Features of wooden mechanical constructors

A wooden mechanical constructor is a thing so far so rare that many sincerely do not understand how such a thing is possible. A simple wooden constructor does not surprise anyone, mechanical, but made of plastic and metal, is also enough, but to make it from wood and with the possibility of self-propelled movement is still that trick.

It is not excluded that mobile composite 3D models from plywood are produced in the same China, however, the only company that has achieved success and recognition worldwide is the Ukrainian start-up Ugears. Since it is almost impossible to find another moving wooden constructor, we’ll stop at this company.

Just a few years the name Ugears would not say anything even to market specialists - the company's history is quite small. It all started in 2014, when a workshop of designers produced from plywood opened in a small village near Kiev. Someone told the guys that their work is really unique and deserves more distribution. They decided to present their project on Kickstarter - a site where you can receive money from random visitors for the implementation of the project presented.

The site visitors liked the idea of ​​wooden mechanical constructors so much that instead of the expected $ 20,000, the startup collected 400,000.

At the same time, a young company managed to make itself an advertisement, because they started talking about the project. After that, he rather quickly entered foreign markets - in particular, a representative of the Russian dealer Ugears, in 2016, said in an interview that Russia is just one of twenty-four countries where such a toy is officially represented.

The modern website of the company operates in Ukrainian, Russian and English, providing an opportunity for the perfect order of goods almost anywhere in the world. From analogs can be identified except that the mechanical watches of Russian production. This is a complete watch with gears and clockwork mechanism, which are assembled entirely from wood. The focus of the product is that you first need to collect it. The idea as a whole is very similar to the Ukrainian one, however, here the manufacturer lacks the range, and with it the mass fame in the world.

If we talk about the Ukrainian manufacturer, then even he himself characterizes his creation not as a designer, but as puzzles in 3D. Indeed, most of the parts are made of flat plywood, there are just so many of them that a full-fledged natural three-dimensionality is created. The same can be said about Russian wooden watches. The method of connecting parts here is extremely simple.

In general terms, it can be described as the method of spikes and grooves - all the details fit perfectly in size to easily connect and disconnect without losing integrity in the process of use.

At the same time, for the credibility of the finished crafts, assembled from flat parts, the creators have to produce sets of hundreds of elements, so that even an adult person assembling a large set can take several hours.

Assembled handicraft is more suitable for demonstratively standing on the shelf, rather than for an active game. In this case, the degree of involvement of mechanics in different designers may vary significantly.For example, the Belarusian company EWA produces prefabricated plywood tanks, which they also call mechanical, however, their whole mechanical difficulty lies in the fact that their wheels spin. A fundamentally different concept is offered to the consumer by the Ugears, whose famous tram, for example, moves on a rut thanks to an internal gear mechanism!

Russian-made watches are also able to count quite real time, and not only allow the possibility of scrolling the hands.

With the clock, everything is obvious - this is an operating chronometric mechanism that counts time in the same way as an ordinary analogue would do, just completely assembled by itself from wooden parts. Dovinka, however, is quite understandable. Quite another thing is the goods of Ugears, which will fascinate not only the child, but also the adult!

The most popular mechanical models must be illuminated.

• "Tramline" - probably the most famous kit of this supplier. The manufacturer did not dare to complete circular rails, but he tried a lot to convey the urban surroundings around the tracks - here there was a pedestrian bridge over the tramway, and a stop with a newsstand, and a depot, and several characters that would decorate and complete the picture. But the main thing is, of course, the tram itself, which is turned on by a turning mechanism, thanks to which it is able to travel independently from end to end!

• "Rails with railway crossing" will prove to be an ideal set for those who dreamed of a toy railway, but want to get it in an unusual wooden version. Here the company went completely the opposite way - little attention is paid to the entourage, but the rails themselves have a total length of more than four meters! Among other things, they are equipped with a relocation, barriers of which are lowered by pressing a button. Naturally, it would be foolish to sell such an elegant road without rolling stock, so you can buy a train with a tender separately.

• "Mechanical box" It proves that not all puzzles of the company are toys or their imitations. There is a very real use for such a constructor. For example, this solution is perfect for the office to store business cards or credit cards in it. In the closed form, business cards are securely hidden from strangers and protected from dust, but simply spin the gear so that the box will rise elegantly and slowly open to meet the owner.

• "Tractor" - This is one of the first models of Ugears, which brought fame to its creators, is successfully combined with the designer "Trailer". Such a wooden tractor does not easily move itself with the help of a rubber motor, but it also involves switching several modes, one of which involves the setting up of a mechanism, the other a smooth, slow motion, and the third is accelerated distance overcoming.

• "Silomer" is a rather unusual souvenir. Predictably, the creators do not offer to measure their own power in the literal sense of the word on plywood parts, so a strange mechanism measures the force of exhalation, suggesting what a person with lungs of such power should do. The options, of course, are also comic - people with weak breath are invited to send to the kitchen and cook, who breathe harder, could talk on the phone or even sing, and owners with strong breath, according to the creators, should play sports in the fresh air.

Review and unpack the wooden mechanical constructor, see below.