MECCANO compatible pieces, any ideas?

[V8EngParticipant @v8eng]

I seem to remember metal construction sets called Erector, similar to Meccano but with a Different appearance to the girders etc.

It may have been silver colour and American, I'm not at all sure about that though.

[Ian S CParticipant @iansc]

Yes Erector is US. The thing I see with Meccano is that each box is a particular model in a similar way that Lego is sold. In the past there were a number of different sizes, I think no., 10 was the large one, and there were books of plans of models to build.

Ian S C

[John DurrantParticipant @johndurrant47282]

When I was 9 or 10 (63 years ago) Father Christmas gave me a size 0 set. I was hooked strait away, I got the lists of parts for each set and used all of my pocket money (I kept hens and sold eggs to Mum and the neighbors) to buy individual parts to make up the next set. I finished up with a number 10 + set. Made everything I had a drawing for plus a few things that I didn't, like rat traps to catch the little blighters that were stealing my chicken feed.

My start in engineering, I went on to make parts for steam turbines, jet engines, rock drilling bits and diesel engines. I now make swarf in the garage.

It's amazing what a few bits of holey metal can lead to.

[Nigel McBurney 1Participant @nigelmcburney1]

Genuine liverpool Binns Rd made Meccano can be purchased from a number of dealers,from near mint to well used,and in a variety of colours, to suit the various colour changes meccano made over the years.There are number of dealers who supply replica parts which appear to be made in India ,qhite well made,and in the last few years some enterprising people have started making Meccano compatable parts like a larger range of gears,various sizes of crane turntables ,extra long flat strips etc etc, If both your sets are in one colour scheme,probably yellow and silver ,try to keep any new parts to the same colour,a box of parts to one colour scheme is worth more than a box of multicoloured parts. The most popular colour no doubt is the medium red green,post war to the mid 1950s,then came light red green, Colour change was due to identify parts with no lead in the paint, then in the 1960s came the yellow/silver and zinc plating. When Meccano declined a variety of colours including dark yellow ,very dark blue,were used.Lash out and buy and buy little lad and yourself a no 10 set in its nice wooden cabinet anything from one to two grand ,I always dreamed of one when I was young, I always kept my Meccano,and was near retirement when I sold my dinky collection and made up my existing meccano into a no 10 ,dream achieved,then I kept on dreaming until I got a lot lot more meccano.Best toy ever made,it taught me a lot about engineering and gears and gearboxes and it all started when father brought home a shoebox of pre war meccano. Google "the Meccano web ring" it has about 100 site ,including dealers and lots of information worldwide on meccano .

[Old ElanParticipant @oldelan]

Posted by Mick Henshall on 15/01/2015 12:12:24:

When I was little my Gramps bought me a "Trix"set , similar to meccano, probably not compatible but I had loads of fun with it

Mick H

I have quite a bit of Trix.

Definitely not compatible with Meccano.

Smaller nuts, bolts and spindles and the strips have three rows of holes on a different pitch.

[Howard LewisParticipant @howardlewis46836]

Meccano used hardware that was 5/32 Whit, with 1/2 inch hole centres.

It taught me a little of my 19 times table!

Trix strips were perforated more like a gauze strip, and wider than Meccano, and used 4BA fasteners as I recall.

I kick myself for having sold the No 10 + that I built up for my son.

Sadly, cannot seem to get much interest shown by my grandson.

It taught thousands of children basic engineering, and exercised their imagination.

The world is the poorer for the fact that very few children now have it and use it. It is a far better intellectual exercise than pushing the buttons on some expensive electronic game.

But than, I'm prejudiced!

Howard

[John OlsenParticipant @johnolsen79199]

I guess the obvious comparison these days would be between the Meccano and the Lego Technics. Meccano is better adapted to making mechanical devices, although it is surprising what can be achieved with the Lego. When one of my sons managed to make a working differential with Lego parts, I bought him the car with the actual bits for a differential in it. Lego has tended like the modern Meccano to the idea of only providing the bits to make one item, although most of the larger techniques sets over the years have provided for a few designs from one set, usually three. But if you have enough different sets you can start to make original items. The Lego robotics stuff was quite good. I would have got my sons into Meccano, except the sort of sets I would have got were simply not available.

All three of them did end up with engineering degrees. Two are now working for Google.

John

[Ian S CParticipant @iansc]

Some of the modern Meccano models are radio controlled, and like a lot of modern toys require plenty of batteries.

Ian S C

[NilochParticipant @niloch]

Not forgetting 'MECCANO MAGAZINE'. There is one Ebay vendor who sells the whole lot on DVD for a ridiculous £4.95.

[Russell EberhardtParticipant @russelleberhardt48058]

Posted by John Olsen on 17/01/2015 00:16:37:

I guess the obvious comparison these days would be between the Meccano and the Lego Technics. Meccano is better adapted to making mechanical devices, although it is surprising what can be achieved with the Lego. When one of my sons managed to make a working differential with Lego parts, I bought him the car with the actual bits for a differential in it. Lego has tended like the modern Meccano to the idea of only providing the bits to make one item, although most of the larger techniques sets over the years have provided for a few designs from one set, usually three. But if you have enough different sets you can start to make original items. The Lego robotics stuff was quite good. I would have got my sons into Meccano, except the sort of sets I would have got were simply not available.

All three of them did end up with engineering degrees. Two are now working for Google.

John

This year's Royal Institution Christmas Lectures featured a Rubiks Cube solving robot made from Lego plus a smart phone. It took just a few seconds to solve the cube. Just shows what can be done with a bit of imagination.

They were very good lectures aimed at encouraging kids to become engineers.

Russell.

[Ian S CParticipant @iansc]

I found an English designed, Chinese built metal construction set that could be compatible to Meccano, can't find the hole spacing/size.

It seems that Meccano took over Erector(the opposition), and they are owned by a Japanese firm.

Ian S C

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