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by WalterBright 1326 days ago
I always preferred the Gilbert erector sets.
4 comments

I'm pretty sure I had this as a kid. It had very memorable stamped steel girders . I think we built some sort of ferris wheel (not sure which exact model) and I was really unhappy with how slow/weak it was. it was a real depressing moment. Never quite forgot it. Took a good three and half decades before I finally learned how to make high torque spinning things (motor torque got better, easier, and cheaper).
Erector was discontinued before Mindstorms were launched, and were not programmable.

Mecanno brand has programmable robots, but not the range of sensors that Mindstorms had.

You can still buy them secondhand.
I don't know about Mecano, but the Erector sets online are in pretty sad condition, unsurprising since they're >50 years old now.

Sometimes I'll get from ebay one of the battered metal boxes they came in. They make nice nostalgic decorations.

The most easily available Meccano-compatible system still in production is the Swiss brand Stokys: https://www.stokys.ch/de-ch/home/

The web site and order system is in German, but I've been able to talk to their friendly customer service in English. Then there's the matter of shipping outside of Europe... but it's still much easier than scraping parts together from vintage Meccano vendors with circa-1995-style web sites.

I remember having some Erector sets as a kid in the '90s (they had merged with Meccano long before, and the choice of which brand to appear on which set seems to have been random since then), but these days the official Meccano/Erector selection is almost non-existent -- there are maybe a dozen small self-contained model vehicle kits, and you can't order generic kits or parts in bulk. It is rather sad -- these brands were once used for serious engineering prototyping and scientific work: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Differential_analyser#Use_of_M...

Here in Argentina, Meccano-branded sets are still being made, but Meknex may be a better option: https://articulo.mercadolibre.com.ar/MLA-855738684-meknex-k1...

The official Meccano-brand sets here in Argentina are indeed very limited.

Erector sets were incredible, as a kid I built RC cars out of those with some over-powered motors and such. Super fun times.

I would guess Mindstorms gives more of an intro to programming, while Erector is better for mechanical engineering.

(also, hey! I was that weird kid at Handmade Seattle last year who asked to shake your hand :) )

I'd attach Cox engines to them <g>.

It was a pleasure to meet you!

P.S. My mom told me that I couldn't handle the tiny screws used to put the Erector sets together. She was wrong :-) I spent endless hours building things with it.

I bought three big Meccano kits on closeout years ago. They lie in wait for robotification. If anyone has pointers to how to bring them to life with appropriately-sized motors and batteries and remote control, I'd be grateful.