sandrails

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Sandrails Feature sample

A simple sandrails buggy. Features 2-speed remotely controlled gearbox, live rear axle and lights.

Datasheet :

Completion date : 23/11/2008
Power : electric (Power Functions)
Dimensions : length 47 studs / width 25 studs / height 25 studs
Weight : 1.08 kg
Suspension : front: independent with shock absorbers / rear: live axle on shock absorbers
Motors : 2 x PF Medium

A simple sandrails (subcategory of buggies), built basically to test my live axle concept. A live axle is an axle that has no fixed attachment to the frame of the vehicle. Instead, it is connected by a system of links and supported by shock absorbers. Live axle suspensions are usually complex, but offer very good stability and excellent performance, comparable to those of a typical independent suspension. And just like the independent suspension, live axle does not let the vehicle’s weight affect the drive train, which means that it performs better in heavy vehicles that the pendular suspension does, because the weight doesn’t generate extra friction on the drive train components (except wheels, of course).


In Lego, a very complex live axle systems exist, with probably the most extreme exampleavailable here. There for my goal was rather to create something as simple as possible sandrails. I ended up with an axle suspended on 4 links and a driveshaft only - a solution that turned out to blend simplicity with reliability pretty well. It had two minor drawbacks: it was slightly affected by the driveshaft’s torque, just like the pendular suspensions are, and the driveshaft could be theoretically affected by the vehicle’s ( sandrails ) weight to some extent while maing a turn or climbing certain obstacles. Despite that, this suspension system worked far better that I could expect.

Another note able feature was the use of the direction sensitive gearbox I have developed earlier. It was braced by lift arms here, and allowed the vehicle to be driven only forwards. It did work as expected, but the liftarmic frame turned out to be somewhat loose, and did not deliver the kind of performance that traditional bricks could.

The model was built with minimal attention to the aesthetic side, I just wanted it to look realistic, not pretty. Therefore I’ve used rather unusual palette of colors, and did not intend to film the vehicle ( sandrails ).

The LUGPol community, however, showed much interest in the suspension concept, and persuaded me into filming it, so I’ve eventually published a video titled Live Axle, to emphasize the fact that it was the suspension concept that was important, not the actual car ( sandrails ).

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