Random part of the day: Gear Rack 14X2M W/Groove
Posted by Huwbot,
Today's random part is 18942, 'Gear Rack 14X2M W/Groove', which is a Technic part, category Functional Elements, Gear Wheels And Racks.
Our members collectively own a total of 40,518 of them. If you'd like to buy some you should find them for sale at BrickLink.
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8 comments on this article
I think it's weird how old sets like 6986 had specialized rack and pinion pieces rather than connecting part 3743 with gears. Maybe back then LEGO didn't want too many Technic pieces in system sets to make it simpler for younger builders. You hardly ever see Technic pins in 80s sets, it's mostly the bricks with built in pins, which can be a detriment to making splitting modular vehicles because only certain sections were compatible with each other.
@Norikins:
A single-piece rack is unlikely to get jammed inside the model, where one that relies on inexperienced builders to firmly press all the rack sections down to function properly most likely won’t. For the pin-bricks, they prevent the pins from transferring from one part to another, as you connect and disconnect different sections. The incompatibility issues are just a matter of not establishing clear guidelines on how to use them, which is how they ended up with the cockpit from 6894 not being able to swap in for the one on 6941, in spite of the fact that the entire theme is based around interchangeable sub-assemblies.
Pretty sure Stella was missing this piece for a while. Don’t worry she got it back. The question is though, how?
@ohrmazd said:
"Pretty sure Stella was missing this piece for a while. Don’t worry she got it back. The question is though, how?"
Stella got her gear rack. Comes with groove.
Comes with mirrorball, not pictured.
“Aww, you threw off my groove!”
“I’m sorry but you’ve thrown off the gear rack’s groove.”
@Brickalili said:
"“Aww, you threw off my groove!”
“I’m sorry but you’ve thrown off the gear rack’s groove.”"
"I understood that reference."
I wish they didn't have the end connections to allow them to be connected end to end like the circular gear rack, then I could have experimented with building a very long straight mono-rail. I understand that most of the time you don't want the rack overshooting, but could just put an axle through the end holes if the gear rack housing was redesigned as well.