After stepping on them for years, a Finish YouTube creator has had enough of tiny LEGO bricks. Using his aptly named Brick Experiment Channel, he makes videos which pit a variety of LEGOs against fire, concrete, and quite possibly their only worthy opponent: other LEGO pieces.
In this particular video, he tests just how much punishment the smallest LEGO gears (a LEGO Technic Gear 8 Type 1 and a LEGO Technic Gear 8 Tooth Type 2) can take from its brethren before breaking. Using a PF M-motor, he tests whether or not the Type 1 and 2 gears survive certain load scenarios.
While a 1:1 load measuring 4 Newton-centimeters (Ncm) poses no challenge for the Type 1, a 3:1 load with 12 Ncm against another 8-tooth gear and a 5:1 load with 20 Ncm of torque is another story. A couple of the gear’s teeth are bent out of place and though it might work on other builds, this definitely means the gear is broken.
Not to be deterred by just two tests, our builder adds even more torque to the mechanism. After pitting the Type 1 against a gear rack with a 5:1 (20
While the 5:1 and 9:1 tests still see the Type 1 gear spinning before it jams, the snapping sounds emanating from the machine means the mechanism won’t work the next time around.
But he isn’t done, not by a long shot. The purpose of this experiment is to see if the Type 2 gear is really better than its predecessor, so off he goes to put the Type 2 through its paces using the same LEGO motor set.
Just like the Type 1, the Type 2 works fine in a 1:1 load test but finds difficulty against a 3:1 and 5:1 ratio. Its teeth aren’t as crooked as the Type 1’s after the first two tests, so LEGO must have improved the material on the new Type 2 gear to make it sturdier and a heck of a lot more painful to step on.
Against the gear rack, however, the Type 2 fares worse than the Type 1, if you can believe it. Despite the supposed material change, it jams under the load of the 5:1 and 9:1
Seeing the Type 2 gear actually snap off the mechanism, you could say the Type 1 is sturdier than its replacement. It’s interesting though how both gears crumble against this kind of load but still manage to induce unholy amounts of pain on a person’s foot and still remain intact.
If you want to see more LEGO experiments where the LEGOs are the ones being experimented on, the Brick Experiment Channel is where you will find them.
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