You may have noticed in version 0.4 I updated the model for shafts, as well as straight sections are no longer a single piece stretched to the correct length but a number of repeats of the same mesh. This came largely from pipes needing to be that way for the flanges to work out and the addition of the code to shafts took only a few minutes. With the repeat every block I took it as an opportunity to try adding a bearing to the shaft sections so they looked a little less float-in-the-air. I ended up liking the notion but the execution was not quite up to par. So in the process of making 0.5 and remodeling many machines I needed to know what shafts were going to look like in order to make proper attachment points. So I ended up remodeling all of the shafts, gearboxes, and other bits to be cohesive.

What really bothered me about how I did the 0.4 was in part the X-shape that holds the bearing in place but mostly the fact that it is in the center of the block so it makes it look just a bit off with how it lines up with the world block grid. The only solution that I could find that would work was if the bearing was split in-between blocks. I also did a little reproportioning of the parts so the shaft is a little bigger and the frame is much smaller creating a much less busy look with with more empty space that really helps the models appearance.



With the input and output shaft piece I significantly reduced the size of the arrow pieces which really helped them not be so ugly and obtrusive. With bearings being split I had to add a way that the input shafts model could change based on its connection state (another thing stolen from pipes) as the in-between for all the other parts have no back sides where they sit up against each other.



As you will also notice most everything got a nice bit of bevel to smooth out its sharp edges which really helps it not to jump out at you as not quite right.