEGO world.... His machines are fantastic.

JESUS DIAZ, GIZMODO

This book is a gem.

RYAN MCNAUGHT, LEGO CERTIFIED PROFESSIONAL

Pawe Sariel Kmie

THE UNOFFICIAL LEGO TECHNIC BUILDERS GUIDE, 2ND EDITION. Copyright 2017 by Pawe Sariel Kmie.

All rights reserved. No part of this work may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage or retrieval system, without the prior written permission of the copyright owner and the publisher.

Printed in USA

First printing

20 19 18 17 16 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9

ISBN-10: 1-59327-760-1

ISBN-13: 978-1-59327-760-4

Publisher: William Pollock

Production Editor: Serena Yang

Cover Illustration: Eric Blakbird Albrecht

Interior Design: Octopod Studios

Developmental Editor: Tyler Ortman

Technical Reviewer: Eric Blakbird Albrecht

Copyeditor: Anne Marie Walker

Compositor: Serena Yang

Proofreader: Paula L. Fleming

Indexer: BIM Creatives, LLC

by Eric Blakbird Albrecht

by Jano Gallo, used under Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported.

Blueprint images (Figures ) are royalty-free images purchased from The-Blueprints.com.

Authors photo by Magda Andrzejewska

The following software has been used for illustrations: MLCAD by Michael Lachmann, LDView by Travis Cobbs and Peter Bartfai, and LPub by Kevin Clague.

For information on distribution, translations, or bulk sales, please contact No Starch Press, Inc. directly:

No Starch Press, Inc.

245 8th Street, San Francisco, CA 94103

phone: 1.415.863.9900;

The Library of Congress has cataloged the first edition as follows:

Kmiec, Pawel.
The unofficial LEGO Technic builder's guide / Pawel "Sariel" Kmiec.
pages cm
ISBN-13: 978-1-59327-434-4
ISBN-10: 1-59327-434-3
1. Machinery--Models. 2. LEGO toys. I. Title. II. Title: LEGO Technic builder's guide.
TJ248.K57 2012
621.8022'8--dc23
2012029840

No Starch Press and the No Starch Press logo are registered trademarks of No Starch Press, Inc. Other product and company names mentioned herein may be the trademarks of their respective owners. Rather than use a trademark symbol with every occurrence of a trademarked name, we are using the names only in an editorial fashion and to the benefit of the trademark owner, with no intention of infringement of the trademark.

LEGO, MINDSTORMS, the brick and knob configurations, and the minifigure are trademarks of the LEGO Group, which does not sponsor, authorize, or endorse this book.

The information in this book is distributed on an As Is basis, without warranty. While every precaution has been taken in the preparation of this work, neither the author nor No Starch Press, Inc. shall have any liability to any person or entity with respect to any loss or damage caused or alleged to be caused directly or indirectly by the information contained in it.

Pawe Sariel Kmie is a LEGO Technic enthusiast based in Warsaw, Poland. A prolific blogger and model builder, Sariels LEGO creations have been featured in many magazines and the worlds most popular LEGO blogs, and even prompted the LEGO Group to ask for his help in developing some of its products. Sariel is an acting LEGO Ambassador and an official reviewer of LEGO sets, which he showcases on his popular YouTube channel (which has more than 40 million views) along with his own creations. His models have been praised by historians and military experts, and his articles are used as references by the University of Cambridges engineering department. Check out his models and more at http://sariel.pl/.

Eric Blakbird Albrecht is an aerospace engineer living in the northwest United States. He maintains the globally known Technicopedia, in which he documents the history of every Technic model beginning in 1977, all of which are on display on his shelves. Eric is also an avid user of LEGO CAD tools and has generated over 1,000 photo-realistic renders of official models and MOCs (My Own Creations). He has created dozens of sets of instructions for some of the best Technic MOCs from around the world, averaging 1,500 parts each. Check out his site at http://www.technicopedia.com/.

basic concepts

basic units and pieces

studless or studfull?

axles, bushes, and joints

wheels

gears and power transmission basics

chains and pulleys

levers and linkages

custom mechanical solutions

the LEGO pneumatic system

pneumatic devices

building strong

an inventory of LEGO motors

LEGO power Functions system

the RC system

wheeled steering systems

wheeled suspension systems

tracked vehicles and suspensions

transmissions

adders and subtractors

planetary gearing

3D printing

form vs. function

scaling a model

the modeling process

The first edition of The Unofficial LEGO Technic Builders Guide was written with one simple goal: to share everything Ive learned about building with LEGO Technic during the past 20 years. This plan inevitably met with some limitations, not least of which were the page count and the vast amount of work involved. It was also an unprecedented book in LEGO Technic field, and we were sailing in uncharted waters, so to speak.