Wind-up Pram Walker
A small pram-pushing walker powered by a wind-up motor.
Datasheet:
Completion date: 08/11/2021
Power: wind-up motor
Remote control: none
Propulsion: 1 x LEGO #42073 motor geared 2.5:1
This is one of the little ideas that you can’t really get rid of in any other way than by making it real. I’ve already had it when my first kid was born, and how that I’m a father of two, it came back to me and I just felt I need to give it a try. Truth is, I’ve been a member of a very secret society for nearly 2 years. We meet at a nearby park on Saturday and Sunday mornings. While regular people are still warm and cozy in their beds, we keep pushing the prams, struggling to stay awake, and walking with so much vigor that the casting director of “Army of the Dead” would hire us on the spot. And if a coffee manufacturer ever needs a “before” face for their advertisement, all they have to do is visit such a park at such an ungodly hour. We are the dads.
This tiny model was inspired by personal experience and propelled by the LEGO 42073 wind-up motor, which unlike other wind-up motors doesn’t unwind all at one, but at a mostly steady rate, like a wind-up music box. The downside is that its torque is nearly non-existent (about as forceful as a hamster’s sneeze), which forced me to use as much gear reduction as I could fit given the limited space. Even with the 2.5:1 gear ratio, the motor is still so sensitive to any extra weight that trying to dress up “dad” using just a few plates will make it stall, which is why I had to give up and keep the “dad” as barebones as possible. The finished model was able to travel around half a meter on a perfectly smooth floor when fully wound up, but outdoors it would stop on a tiniest blade of grass. Still, it was interesting to see it move.
