🎡 Ferris Wheel: step-by-step build
A big wheel turns slowly while its gondolas always hang the right way up.
The very first Ferris wheel was built in 1893 in Chicago, and it was taller than a 20-storey building! Ours is a little smaller, but it works the same way: a slow, strong motor turns the big wheel, and the gondolas hang on round holes so gravity keeps them level. A worm gear makes the wheel turn gently — no scary spinning. Switch on the lights and it is night time at the fair!
- Level 3 of 5 (medium)
- About 45 minutes
- 28 steps, 78 parts
- Powered by: Motor
- Series: Mechanical Wonders
What you will learn
- Worm Gear: The Lock: A worm gear turns a gear super slowly — and never slips back.
- Centre of Gravity: Keep the heavy stuff low and in the middle and your model won't tip.
- Electric Circuits: Electricity flows from the battery, through the motor, and back.
- Mounting a Motor: A motor must be pinned tight, or it spins itself instead of your wheels.
- Plugging In: Power Functions: Battery box → (switch or receiver) → motor. Plugs stack like bricks.
- Triangles Are Strong: A triangle cannot be squished — a square can.
Build these first
- 📡 Spinning Radar: A motor-driven radar dish that sweeps round and round on a turntable — with a blinking light. (level 3 of 5, about 25 minutes, 15 steps)
🏗️ Worm-Gear Crane: Crank the worm gear to lift the boom — then let go. It stays up by itself! (level 3 of 5, about 30 minutes, 15 steps)
Parts you need
- 3 × Open frame 5×11
- 28 × Black pin (grippy)
- 3 × Beam 7
- 4 × Split pin block
- 6 × Red axle-pin
- 1 × Axle 12
- 4 × Beam 9
- 2 × Giant gear (40 teeth)
- 2 × Axle 4
- 2 × Axle 8
- 4 × L-beam 2×4
- 9 × Half bush
- 1 × Medium gear (24 teeth)
- 2 × Bush
- 2 × Long pin-axle block
- 1 × Worm gear
- 1 × Axle 6
- 1 × M motor
- 1 × AA battery box
- 1 × LED lights
Steps
- Lay a white 5×11 frame flat, pointing away from you. This is the base.
- Back tower foot: push black pins up into the two back corner holes and press a 7-hole beam flat onto them, across the back end.
- Push four black pins up into the 1st, 3rd, 5th and 7th holes of that beam.
- Press a split pin block onto each pair of pins, and push a red axle pin into each block's cross hole, pointing to the front.
- Stand a second 5×11 frame up on the base, just in front of the blocks, and press the 2nd holes of its sides onto the red pins. It is the first tower — two pins hold it, so it cannot tip.
- Wheel: take the long 12 axle and slide a 9-hole beam onto its middle, standing up.
- Slide a giant 40-tooth gear on next and pin it to the beam through its small holes.
- Add a second 9-hole beam lying across, and pin it to the gear too. That is one side of the wheel!
- Push four rods into the spoke tips: 4-long ones left and right, 8-long ones top and bottom.
- Hang an L-beam gondola on every rod.
- Other side: slide on a 9-hole beam across, over the short rods.
- Add the second 40-tooth gear and pin it to the beam.
- Slide on the last 9-hole beam, standing up, over the long rods, and pin it to the gear.
- Lock the rods with half bushes on their ends: one on the front of the right and top rods, one on the back of the left and bottom rods.
- Now lock the other end of every rod with a half bush too, so no rod can slide out and drop its gondola.
- Bring the wheel in from the front and push its axle into the top middle hole of the tower.
- Front tower foot: push black pins up into the 3rd holes from the front of both long sides and press a 7-hole beam flat onto them, under the wheel.
- Push four black pins up into the 1st, 3rd, 5th and 7th holes of that beam.
- Press a split pin block onto each pair of pins, and push a red axle pin into each block's cross hole, pointing to the front.
- Stand the third 5×11 frame at the front: slide it onto the axle and press the 2nd holes of its sides onto the red pins. Now the wheel has two towers.
- Slide the 24-tooth gear and a bush onto the front of the axle.
- Motor mount: push black pins into the 3rd, 5th, 6th and 8th holes of the front tower's right side, pointing to the front.
- Press a long pin-axle block onto each pair of pins, standing up, and push a red axle pin into each middle cross hole, pointing right.
- Press a 7-hole beam, standing up, onto both red pins. Two pins — the motor post cannot swing.
- Hold a bush and the worm gear right under the 24-tooth gear and push a 6-long axle from the right through the 6th hole of the post, the bush and the worm. Put a half bush on its left tip: now the worm cannot slide either way.
- Push black pins into the 5th and 7th holes of the post, pointing right. Press the M motor on: the pins go into the round holes above and below its orange cross, and the worm axle into the cross.
- Push black pins into the 3rd and 4th holes of the back tower's right side, pointing to the front. Hang the AA battery box on them by the top two holes of its left flap and plug the motor onto the box.
- Push the two LED lights into the 9th and 11th holes of the back tower's left side and plug them onto the box too.
Play time
Switch it on and watch the gondolas stay level all the way round. Put a minifigure in a gondola. Take one gondola off — does the wheel still turn smoothly?
Real-world inspiration
Ferris wheel (first built by George Ferris for the 1893 Chicago World's Fair) — https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ferris_wheel