Category:Lego Technic

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Lego Technic

1977 -

Evolution of the Technic beam: "Normal" Lego, early Lego Technic, and modern "studless" Lego Technic [image info]

A selection of modern Lego Technic beams [image info]

Some Lego Technic pegs and connectors [image info]

Lego Technic was introduced in 1977 as the Lego "Technical Sets", shortly after the demise of Phillips' Philiform had created a partial gap in the market for more "beam-based" plastic construction sets.

Evolution

The initial sets used what we might call "transitional" beams - conventional Lego-profile studded bricks, but with round side-holes. As the system developed, and more and more specialised parts appeared (including linkages and friction pegs), and round-ended half-thickness beams appeared that could be used more like Meccano strips and whose rounded ends could be used more easily in joints without corners getting in the way.

Once the system had a sufficient number of pegging options (including "friction" pegs that allowed two Technic pieces to be clipped together, hole-to-hole), the need for moulded studs receded, and in current Lego Technic sets, the studless "Meccano-style" profile is now the default style, with the system having evolved away from normal Lego to become a self-contained system in its own right.

Description

Modern "pure" Technic beams (1996-) are studless, and perhaps have more similarities with Meccano than normal Lego, resembling miniature rounded-ended Meccano strips that have been extruded into blocks.

In place of nuts and bolts, modern Technic has an array of different typed of peg, with the two main types being round (usually double-ended) pegs that can clip two or more beams together, and pegs with a cross-shaped cross-section which can be used to make more rigid connections between pieces that have matching cross-shaped holes. The cross pieces can also be used to peg arbitrarily-large stacks of beams together, as long as the end pieces are secured with cross-hole parts.

The combination of circular holes that don't allow free rotation, and cross-shaped holes that do, makes for a flexible system that permits the use of free-form angles with bracing (as with Meccano), but also allows rigid push-fit connections. A range of gears are available that mount onto central cross-shafts, and additional plastic pieces provide shaft-shaft connections, crankshaft parts, pulleys and other useful parts.

Technic vs Lego

Compatibility between the two types of part is maintained by copying most of the standard dimensions of the Lego Brick. Conventional Lego uses 5mm studs arranged on an 8mm grid, and Technic is based on the same 8mm grid. Its holes also have 5mm entranceways, so that the studs on normal Lego bricks can clip neatly into the holes on Lego Technic parts. This allows Lego Technic parts to be used with standard Lego.

Technic has further advantages for engineering models:

"Normal" Lego bricks are asymmetrical when their height is compared to their other dimensions (using a width, depth, height grid of 8mm,8mm, 9.6mm), but Technic beams are based on 8mm, 8mm, 8mm (although, in practice, the width of the curved profile is 7mm, to create a deliberately loose fit for some mechanisms). This can produce a cleaner and more pleasing look, and makes it easier to use combinations of beams with different orientations.

"Normal" Lego bricks are usually designed to have an even number of pegs on their longest side, since this allows the seam between ajacent bricks in a wall to line up with the middle of the brick in the next row. Meccano pieces, on the other hand, are usually designed to be an odd number of units across, so that there can be a hole in the centre. Since Technic uses the "Meccano" approach, its pieces are usually an odd number of units.

"Transitional" Lego bricks

The earlier-style Technics bricks and beams combine aspects of Technics bricks with conventional Lego – these typically have the external dimensions of standard bricks but also have side holes and/or side-studs, and the studs often have central recesses. These parts can be useful for adding details or axle-holes to walls in standard Lego models.