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Product: Toy: Construction
Lego wheels with anti-stud tread   (+13)  [vote for, against]

Big Lego® wheels with a tread which is a loose-fitting 'negative' of the Lego stud pattern, so as to give Lego vehicles a smooth ride when traversing Lego baseplates.
-- hippo, Dec 06 2007

Tread crawler http://www.peeron.com/inv/parts/x486
Maybe this type of track would fit the bill? [Jinbish, Dec 06 2007]

iStopMotion (Boinx software) http://www.boinx.co...topmotion/overview/
[hippo, Dec 07 2007]

in time for christmas?
-- po, Dec 06 2007


Nice [+]. You could also use them to attach lego bricks to the tyres to make something that can go down steps.
-- marklar, Dec 06 2007


The road area of Lego base plates (if the baseplate has a road area) is already smooth, so as long as you don't do any off-roading, it's a smooth ride anyway... and with the described tires, you can only travel in strait lines in the x and y axes.

If the depressions are small enough for Lego pieces to attach to them, then it will be very difficult for the wheels to roll on the Lego surface.
-- BJS, Dec 06 2007


Yes, this is aimed at off-roading (think of the green baseplates with studs all over, rather than the grey "urban" baseplates with road markings and smooth bits) and the anti-studs defintely have to be 'loose-fitting' so I'm afraid [marklar]'s variation won't work.
-- hippo, Dec 06 2007


If it's off-roading then it's supposed to be bumpy.

Can't you just buy a car with better suspension?
-- BJS, Dec 06 2007


No fair, I want to put legs on the wheels. And how am I supposed to complete my model of an auto shop with a big rotating tyre on the roof?
-- marklar, Dec 06 2007


OK, I'd better explain exactly why I want a smooth ride across a Lego baseplate. I need to have a mini-DV video camera mounted on a Lego platform which can move smoothly across a Lego baseplate for tracking shots. The shot doesn't allow for the building of rails or a tiled surface.
-- hippo, Dec 06 2007


The anti-studs might not provide the smooth ride if they are constantly pairing with the studs {later: as [BJS] notes}.

I suggest that you want a set of caterpillar tracks (for cogs or wheels) that are sufficiently long (linky).
-- Jinbish, Dec 06 2007


If your wheels were thin enough they would ride smoothly between the studs. Should work on a diagonal as well.
-- 2 fries shy of a happy meal, Dec 06 2007


Hmm... I wonder if there's something that could be done with a large sphere with lots of anti-studs on it...
-- lostdog, Dec 06 2007


[hippo], I bet you could build something using superglue and numerous cut-up toothbrush heads. The bristles should adapt to the surface fairly nicely.
-- lurch, Dec 06 2007


//mini-DV video camera .. Lego .. tracking shots//
Sounds interesting, [hippo]. Stop-motion animation or real-time movie-making?
-- neutrinos_shadow, Dec 06 2007


It's stop-motion: DV camera connected to my iMac, running iStopMotion (see link - this is a great bit of software), and iMovie. I'm doing a test film at the moment to get used to the technique. I'll see if I can post it somewhere when it's finished.
-- hippo, Dec 07 2007


I thought it was designed to run over the little Manly Man LEGO men.

Bun.
-- elhigh, Dec 07 2007


//If your wheels were thin enough//

I seem to remember a lego train, with wheels which rested on narrow edges. Maybe they would do the trick, provided that your vehicle is guaranteed to drive *very* straight.
-- pertinax, Feb 08 2009



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