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I'd like to build an elevator for my apartment building. My plan is to use rails and grooves to allow the elevator to slide up and down. This means I have to build the elevator with the studs facing forward instead of up. I'd like to have 4 rails on each corner of the elevator and slide them along grooves outside the elevator.
Here's some pictures of what I've built so far:

Elevator car (click to enlarge)
Alignment problem (click to enlarge)

The problem is that because of the dimensions, I can't quite get the grooves and rails to line up with eachother. How do I calculate a set of dimensions for the elevator that will allow it to attach to 2 pairs of grooves. I supposed I could use just 1 pair of grooves in the middle, but I think that would be less stable.

chicks
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Monte Gardner
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    Not an answer, but check out the elevator in https://brickset.com/sets/10224-1/Town-Hall, as seen in https://images.brickset.com/sets/AdditionalImages/10224-1/10224_Back_02.jpg. This can give you ideas how to get the elevator to "stop" at a floor with a few Technic bits. – Eilon Jul 31 '20 at 22:36
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    Another elevator you could check out would be in the Ninjago City. – Raidri Aug 01 '20 at 08:05

2 Answers2

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Lego bricks are not sized similarly in each dimension. The height to width ratio of a brick is 6:5, which means that 2 bricks stacked on top of each other with their studs up are 6 plates high, but the same 2 bricks stacked on top of each other on their sides (studs facing sideways) are only 5 plates high. Said differently, bricks placed sideways (studs to the side) align correctly with a regular brick pattern every 6 sideways placed bricks.

Use these facts to plan your rails and grooves.

Phil B.
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    Based on this, moving the rail to the other end of the stack of red plates (and moving the grooves 1 stud towards the front) should work, like so – Chronocidal Jul 31 '20 at 10:34
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If you'd like to keep your build studs up and avoid dealing with the 6:5 ratio, you could try to use Plate, Modified 1 x 2 with Arm Up with the already mentioned Brick, Modified 1 x 2 x 5 with Groove, as the 3.18 mm bar will slide in the groove just fine.

enter image description here

Another option would be to keep the rest of the elevator car studs up, and only turn sideways for a few smaller rail pieces, like these: Plate, Modified 1 x 2 with Handles

enter image description here

zovits
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