Review on 🧩 UGears 3D Wooden Puzzle UTG0031 by Cornelius Mosley

I didn't know how to rate this as I'm really impressed with the quality of the components and had a lot of fun putting it together. However, when it was finished it just didn't work properly, although with some extra effort I managed to get it working on a small scale. I'm a fairly experienced builder and followed the instructions so I'm sure it was assembled correctly. It just doesn't work the way it was designed and for that I have to say it's a 3 star item. I think it's still a decent product but the lack of real functionality was a big disappointment. Some of the mechanical connections held by toothpicks just don't work properly. The shifter has already broken several toothpicks that need to be replaced. Some of the gears are not working well, and the axles of some of these gears are too loose and are slipping out. I loosened some of these with glue, which improved performance but shouldn't be necessary. It feels like they were too ambitious in offering forward/neutral/rear and should have simplified it a bit. While the individual systems seem to work well, there's enough wiggle room in them that when they're all combined, they don't run smoothly. PROS High quality material parts Laser cut is accurate Lots of spare parts included Instructions are pretty detailed If it works it's a bone roller it's very cool It's of course an interesting topic of conversation CONS Doesn't work properly mechanically Requires a candle (to wax the parts) and sandpaper ( to remove burrs) - u had these items on hand but it's a little annoying they weren't included - for an extra 10 cents they could have put together a full set. The steering is extremely sluggish. Many mechanical bonds are extremely weak. If it worked as advertised I would give 5 stars. As it is I'm giving it 3 stars because the build is interesting and fun but the end products don't work properly.