How does a pull-back car work? Illustrated teardown

https://mechanical-pencil.com/products/car

by Muhammad523 • 24 days ago

272 42 24 days ago

mechanical-pencil.com

Muhammad523• 24 days ago

I really love this site, it is obivous that the owner puts a lot of effort into this

roelschroeven• 22 days ago

Much like https://ciechanow.ski/

donkey_brains• 24 days ago

Wow. I love being reminded of stuff like this. Those cars were so cool.

Edit: I took one of these cars apart as a kid to see how it worked. This site brought back a lot of memories. The little coil spring inside the gear. I have to get my hands on one of these now…

bluescrn• 22 days ago

The original 80s Darda cars were great fun, with enough power to get around great big loops. One of those childhood toys I wish I'd took more care of and kept hold of...

They did still produce a version relatively recently (looks like they're discontinued entirely now?), but the cars were significantly lighter and less powerful, all-plastic where the originals had metal bodies

smackeyacky• 22 days ago

I bought a Honda Civic toy from an auto parts store recently. I thought it was purely static but it has a spring pull back motion and also flashes the lights and honks the horn when you open the doors.

Then I leaned on it and discovered it makes a starting noise and vrooms the engine.

I felt like I was 10 years old again.

matt-attack• 23 days ago

This really needs to be done for a GLP-1 auto injecting needle.

Pretty sure it’s the same as an epi-pen as well.

It blows my mind. It’s a disposable, single use device that at the press of button:

1. Inserts the needle in your skin, 2. Slowly presses the plunger until the dose is injected 3. Then retracts the needle with plunger

Three distinct and seemingly opposing motions. With timing. All in a little plastic enclosure. It sure I can think of a toy with that kind of mechanism.

jrussino• 22 days ago

Check out this video from Steve Mould; I think it covers exactly what you're looking for!

https://youtu.be/CfhsW1kaa2Q?is=ug5_Ze2HczVMGTMR

Retr0id• 22 days ago

Untracked link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CfhsW1kaa2Q

(It's a really good video btw!)

gonzalohm• 22 days ago

Steve Mould has a great video explaining the mechanism in epi pens

jaggederest2• 22 days ago

There's an even fancier mechanism with e.g. glucagon pens, where it actually has to rehydrate the freeze dried hormone (glucagon forms aggregations when it sits, has to be mixed fresh)

jaggederest2• 22 days ago

Actually, after looking into it recently, this is actually not true any more. All the current glucagon delivery mechanisms are either dry powder or DMSO-based, so no actual water involved, and are premixed and ready to go basically the same as epipen style autoinjectors

I'm excited for the advent of dasiglucagon which is a non-clumping peptide designed for the purpose.

spike021• 22 days ago

When I was a kid I needed growth hormone shots. we used regular syringes that fit into this tan plastic "gun" thing. you pulled back the top into a locked position. placed the tip of the gun to the skin where the needle should inject, and pressed the trigger button to release the lock. can't remember if it also pushed the plunger though. this was back in the 90's.

groos• 22 days ago

Love this site! Well done!

asdff2• 22 days ago

What is the name for the sort of toy car you push in one direction and it continues slowly in that direction? These ones were usually styled as 4x4 vehicles and almost moved like a rock crawler with the 4wd set to low. They could be pushed forward or in reverse (and then would go in reverse).

amock• 22 days ago

Are you talking about https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Friction_motor?

asdff2• 22 days ago

That's it.

eru• 22 days ago

That also shows why the confusion in https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kY2YeM5fNDw comes from.

emil-lp• 22 days ago

Friction or flywheel car.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Friction_motor

rob74• 22 days ago

Well, you could get it up to higher speeds by holding the car in your hand and repeating the "pushing" action several times...

reactordev• 22 days ago

I learned this when I was 4. We even had ones that shot sparks. America. The animations on this are really well done and I loved that trip back to childhood of pulling the car back and letting it rip. However, given the popularity, you should simulate what happens when you pull it back to the extremes over and over again and the spring gets stretched. It no longer kicks as fast as it used to and in some cases, it won't go at all.

barbazoo• 22 days ago

If you have access to a 3D printer, this helps explain the basics too: https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:3308710

nefarious_ends• 22 days ago

yes this print is great, I was very surprised by the performance of the 3d printed spring. I did end up putting rubber bands on the rear wheels to give them more grip.

tantalor• 22 days ago

Please leave my browser history alone

sreekanth67• 22 days ago

what does this mean ? whats the context ?

AmazingEveryDay• 22 days ago

I guess as a kid I only had access to the cheap ones? Would pull back, not knowing where to stop, and there was eventually a crunching noise. Then I'd worry I'd ruined the thing!

kibwen• 22 days ago

The "mystery" posed at the end of the OP suggests that that crunching noise was the action of the built-in strain relief within the spring enclosure.

arjie• 22 days ago

Oh, is that why when you "overwound" it it would make that rapid ticking sound? The outer end of the spring is falling into the next little slot, huh. Fascinating stuff.

federiconafria• 22 days ago

Yeah, good to know you are not just damaging it!

khurs• 22 days ago

Great site!

dbgrman• 22 days ago

absolutely love it! Gorgeous drawing, meticulous detail.

raldi• 22 days ago

Why is the wind-up gear needed? Couldn't the axle be connected directly to the spring gear?

tetris112• 22 days ago

dampens the force somewhat and ensures the car doesnt burnout all the energy at the beginning?

LastTrain• 22 days ago

We had these for my boys. The target age range of someone who can have fun with these ends at about the same age you learn to be careful enough not to break the motor.

starky• 22 days ago

This doesn't answer the most burning question I have, which is why the wind-up gear has the spiral around the shaft...

tetris112• 22 days ago

They used to paint flames there, but wanted to appease the spiral god instead

raverbashing• 22 days ago

Cool, I'm surprised they are a relatively newer invention (70's)

Of course they were bound to be surpassed by electrical cars with remote controls ;)

Looks like history rhymes

amelius• 22 days ago

It would be great if this was just a model running in a physics engine.

0zer0• 22 days ago

Fascinating animation. But there is one thing I don't understand. What is the purpose of the left axle gear (green)? It is not fixed to the axle because it rotates in the same direction in both modes. Wouldn't is be more efficient to connect the wind-up gear directly to the right axle gear (blue) and through pushing to the left spring gear (red)?

shlewis• 21 days ago

One of my favorite website ever. Delight as always.

dieselgate• 21 days ago

Cool write up and cool site. Off the top of my head the only other places I see spiral ribbon-springs like this are in a wall mounted thermostat.

fuzzythinker• 21 days ago

For a site that's named mechanical pencil, its mechanical pencil page is too simple. It should add the shake mechanical pencil and the rotating mechanical pencil where the tip rotates 40 deg or so on every click next.

NoSalt• 21 days ago

I'd love to see one on the toy car where you rub the wheels across a surface several times in a row to get the engine going faster and faster, then on the last rub, you let it go and it zips away.

How does a pull-back car work? Illustrated teardown

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