Nutbaustein-Werkstatt (3D)
About this app
Ein Konstruktionsbaukasten in 3D aus nachgebauten Originalteilen der Epoche grau/rot: Bausteine mit Nut und Zapfen, Metallachsen, Zahnräder (Modul 1,5) auf Flachnaben und ein Motor mit Schnecke im 15-mm-Raster. Das Getriebe läuft echt: Übersetzung, Drehsinn und Drehmoment je Stufe, Zwischenrad und Schnecke, ein Fahrzeug auf dem Rollenprüfstand. Fünf Vorlagen auch als Bauanleitung.
With explain mode: an AI tutor walks you through the app, points out what matters in the scene and answers your questions.
The basics
Gear trains trade speed for torque and back. The ratio i = z₂/z₁ says how much slower and stronger the driven gear turns. Two gears only mesh if the distance between their axles equals the sum of their pitch radii. In a groove-and-peg system with a 15 mm grid and module 1.5 this is 0.75 · (z₁ + z₂) mm: 10 and 30 teeth fit at 30 mm, while 10 and 20 teeth would need 22.5 mm and do not fit the grid.
What you see
A construction kit in 3D made of replicas of original grey/red era parts, each by number, colour and picture from a parts database: grey blocks 15 and 30 with groove and black peg, red blocks 15 with a bore, metal axles from 30 to 125 mm, a 10-tooth pinion, gears with 20, 30 and 40 teeth on red flat hubs, a worm, tyres 45, a turntable 60 and the grey motor with its red worm. When the motor starts, the gearbox runs through its worm. The Gears panel shows speed, direction, ratio, torque and the stages from the motor for every axle. The app detects jammed gear trains and self-locking.
Try it yourself
Load the 30 : 1 reduction and tap the turntable: worm to a 10-tooth pinion, then 10 to 30. Compare a small and a large idler gear; the output speed stays the same. Run the turntable with the worm and switch the motor off: it stays put. Or build freely: place blocks, push an axle through the bore, add gears and place the motor so that its worm meshes with a gear.
Frequently asked questions
- How do you calculate the ratio of a gear train?
- The ratio of one stage is i = z₂/z₁, the teeth of the driven gear divided by the teeth of the driving gear. With several stages you multiply the individual ratios. The output speed is the input speed divided by i; without friction the torque grows by the factor i.
- What does an idler gear do?
- An idler gear sits between two gears and reverses the direction once more. It does not change the overall ratio, however many teeth it has: its tooth count cancels out of z₂/z₁ · z₃/z₂ = z₃/z₁.
- Why is a worm gear self-locking?
- On a single-start worm the lead angle of the thread is small. The friction in the thread is then larger than the force the wheel exerts on the worm in the circumferential direction. So the wheel cannot turn the worm, and the load stays put without a brake.
- What can I build with the groove-and-peg kit?
- Gearboxes, vehicles and turntables from groove-and-peg blocks, metal axles, gears, a worm, tyres and a motor on a 15 mm grid. Five models come ready-made or as building instructions; your own model is saved in the browser.
Subject: Engineering mechanics
More from Engineering mechanics
- Bending stress & moment of inertia
- Düsenjet bis v_max (3D)
- Energy & oscillation
- Truss analysis (method of joints)
- Equilibrium & support reactions
- Kinematics
- Kinetics & Newton's second law
- Forces & vector addition
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