Ultra Small Forklift - Muravi

[mahjqa]

Simply stunning! Then again, like everything else you've built/shared.

Got one question though: In the beginning, there are many forklifts putting together the Vayamenda logo. It appears they were all moving at the same time and this would have been extremely difficult to choreograph their motions with the remotes. So the question is: Were they all moving at the same time or was that some very clever video editing? This also begs another question, and I hope it's ok to ask: How many forklifts you've built and how many S-bricks you used?

I just built a single forklift, using a single Sbrick.

So one of the big tricks is that I didn't use the forklift to put the logo together. I used it to take it apart, and then ran the video backwards. I had a 20-minute recording of 14 separate times where the forklift took away a single pallet. Now, using a program like Adobe After effects, you can "cut out" parts of a video, and paste them somewhere else. This is a very timeconsuming process, since you need to tell the computer for every 10 video frames or so where the forklift is. It can interpolate from there. Then you need to put together all these cutout pieces of video, being careful that none of them overlap at any point. Someone put a tutorial together for a similar effect here:

[DrJB]

Thank you for the explanation. You sure have a future in Hollywood :)

Incidentally, your description reminds me of the movie French Connection, where in one scene, they had two train cars colliding against each other. Apparently (I read somewhere), the scene was shot in reverse, and the cars were actually moving away from each other, just like you did. Very clever!

[Chade]

Like everyone else has said, absolutely stunning! Squeezing that much functionality into a small model is very impressive. I love the warehouse too!

[Lego2016Lego]

I like it.

[paul_delahaye]

Running a warehouse, it's always great to see these recreated in bricks, I love your models, although the next step must be a reach truck rather than a counter balance

Great job

[Blondie-Wan]

That is just brilliant. What absolutely fantastic work you've done here. Bravo!

[motomatt]

This is just incredibly fabulous on all levels

(By the way, if you're a person who has built a forklift, could you link me to a picture of your forklift in this view? https://www.flickr.c...02/26063611241/ I'm very curious to see how it's scaled relative to other people's MOCs.)

I had previously built a small forklift to piggy back onto the back of a B-train flat bed trailer, but the functionality you've achieved in the small form factor is simply stunning. Here is the side view http://bricksafe.com.../forklift_2.png http://bricksafe.com/files/motomatt/Btrain_flatbed/forklift_1.png http://bricksafe.com/files/motomatt/Btrain_flatbed/forklift_3.png

Edited April 2, 2016 by motomatt

[mahjqa]

I had previously built a small forklift to piggy back onto the back of a B-train flat bed trailer, but the functionality you've achieved in the small form factor is simply stunning.

Your piggybacker is pretty damn sweet as well! And as far as I can tell, you may actually be winning in the size department:

I'm having some trouble accessing your bricksafe site, but I'll be studying your model closely, since you've also done an excellent job building in a very compact way.

[Tomik]

Really cool model! I like that you build it so small and made such a funny video for it.

[I3Brick]

Amazing model mahjqa. I've been looking for a good forklift for a long time, and this one fits the bill. And it's not only the model, the video is a piece of art too.

I was wondering why you used servo motor for the tilting of the forklift, but I think that while typing the question I've figured it out myself. To tilt the forklift you only need a quarter revolution of the motor, right? So I guess using an M-motor and a normal remote control (don't own an S-Brick) isn't going to work that well unless you gear it down substantially, making it bulkier and slower. Would it be even possible? Either way I'll have to swap out the S-Brick in the design for 2 normal IR-receivers, that's going to mess up the tiny design already. Let's just say you've given me a good incentive to finally get a second servo motor :-D.

Motomatt, your piggybacker is quite nice as well! You don't happen to have an LDD file of it somewhere? I'm interested in figuring out it's compact design. Anything to learn a trick or two!

[mahjqa]

I was wondering why you used servo motor for the tilting of the forklift, but I think that while typing the question I've figured it out myself. To tilt the forklift you only need a quarter revolution of the motor, right? So I guess using an M-motor and a normal remote control (don't own an S-Brick) isn't going to work that well unless you gear it down substantially, making it bulkier and slower. Would it be even possible? Either way I'll have to swap out the S-Brick in the design for 2 normal IR-receivers, that's going to mess up the tiny design already. Let's just say you've given me a good incentive to finally get a second servo motor :-D.

I only needed a very limited range of motion to tilt the mast; one stud forward and backward (so two studs total) does the trick. So this part comes to the rescue:

At first I had it hooked up to a M motor with a worm gear to slow it down. However, there are some drawbacks to this system; there are no hard stops at the extremes of the motion, so if you just keep the motor running it just keeps going forwards and backwards. Also, the response is a bit sluggish. With the servo I could just completely drop the worm gear mechanism. Also, the Sbrick software can keep a servo in place indefinitely without holding any buttons. (The 'tilt' slider just stays where you put it), while with a regular PF remote you'd have to keep holding the button. (Or you could use a train remote, but that has its own set of problems).

So, while this is definately buildable using regular PF, some advantages you can only get with the Sbrick. (Don't take that last remark as a blind recommendation. People who've followed my shenanigans know I'm not a massive fan, as their android app is still a piece of [expletive deleted], but with a bit of coding I'm sure they'll figure it out someday).

Edited April 4, 2016 by mahjqa

[I3Brick]

Thanks for the quick reply mahjqa.

Keeping the Servo in place could perhaps be done with a lock on the PF remote, like this (rough) suggestion: http://www.eurobricks.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=93738. Not the most efficient way but doable, I like complicated and clunky remote controls :-D. My building habits don't justify an S-Brick at the moment, certainly not with the software issues it still seems to have. Your design might just allow for two IR-receivers next to each other without adding bulk, underneath the hood. At most I'll have the tops of them exposed, for the signal.

But yeah, I agree that the servo motor itself is the best option, I don't think I can find a passable alternative within that space with an M-motor. Time to increase my stock of technic pieces it seems...

[mahjqa]

About the software; if you've got an apple product, it'll do just fine. I hear that the latest android update also improved a lot of things. It's just not that great on my sony experia z1. And I get it, programming for android is a twisted mess due to all the different hardware and software shenanigans that are going on. I'd just like things to, y'know, work.

[E2nO]

@I3Brick: Perhaps you could consider a mini-LA for the tilting? That would require less gearing and include build in clutch.

[I3Brick]

@E2nO - thanks for the suggestion. Not a bad idea. Space-wise not so self evident according to LDD, but an interesting challenge perhaps.

[diaclonex]

very cool

[JJ2]

So small, so cute, love it

[paulneves]

Congratulations. Small and great !

[dtoerien]

Thank you paulneves - I think I might have missed this introduction to the awesome work of mahjqa had you not posted.

Thank you mahjqa for the wonderful sense of humour that you bring to your work.

[Killermike]

Fantastic build, and thanks for sharing the LDD file; may have to try building this.

[bord4kop]

This is stunning Mahjqa!

What another brilliant piece of technic excellence!