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Found 9 results

  1. First I wanted to build mini version of 42055, when I got those smaller gear rings, but then I realised, that I don't have parts in that dark blue etc. So some simpler version was made of some kind of bwe. Tried to keep it simple. It is not very correct, but with some small efficiency it could even dig and transport ground. Main functionality: rotating bucket wheel conveyor belt from bucket wheel to the back (these two function work simultaneously by gears on both sides) rising/lowering of bucket wheel rotating platform (when rotated, rear conveyor doesn't change position) Some insight in to mechanisms, which allows to rotate platform, while conveyors are working Some other views
  2. This is my microscale version of the 42055 BWE - Bucket wheel excavator, including the truck.
  3. Hey everyone, Presenting my latest MOC: the 42055 C model, heavy drill rig. The model has 5 power functions: drill rotation, superstructure rotation, drive, drill lowering, and boom pitch adjustment. They all work fairly well. The boom is about 60cm high and the range of the drill is about 50cm downward. It can keep spinning while lowering and in any position. I did have a goal in mind for the chassis: to give it some ground clearance. That was a success; the chassis has 4 studs of clearance and is still very durable. Anyways, here's the video and some pictures: And now some pictures: This thing was impossible to photograph in full. That's it for now. Thanks for reading! Leave a comment! BbBT
  4. 42055 - BUCKET WHEEL EXCAVATOR INTRODUCTION I never thought LEGO would make a bucket wheel excavator (BWE). First of all, the vast majority of Earth's population have no idea what it is (excepting the Germans). Secondly, such a model would have to be scaled around a bucket and therefore would be enormous even if made at the smallest possible scale. It just didn't seem likely, yet here it is. Bucket wheel excavators are among the largest pieces of mobile equipment ever created by humans. Whereas a standard hydraulic excavator removes material one bucket at a time and must empty each load individually, a BWE removes material continuously and transfers it via a complex series of conveyors to a fleet of waiting trucks. These machines are used in open pit mining to remove the over-burden: the loose soil and rock on top of the seam of target material. They excavate not downward, but forward. The machine is placed below grade, and then slews across a wall of material to bring the grade down to the level of the machine. Although they may have on-board hydraulics, these machines are electric and are tethered to the power grid via a cable large enough to run a small city. Though technically mobile, the machines move rarely and slowly and doing so is a major operation. They are constructed on-site at the mine since it is impossible to move them over long distances. Only the Germans have a unit large enough to describe the amount of material these machines remove: the scheisse-tonne. The LEGO model happens to include several scheisse-tonnes of overburden for your pit mining enjoyment. All BWEs share a common feature of a rotating bucket wheel, usually with at least 16 buckets. After that, the designs vary considerably. The largest and most familiar type of BWE is the gantry type. This type uses tall gantry booms and cables to support the bucket wheel arm. Set 42055 is clearly not intended to be a gantry type BWE, but seems modeled after a C-frame type like the Sandvik PE100. Even so there are clear differences. Whereas the LEGO model has the counterweight on the opposite end of the bucket wheel arm, the real BWE has the counterweight much lower for greater stability. Given the structural limitations of LEGO, this seems like a reasonable compromise. Although there has never been an official LEGO Technic model of a BWE before, the topic is not unknown among AFOLs. A couple of examples are shown below. The first, from Holger Matthes, is a gantry type built from traditional studded Technic. The second model by Desert752 uses studless building. Both models have many more parts and motors than 42055. SET INFORMATION Set Number: 42055 # of Parts: 3927 Main Model Weight: 3.5 kg Main Model Size: 83cm x 40cm x 30cm THE BOX This is a big box, roughly the same size as the UCS star destroyer and death star boxes. Unlike those boxes though, it does not have a cover that lifts off. Instead it has a top flap which shows the functions with a huge picture. The box opens to either end. Front Back Front flap CONTENTS OF THE BOX Instructions The instruction book is a massive brick nearly the size of the Porsche manual. It has 552 pages, 72 steps in the truck, 669 steps in the main model (not including callout steps). The manual is reasonably protected in a snug plastic bag along with the stickers but no cardboard. Mine was in good shape. Stickers There is an ample sticker sheet with all of these used for the main model. Quality is typical. Bags The parts are split into 8 sets of numbered bags which nearly fill the box. Some large bags contain smaller bags. 3x bags numbered 1 4x bags numbered 2 3x bags numbered 3 5x bags numbered 4 2x bags numbered 5 9x bags numbered 6 3x bags numbered 7 3x bags numbered 8 HIGHLIGHTED PARTS This set is a smorgasbord of parts, and not just because of the total part count. There are a huge number of useful and/or rare parts here including: 53x 5x7 frame 22x red 16-tooth idler gears 19x 20-tooth bevel idler gears 24x 90deg corner pin connectors The biggest obstacle to a model like this is the slew ring. The turntables in the LEGO parts palette were simply too small and weak to support a large overturning moment, so custom solutions were always required. LEGO has finally solved that problem with some new parts. These giant parts can be used as ring gears (like in the bucket wheel) or as huge turntable (like in the slew ring). 14 of them are included in the model. When four quarter segments are connected together, you get a complete circle with 140 teeth. There are also 8 new buckets. The 3 hole attachment along the back of the bucket was needed for this model. THE BUILD Bag 1 - The Truck The build begins with the mining dump truck in white. There is nothing special to say here except to note that it is NOT the same as the 42035 yellow truck. Although the scale and subject matter are the same, this truck does not have a moving engine. There are also a pile of rocks included for the BWE to dump into the truck. Bag 2 - The Carrier The second portion of the build is the main structure of the carrier. As you might expect, this needs to be really strong to support such a huge model. Looking at the picture, you can see that the entire thickness is supported with 5x7 frames making this thing a real brick. The corners are reinforced with 3x5L liftarms and 11L double angled liftarms. This assembly is mostly structural; the only moving parts here are the axles to drive the sprockets. The 4 red pins with bushing will be used to attach the superstructure. Bag 3 - The Treads The third bag builds the tread assemblies. These are two identical assemblies (rather than mirrored). I was a little surprised to see the black tread links here given that the conveyor uses DBG links. There is no suspension. Then the two tread assemblies are connected to the carrier, completing it. I was worried about the use of bevel gears in what is sure to be a highly loaded drive assembly, but the use of a gearbox bracket prevents slippage. Bag 4 - The Slew Ring The bottom of the superstructure is build next and sits atop the slew ring. There is a LOT going on here as you can see from this plan view. The only function that passes through the slew ring is main drive, but the smaller turntable also passes the power for the output conveyor. A few DBG wedge belt wheels can be seen positioned circumferentially. These ride on the slew ring to support the imbalance of the superstructure. The assembly is then connected to the carrier along with the linear actuators used for tilting the main arm. The three vertical axles seen in the front will receive power from the arm. Now the support towers have been started as well as the mechanism to control the angle of the output conveyor. Another 180 degrees worth of ring gears are used to support it and are concentric with the main slew ring. A pair (upper and lower) of standard size turntables are used to center the superstructure while the slew ring supports the weight and moment. Bag 5 - The Output Conveyor The relatively simple bag 5 is the output conveyor. It is just some sprockets, supports, treads, and a wall. This is suspended at a fixed elevated angle above the upper turntable, and a chute above it funnels the rock and earth from the main conveyor to the output conveyor. This is centered so that it works regardless of which direction the output is facing. Bag 6 - The Bucket Wheel Bag 6 represents by far the major portion of the build and makes up the main digging arm. We start with the support for the bucket wheel including the chute that funnels the material from the bucket to the conveyor. It is important that there be no gaps so parts can't into the mechanism and jam it. The bucket wheel itself is pretty simple. It uses 8 ring gear segments and 8 buckets. After the bucket wheel is attached, you can see the 6 pairs of 12-tooth double bevels gears which center and support it held by a radial spiderweb of structure. Now the main conveyor is built and a lot of structural reinforcement is added. This arm is cantilever a long way from the main frame, so it needs to be stiff not only in bending but also in torsion. The 5x7 frames and diagonal members you see help a lot with this. Here is a view of the completed bag 6 arm (bag 7 will build the back of it). The yellow axle protruding is used to drive the conveyor. Bag 7 - The Counterweight The back of the arm contains the counterweight. Why make it a boring inert mass when you can use batteries and a gearbox for weight instead?! The gearbox here is pretty intricate and is explained further later on. A single XL motor drives all functions and has plenty of power. At the stage shown, the gears are all present but nothing is supported yet. Now a bunch of structure has been added to properly support the gears. This view is from the bottom of the gearbox. After the gearbox counterweight is attached to the front of the arm you have a very long, but very rigid, beam assembly. The panels and labels for the switches effectively hide the awesomeness of the gearbox. I kind of wish the panels were transparent. The completed arm in a perspective view. Now the arm is attached to the main frame via a pair of small turntables about which it pivots. Then the top of the frame is added. The model may look complete at this point, but there are still a lot of aesthetic details to add. Bag 8 - The Operator Areas Box 8 adds the details needed for a human (or minifig) to actually operate such a beast. This includes railings, ladders, and the operator's cabin. This is what the model might look like to a mini figure for scale. Note however, that this model is much smaller than minifig scale. HOW DOES IT WORK? OK, we've built this thing and we know that it's huge, but what about the functions? Does it work, and how does it work? Is it just a big monster that doesn't do much? Hopefully this picture will answer that last question in the negative. There is in fact a lot going on here. In case you couldn't figure it all out from just looking at that cutaway, let's look at a color coded animation. This breaks the functions apart to make them more understandable. Blue is motor drive, orange is inside the gearbox, yellow is main drive, green is conveyors and bucket wheel, and red is rotation. Let's dig in further. Here is a view of just the gearbox, but it is still too hard to understand without some colors. You can see the 3 white clutch gears which are used to protect the gearbox from stalling. That's better. Blue is the motor drive. The XL motor is geared down 5:1 at the point that it rotates the center blue driving ring. If no driving rings are engages, nothing turns except for the blue parts. The center driving ring can engage either the orange or the green parts. The orange parts and internal to the gearbox and don't drive anything directly. The two orange driving rings rotate in opposite directions. The yellow driving ring outputs to the main drive, and can make the model go either forward or reverse depending on which direction is engaged. Note that the main drive is VERY slow, but I think this is probably scale accurate. Even if you desired the model to go faster, I wouldn't recommend trying to get any more power down that long gear train. If the green gears are engaged, they output to drive the conveyors and bucket wheel. The red driving ring can be engaged only if the red is already engaged. This controls the slewing and, like the orange gears, can reverse direction without reversing the direction of the motor. In fact, the battery box is blocked so the motor can only run one direction. Like the driving, the speed of the other functions is slow, but quite scale accurate. This shows the system for main drive, not counting the gearbox. The power has to go a LONG way to get down to those threads. As you can see, it has to run concentrically through the turntable and there are a pile of idler gears used along with an additional 5:1 reduction for a total of 52.1:1 (there was an additional 20:16 in the orange gears). I found that it works surprisingly well with no trouble moving the model on a level surface. The linear actuators for adjusting arm angle are as simple as it gets. I was surprised to see the the whole axle rotates even though it also supports weight. This is generally a bad idea, but in this case the arm is so well balanced that there is hardly any load here. Next is the slewing function. Note how the 20 tooth idler gear is used to pass the torque past the arm pivot axis. After than, it is just a pile of spur gears used to get us over the fixed internal ring gear. This shows the conveyor drive system. The sprocket for the main conveyor just tees off from the driveline. Note that the drive of the bucket wheel is actually powered by the tread links of the conveyor; there are no gears or axles running out the length of the arm. The main and output conveyors run off the same driveline so are always moving together. The gears for the output conveyor must pass through the upper turntable to allow the conveyor to pivot. Here is a close-up of the bucket wheel. The greatest inefficiency in the model happens here. The black double gears don't just drive the wheel, they actually support it. This means that the upper gears in particular have a lot of weight on the teeth which causes a bunch of friction. A real BWE would support the wheel with bearings so the gears only carry torque. With that said, the bucket wheel still works fine. I have not had any trouble with it but it can be a bit jerky because of all the compliance in the system. Finally, the output conveyor locking system is one of the more clever and unexpected functions in the model. The lower turntables rotates with the superstructure, and the upper turntable rotates with the output conveyor. If the driving ring is in neutral, then these turntables are independent and you can freely adjust the position of the output conveyor. If the right hand driving ring is engaged, then the conveyor is grounded to the superstructure and rotates with it. On the other hand, if the left hand driving ring is engaged then the upper and lower turntables are locked together and rotate in opposite directions. The effect of this is that position of the output conveyor remains fixed with respect to the ground while the superstructure slews. This is exactly what you want while loading a truck. Of course, there is plenty of backlash in the gears so it doesn't work perfectly, but it works well enough to demonstrate the idea. SUMMARY What can I say other than to utter lots of superlatives? This is the biggest Technic model ever in terms of dimensions and in terms of parts. It's complexity is right up there with the best, it works great, and it is a wonderful parts pack. Yes it costs a lot, but if you were starting a Technic collection from scratch this one model would provide everything you need for years of building (except, strangely, wheels). The main con is that many people probably don't know what it is. This may be a positive depending on how much you like to fool your friends. So just how big is it? It was hard to take a picture next to another big model, but I managed one with the Unimog. DISCLAIMER This set has been provided by the CEE Team of The LEGO Group. It's not my goal to promote this set. It's my goal to give you an honest opinion about it. Therefore, the opinion in this review is my own and is in no way linked to TLG.
  5. Hello I have a question to those of you who own 42055 Bucket Wheel Excuvator. I've found this in the internet: The question is: do you think it is complete? I know only that PFs and small truck are missing, but what about the rest? How many %?
  6. Hello! msk here. This model is my second 42055 C model so I named D model. First here. Harftrack vehicle with rubber band gun. I can't write long so let's start. Conneced car with stand. Don't have any physical connection so can disconnect easly. Just lifting car using hand. Car function 1. 6 speed gearbox 2. custom-made differencial gear 3. openable trunk 4. working inline-4-engine 5. openable bonet and working cooling fan 6. working steering wheel Stand function 1. 2-speed motorise wheel roller 2. HOG steering tester Now what? INSTRUCTION! * My all instruction is LDD-photo sequence. What is this? Watch my instruction. Sorry. Example here. Engine cam part.
  7. Hi! Another C model of BWE. This time, I use banana gear for real gear.(C of harftrack don't use that, D of supercar use only mudgard.) I don't have design sense, so use bucket for horse(or something vehicle)in carousel. Like I did in C and D, instruction will soon.
  8. Hi there, after thinking a while about a possible c-model I found one that needed just about two hours... the main idea was to build a smaller sized version of the dump truck which is included in the 42055 set (very similar to the 42035). The dump truck runs in a double wheel made of eight annular gear quarters. It is driven by the XL motor. The big wheel can rotate in both directions, so the little truck will drive either uphill or downhill - just like a hamster in his wheel. That's all. No gearbox, no gimmicks, no intricate mechanisms. Just for fun... might be a rate of about 3 % of the 3,900 parts... so there are enough spare parts for some more modifications and additions ;-) (maybe a gear box after all, or a more sophisticated array for the counterweight). http://www.brickshelf.com/cgi-bin/gallery.cgi?f=569964 (One of the biggest challenges in this c-model was the fact that there are only three tan-coloured axle pins - but the truck needs four wheels. So I used a dark red 3L axle with stop for the rear wheel on the right side (not visible on the pictures). ;-)
  9. Here it is, the biggest - and surprisingly cheap, given the size - set in the Technic history so far. It's just recently been beaten by Cinderella Castle when it comes to pieces count, but oh well... First impressions: it's enormous, it's slow, the new annular quarter-gear piece is awesome and the truck is strongly different from the 42035 set, regardless of what some people claim (you can see it next to 42035 in the video). Pros: - enormous, the biggest Technic set in history, over 1,100 pieces more than in the second biggest one (42043 set) - reasonably priced: costs actually less than the 42056 set which is much smaller - fantastic source of pieces, including many great new pieces - superb lesson of structural engineering - comes with a nice truck - both A and B model are unusual machines - pleasant, straightforward build, took me actually less time than the 42043 set Cons: - digging, the primary function, is almost useless because the bucket wheel stops on anything - most children will be adults by the time it drives across the room - mastering the control gearbox isn't easy - plenty of backlash because of all the gears; the accuracy of lower belt's lock function suffers in particular - doesn't look like any typical bucket wheel excavator - very sparse selection of spare pieces