Can I Build A LEGO Gearbox WITHOUT GEARS?

Gears are used in almost all mechanical systems, and with good reason, since they’re the simplest and most efficient means of transferring rotational power, along with belts and chains. So I wanted to find out if I could design a 3-gear gearbox without using any of these components. Enjoy the video!
Sources of images used in video:
Torque converter 1:
www.cjponypart...
Torque converter 2:
www.transmissi...
Electrical rectifier:
www.electronic...

[@nicholast.6636]

>gearless gearbox >look inside >gears

[@UAF16]

I think he meant not using gears for the different gear ratios on the gearbox but use those gears to make the systems work

[@BananaGearStudios]

That's right, but if people would be interested to see another video on this I'd be happy to try and take those gears out too.

[@Julius-brawlstars]

Yea

[@forgottensnecko4631]

@@BananaGearStudios yes

[@tarrable]

@@BananaGearStudios yes

[@oPlazmaMC]

The four bar linkage crying in the corner

[@BananaGearStudios]

Haha!!!

[@BlockTechnology]

@oPlazmaMC which one? There are a lot of them

[@oPlazmaMC]

@@BlockTechnology the general principle

[@DiamondKrafterYt]

Ayyy pfp brothers

[@carmelazenner8288]

I have just recently made a 2 gear gear box but not having any shifter parts the imput axle hase to move in order to shift I am open to suggestions.

[@pseudo_goose]

The rubber band isn't a major source of wasted energy. It's the reason why the motor doesn't have to apply as much power on the back stroke - the rubber band is putting it back into the output when the motor isn't fighting against it. In other words, some of the energy required is just "front-loaded" to the first half of the cycle to stretch the rubber band. But you're still right that it isn't the most optimal way to get power of a motor, because it's not a constant load.

[@1_1bman]

the problem is that its ONLY the power from the rubber band. if the pushback force is more than the power provided by the rubber band, the motor couldn't help it

[@brendonbalascan6814]

now simply add a smothing capacitor at the end of your rectifier and you have successfully made a physical ac-dc converter

[@Tagglagged]

Yes

[@Blazico]

A mechanical analogue would be a flywheel, right? But i don't think that is realistic with just lego but it is nice to think about.

[@silience4095]

@@Blazico Nah that's an inductor. A capacitor would be a spring. Well, I'm thinking about energy storage, and movement as current.

[@Blazico]

@@silience4095 but in this rotational situation a spring would not make sense as a "smoothing capacitor", no? A flywheel does smooth the movement like a capicitor smoothes the voltage in a rectifier.

[@silience4095]

@@Blazico True, different roles I guess. It depends on how you look at the situation, a flywheel can be a capacitor for rotational velocity, or an inductor if you look at its momentum. Weird...

[@mrrp_mrowp]

"alright guys, lets make a microwave with no microwaves"

[@NOVAGUTZ_08]

oven

[@ezrakornfeld8436]

You realize your yankers convert constant rotation to oscillating rotation with no gears. Reverse that plus flywheel to keep it going in the right direction and you’re good. You made the solution before you made the problem.

[@dropkickedmurphy6463]

his WHAT

[@krahe9376]

@@dropkickedmurphy6463 yank powered engine

[@ezrakornfeld8436]

The things that yank the strings are now officially yankers

[@ravenstorm1203]

I saw the string mechanism and first thing I thought was "hell yeah, rachets" but it wasn't "hell yeah, ratchets' it was" WOOOOO IM CONFUSED BUT THIS IS COOL!!"

[@BananaGearStudios]

Haha, thank you!

[@curtisleblanc5897]

Yeah Mr White Yeah Science!

[@Nate-bd8fg]

Guy who only ever seen rachets:

[@BaronSamedi1959]

That is interesting, but it is just a belt drive in disguise.

[@Xodabeef]

exactly my thoughts, bud just overcomplicated belts

[@pifpafpoufpifpaf]

Not exactly, since belt drive will slip with lego, this thing won't. You can make things without lego indeed, but in term of technic there is a difference.

[@dazley8021]

@@pifpafpoufpifpaf You can reduce the slip if you wind the belt/string around the drum a few times on both ends and then just use tensioning pulleys to "engage and disenagage gears"

[@lukahutinski9075]

my string bike is no belt drive😅😡

[@loen9591]

It can’t slip though.

[@ThePixel1983]

Instead of doubling the mechanism you could just have attached a second string from the opposite side of the lever and then guided it to the same drum.

[@BananaGearStudios]

Nice idea! It's a little harder than it sounds because those strings would also need to go round the pulleys for selecting gears, or else still have another set of those pulleys and actuators. But if that could be figured out it would definitely save a lot of space!

[@BeachRacing99]

@@BananaGearStudios Build the mechanism that you made at 1:02, and drive it from the shorter arm, you will get the same alternating rotation that you get from the drums and by varying the size of the arms and the gearing coming into and out of them you can vary rotation.

[@PCrailfan3790]

FOOOOL bridge rectifier! Edit: Holy crap 100 likes.

[@darianleyer5777]

Perhaps explain what that is for those who don't know?

[@oldhorn420]

​@@darianleyer5777 meme that electroboom made

[@captisaxum]

@@darianleyer5777 AC or alternating current has the negative and positive charges in a set of wires, switching very fast. DC or direct current has two wires with two separate charges that stay consistent. A full bridge rectifier Turns an AC current into a DC current by switching the places depending on what charges going in. On electroBOOM He makes a joke of “fool” bridge rectifier instead of full bridge rectifier.

[@xxhellspawnedxx]

@@darianleyer5777 It's a meme of the electroboom channel. It's also an electronic component with a bunch of diodes that turns AC power into DC power.

[@darianleyer5777]

@@xxhellspawnedxx Thank you. That's much more helpful than the explanation that @oldhorn420 gave.

[@MrTefe]

"Can I Build A LEGO Gearbox WITHOUT GEARS?" Then uses gears in the gearbox

[@pifpafpoufpifpaf]

You have two half gearboxes with a 180° offset. Why not put three half gearboxes with a 120° offset so two of them are always engaged and the final motion is not jerky anymore ?

[@BananaGearStudios]

How would that work? The reason for having two halves is that one winds the drums back up while the other one unwinds. That wouldn't work with three drums - it's not the same as an AC generator where you can superpose more cycles to smooth out the output. The only way I could see that working is to have a second copy of the entire gearbox 90 degrees out of phase with the current one.

[@pifpafpoufpifpaf]

Wait, you can have two drums engaged in the same time, with a partial overlapping

[@gustavgnoettgen]

​@@BananaGearStudiosIt is the same, since the currents also go back and forth in phase shifted sequence. You'd have one pushing, one pulling, and the third on it's way to it's next position.

[@unixnut]

MOAR GEARBOXES

[@jamiebell2777]

Gearless rectifier = two one way clutches. You could put it on the link shaft between the halves, plus there’s no dead zone anymore where the gears aren’t engaged. This whole thing gives me mechanical loom vibes haha

[@emirkomutan4212]

So, you built a box

[@Strato5]

Would it have worked with a long cone instead of multiple barrels and a sliding tensioner mech to shuffle the string along the cone? My mind went to the gears on a rear bike wheel. Like 2 bikes with continuous variable gears, but one has pedals that work backwards from the other.

[@BananaGearStudios]

Interesting idea! I'm sure that could work.

[@jamiebell2777]

Then it becomes an oscillating cvt

[@BenjaminGoldberg1]

There is a type of torque converter which doesn't need liquid. It is called the constantinesco torque converter after it's inventor. You will still need a mechanical rectifier, thou. one way clutches can be made with sprags or rollers instead of a ratchet and pawl.

[@BananaGearStudios]

Just took a look and that looks really interesting!

[@LachlanHoran-xw7qz]

Not allowed motors they have gears inside

[@oldhorn420]

But he said only the gearbox that doesn't need gears, a motor cant change speed with the gears inside so that doesn't count

[@BananaGearStudios]

Should I have used a combustion engine instead? If I make another video with this I'll see what other gears I can take out

[@AlexanderKoller-Tschiggerl]

@@BananaGearStudios pls make a combustion engine out of lego

[@johnstevenmospa1671]

​@@BananaGearStudiosactually i don't think motors have a gear inside as it only just needs a magnet some coiled wire and an encoding wheel to activate the coils of wire at the right time

[@Farmingforlife1]

@@johnstevenmospa1671you are correct he’s only using gears for reduction

[@DavidMako12]

He used gears for the linear actuators, but he could easily combat that by just adding bars with wheels on the end to an axle so when he spins the axle there would be difference tension

[@myxal]

Seeing the gearbox mostly assembled at 14:25 I was reminded of the string bike. I wonder if that mechanism could be implemented in LEGO.

[@zat-1-fury]

Ok question can you make this reliable enough for high torque applications every time I try a rubber band it slips too easily 😅

[@darianleyer5777]

I figured out a way to counteract the loss of motion mid-cycle. Make another one of what you made in this vid, but hook it up in such a way that its cycle is offset compared to the one in this vid.

[@darianleyer5777]

Also, the spelling you wanted to use is not 'taught' but 'taut'.

[@BananaGearStudios]

I had the same thought while making it! That, and adding a flywheel to smooth out the motion. In the end I didn't mention it because the video was already getting pretty long, but its a neat idea and I'll bring it up if I make another video on this.

[@BananaGearStudios]

Oops, yeah that's my mistake, thanks for pointing it out!

[@brickleyyard4966]

This has a triple expansion steam vibe in the sense that its reliance on linkages to make rotary motion

[@Conquistadorr_]

So what happens if you change gears while its running?

[@BananaGearStudios]

I tried that a bit off-camera, and it still ran smoothly. The gear it's running in basically just switches at a certain point once the other string takes the tension.

[@RoxanneClimber]

If you change *what*?

[@TeraChad23]

​@@RoxanneClimber lmao

[@iamhugry]

It's basically a CvT but worse

[@Pleyer7575lol]

4:04 FOOL BRIDGE RECTIFIAH

[@Xen0_Nex]

YES

[@eekee6034]

There are string drive bicycles, though not the same as this. They have 2 strings, yes, but the crank mechanism includes some sliding, cam-like parts and I'm not sure why. Maybe they even out the torque from a pedal stroke. There are half-rectifier mechanisms in ratchets and bicycle rear wheels. I'm not sure how you'd make a full rectifier out of them. I like the pulley solution for changing gears. I think the usual lever-gear solution is to change arm length or pivot position, but this is different.

[@SirMatthew]

I'm wondering if you could have a flywheel that smooths out the motion so it isn't constantly starting and stopping

[@pineapple_productions]

I love your "Box" (it is called that because it is a gear box with no gears) but I think this is just a off set chain, also it think that the drums could count as wheels and in the liner actuators there is a worm gear =) but other than that is is good.

[@BananaGearStudios]

String-box? But yeah, I know I used some gears with the linear actuators, if I make another video on this I'll see if I can get around using them to make it totally gearless.

[@Hank-aroo192]

Dude, you’re literally using gears in your non-gear transmission rope

[@Эмиль7-ч9я]

Yea

[@supercrafter0154]

Me and my gf thought the same thing.

[@benrex7775]

He made a gearless gearbox. Not a gearless lego contraption. Input and output and control is allowed to have gears, just not the gearbox itself.

[@SteelTheFish]

Its made for creativity and fun, not for actual use.

[@CNoffical1]

fr

[@pseudo_goose]

Pretty sure moving the anchor of the string is just another way to change the leverage (doubled output speed, halved torque). Just like a compound pulley.

[@thearkmecha4637]

7:12 I had a moment of "okay, you've gotten nowhere... unless if... OH!"

[@SlowerIsFaster139]

Spring tension could be used as both a clutch and string tensioner if the drums could move up and down.

[@ARockRaider]

If you align the drum with the pivot of the lever attached to the rope you can extend it through the pivot, this effectively gives you the 180 out of phase lever without building an entire 2nd mechanism. You then wrap one rope clockwise and the other counter-clockwise, now you only need one drum. I believe this can also be backdriven (drum drives levers or levers drives drums) Also moving the rope attachment up or down the lever can be used to change speed of transmission, though I'm not as sure this could be done without changing rope length.

[@Lukas.Cancelosi]

Kinda reminds me of those string drive bikes that came out a while back, speaking of which, a gearless mechanical "rectifier" could be done with a ratcheted crank of some kind...

[@Jo-rz6bs]

I was expecting a pneumatic setup. One set of cylinders pumping, can drive switchable numbers of cylinders running the output. Could be quite lossy, and youre working against the compressability of air, but that would be my approach.

[@spacesuitian9745]

This feels like a mechanism that I'd put in a D&D game that some sailor gnomes made. Like instead of lego its all ropes and wood with a horse in a wheel to power it.

[@keyreoyun7646]

keep going man these are super cool

[@dafoex]

Instead of manually adjusting tension to change gear, what happens if you put the idlers on springs? Will that make it some kind of rope CVT or will the tension applied by the springs just mean it will always run in third gear?

[@Luziferne]

There is/was a Bike drive train with a similar pulley system. But with, I think, 19 gears, which were actuated at the pedals by changing the length of the lever arm pulling the string. And a rachet to drive the wheel one way only You might want to take look at it, as it only needs two levers, one for each pedal

[@oscaradeaza1203]

You can make gearboxes using suction, gravity, pulleys, and weird shapes. I don’t know how, but it’s gotta be discovered.

[@LiamBond-iw4do]

At 3:33 there is a major flaw you are still using gears when you clearly stated that you can’t use gears

[@BananaGearStudios]

And a minute later I take out half the gears and explain why I keep the ones I did

[@LiamBond-iw4do]

Yeah I realize that too

[@1e1001]

aw i was expecting some terrifying linkage like those Poly Bridge machines, but alas it's just half of a belt

[@Vaasref]

Using those geared pistons at the pivot point of the arm. to shorten or lengthen the arm's length and have a CVT version of the string drive bikes.

[@Vijayan-v4z]

My man is trying to make cake without any ingredients except flour 😂😂😂

[@svenb4475]

Ok i see one possible way: use a piston to linearize the motion of the motor, then couple a linearily guided heavy weight to that linear motion with a spring. By tuning it right you can actually get it to oscillate twice as fast as the input. With some scary and fragile resonance magic you can turn that back into a rotational motion.

[@stellsy3496]

this is a very cool idea, and i got an idea for improvement. rather than changing the drum diameter try changing the length of the swing arm attachment for the string pully, by making making the distance from the fulcrum vary you'd make the stroke length of the tug vary, and by extension the length of rope pulled per revolution making it change the gear ratio. and by making the actuator changing this length continuous you'd make a continuously variable transmission (CVT). there is a problem with the concept tho, the output speed follows the speed of the crank in the direction of the connecting arm making the output speed sinusoidal rather than constant, meaning that it speeds up and slows down coming to a stop at each point the drums switch direction. i believe this can be corrected for tho by adding the output to itself 180 degrees out of phase tho. or rather add the 90 degrees out of phase version of itself 90 degrees out of phase.

[@BananaGearStudios]

That's a very neat idea! And it would save a lot of space as only one drum per side would be needed. I had the same thought about adding a second copy of the gearbox with an offset to smooth out the output, it's awesome to hear someone else had the same idea!

[@AlokzAndKeakeaavea.]

yay friction weardown for more parts😁

[@alexxyo6061]

7:36 I'm pretty sure you could have used 2 levers for the "gear shift"

[@Zoo_Bee]

Seven gears and we’re just three minutes in bro was D1 caper

[@Wheatley_Darwin]

Lego pneumatics would have been another option for this challenge!

[@LangSphere]

3:44 use a FULL BRIDGE RECTIFIER (i hope electroboom is proud)

[@tanhrs8711]

5:03 the thing used in steam trains !!!

[@vladimirpain3942]

Gears: I am inevitable...

[@patronify]

Why didn't you just put two strings on one drum, so that one drum moves both directions?

[@offsetmonkey538]

Gearbox without gears? I was expecting you to just make a box! That's technically the truth

[@kaiwren75]

Any way this is very interesting to me and I am amazed

[@simonkovacic2585]

You could have just replaced the strings with solid bricks, that would allow for full rotation with just one of those mechanisms and would significantly simplify the design

[@BananaGearStudios]

Then it couldn't have multiple gears. The whole design relies on the flexibility of the strings to allow it to run in different gears.

[@zachandrobvermaasanddeatha457]

You know you keep saying gearless when there is gears it should be called minimal amount of gears gear box this is just a thought oh and make sure you put a disclaimer in the title or in the description but put on the title for people to look in the description just some advic😊

[@propeltheprototoaster8151]

What gearbox do you have? Inline 6

[@RobertMarxreiter]

As I expected: you can make a gearbox without gears but there are some strings attached.

[@thearkmecha4637]

I don't understand why the string tension decreased with each gear, could anyone explain?

[@Pilug404]

Make a CVT by adjusting leverage instead of barrel

[@sentimusprime7479]

Not counting the gears in the power functions moter. I counted 22 LEGO gear parts in this build that says in the thumbnail that it uses NO gears. Click bait if you ask me.

[@migsy1]

This is so cool

[@hdhsu-dg6fb]

good video

[@WeGD7979]

cool vid bro

[@jlmny]

you should make a gearbox that can launch stuff is different spots

[@jamesodwyer2115]

Instead of the rectifier you could have used the linkage shown at 1:04 to turn the oscillation into rotation

[@BananaGearStudios]

That wouldn't work because the output turns different distances in each gear.

[@Jo-rz6bs]

Do we have an explantion for hy the strings were not taut?

[@onefourfiveninef3itssteven774]

try having the same effect but take out the bevel gears. After all bevel gears are gears

[@JustJellyPlays]

Make this 2x so you have 4 strong hearts connected to one aces this will make it easier to turn.

[@Madcuzbad222]

Short answer=no

[@Creeperboy099]

There’s a 3D printed ratcheting CVT on KZbin that uses lever arms

[@BananaGearStudios]

Ooh cool, is it by a guy called "Gear Down For What"? I just watched that video and it was really interesting, thanks for mentioning it!

[@Creeperboy099]

@@BananaGearStudios oh yeah that’s the one

[@Grytix5567]

18:00 wait what is the expected torque for first gear?

[@BananaGearStudios]

Thanks for the comment. There isn't one because I'm using the measured torque from 1st gear to predict the torques in 2nd and 3rd gears.

[@Elliottblancher]

You can, its called continuous variable transmission

[@BananaGearStudios]

At the start of the video I said that belts weren't allowed either, which is why I didn't use a CVT.

[@minhuang8848]

FULL LEGO RECTIFIER

[@dalegomees3087]

Full bridge rectifier!!!!!!

[@hotwheels.history9992]

Lego introduced Samsonite gears in 1965.. lego before 1965:

[@datguymiller]

You could have made valve gear like on a steam engine

[@BananaGearStudios]

Are you sure that would work? Because the output rotates back-and-forth by different amounts in each gear, whereas those gears rely on fixed timings.

[@datguymiller]

@@BananaGearStudios a steam loco valve gear is specifically designed to change timings, you'd probably have to an odd system so so the output can connect do different spots on the output axle as it not only changes speed but distance traveled as well but I'm sure it could work

[@d_breadstix_guy1603]

fyi, ‘taut’ (tight, stretched, not slack) =/= ‘taught’ (educated, given a lesson in)

[@BananaGearStudios]

Yeah, someone else mentioned that as well. That's just my bad, thanks for mentioning it.

[@unixnut]

Tight lesson, bro.

[@mrpigeonalt4371]

i cant be the only one screaming scotch yoke

[@leon.gtsports]

What about a cvt?

[@nakrul987]

make a mechanical torque amplifier

[@dazley8021]

the "Ungearbox"

[@finniboy9670]

how Manny grams can the motor handle without the gearbox :D

[@LongPlayPladde]

As a gear is a "toothed wheel" just switch them with wheels that have magnets instead of tooths. done.

[@XUnrealGaming]

Let’s make a gearless gearbox, these few gears 😂😂😂😂😂

[@acidflowsalt2321]

Instead of bevel gears use an u joint linkage

[@BananaGearStudios]

Nice idea - I'd need two of them for each actuator though since each one can only bend by about 45 degrees whereas the bevel gears turn the axle a full 90 degrees.

[@iamhugry]

Tell em you build a cvt worse than a cvt but still cool

[@TheExileFox]

So, you added extra gears but no flywheel...

[@west_side_9]

(Mostly) all cvts: "dude."

[@krazypotatopotato6743]

You could have gotten rid of the gears in the gear switch by using a cam mechanism

[@BananaGearStudios]

That was my first idea too, but surely it wouldn't work because the output rotates back-and-forth by different amounts depending on the gear.

[@bjørnjacobsengaming]

None of your gearboxes are without gears, disappointing, so the answer is no, you cannot make a gearbox without gears!!

[@lukabagaric9327]

pov: brickmasterbuilders smiling rn

[@Dudeface167]

It cant be a gearbox if it doesnt have gears

[@bjørnjacobsengaming]

@@Dudeface167 I think you've misunderstood the whole point. The video is called a gearbox without gears, so if he wants to show that he has made a gearbox without gears, then it must be without gears, it is not, so he has failed and it is not up for discussion, end.

[@KatTheCaz]

(At least now, idk if it got changed) the title says 'Can I build a gearbox without gears?' The answer is no. Now why is that disappointing? Do you always expect the answer to be yes on videos that include questions in the title (answerable by yes or no)? Is there no joy in watching someone try? Even if they fail? He showed us what he is capable of and I respect that.

[@Dudeface167]

@@bjørnjacobsengaming what are you getting all mad about? I was just saying there is no GEARbox without gears. Gears define its gearboxhood.

[@ypeex7772]

3:46 bike using ropes instead of chains use this methods XD

[@Lil_Cod4]

Every Lego kids dream

[@Skelebelly]

theirs a huge problem here... theirs gears! 3:40

[@The_IQ_Network]

Make a CVT Transmission

[@BananaGearStudios]

Yeah, but I said at the start of the video that no belts were allowed either, which is why I couldn't use a CVT.

[@deadble5k]

Greg Tech if it was lego

[@kimjones1270]

2 cones and an alastic band, vario

[@BananaGearStudios]

Yeah, but I said at the start of the video that no belts were allowed either, which is why I couldn't use a CVT. The point of the video was to see if I could make a gearbox without using any currently existing mechanism.

[@awizardman]

You can't make a gearbox with linkages that have constant connection, impossible. Same like you can't make with cvt using gears with constant connection.

[@noobartz0890]

you forgot about easier method pneumatics

[@BananaGearStudios]

Nice idea! I hadn't thought of that.