eurotrash Posted December 19, 2014 (edited) Nodding Donkey After the fun I had with the Chinese Laundry and the power functions I had to build something that again 'moved and shaked' and with the recent decline in oil prices I thought a Nodding Donkey would be an interesting build. If you are unfamiliar with these they are simple pumping mechanisms that are used to retrieve Oil or Water from underground. The product is then either stored locally in a tank or piped to a processing plant. I built it in a modular format so that it could fit into my City. The 'A' frame is made of four Technic bricks that in turn were wrapped in tiles to cover the holes. Here's a shot from the rear showing the storage tank and the mechanicals A concerned local citizen has noticed oil leaking from the well head. Here's the details of the step-down gear box that I built to slow the m-motor down to a point where the Nodding Donkey looked more natural and less like a bucking bronco. And finally a link to a short video of the machine in action. I placed the m-motor on the ground floor of my Downtown Museum/Noodle Shop and ran the long axle through the adjacent wall. https://flic.kr/p/qaZuhE I hope you like it and as usual comments, criticism and ridicule are most welcome! Edited December 19, 2014 by eurotrash Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Lego Conductor Posted December 19, 2014 What a great build! Used to be thousands of these all over Southern California. Still see them around here and there. Must say this is excellent Mr. Eurotrash! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
lightningtiger Posted December 19, 2014 Reading the title I thought it was going to be a Mexican themed bar......but seeing it's a classic oil well pump.......AWESOME ! Excellent designing and engineering too........Brick On seek that oil 'eurotrash' ! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Off the wall Posted December 19, 2014 You'd better not have any plans of plopping this down in the midst of your city just because you have some economically distressed mini figs! That's a warning! I have a zip lock bag full of minifigs that are more than ready to reassemble themselves and march on your TH in protest. No justice, no peace! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
bitbang Posted December 19, 2014 The name of the thread threw me off! LOL This is fantastic! What made you think to build it? I love the detailing and how realistic it looks in shape and size. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
dr_spock Posted December 19, 2014 Nice details. Have you considered attaching the bridle to the horse head so it goes up and down too? Your title threw me off. At first I thought your nodding donkey was the same type as mine. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
LEGO Guy Bri Posted December 20, 2014 Nice work eurotrash! Glad you could bring it to life Your title threw me off. At first I thought your nodding donkey was the same type as mine. I was anticipating a bar or pub Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
LEGO Train 12 Volts Posted December 20, 2014 (edited) I always love your work Eurotrash, and I love your panorama too! ;-) This pump looks very nice in action but the detail I love the most is your original fence! Keep on my lego friend! Edited December 20, 2014 by LEGO Train 12 Volts Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
TMJ28 Posted December 20, 2014 I thought I'd be looking at an animal, but this was a pleasant surprise, excellent work. Some thought definitely went into this design and I can at least say I've never seen something like it before! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
eurotrash Posted December 20, 2014 You'd better not have any plans of plopping this down in the midst of your city just because you have some economically distressed mini figs! That's a warning! I have a zip lock bag full of minifigs that are more than ready to reassemble themselves and march on your TH in protest. No justice, no peace! I'm the autocratic dictator of my city and the TH has already been recycled into inventory. So, there'll be no dissent tolerated - especially from a zippie full of dismembered minifigs. What made you think to build it? I watch CNBC - the financial news network - and for every story about the decline in Oil prices they'd use the same stock footage of some Nodding Donkeys in a field in the midwest. I wanted something PF powered and they were topical. I love the most is your original fence! The fence is really just a cleaned up version of the broken down one I built for my Car Repair Shop http://www.eurobricks.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=84426 Thanks for all the comments! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Off the wall Posted December 20, 2014 Seriously, you really nailed it. Excellent design. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Gongoro73 Posted December 20, 2014 Another amazing creation by Eurotrash. Congrats. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
ER0L Posted December 21, 2014 I knew exactly what it was when reading the title since I've been thinking about something similar. I really love the design of your pumpjack, especially the angled support and that it's moving, of course. However, I agree with dr_spock that the bridle should be connected to the head if possible. Now you need three or four more of them to get the typical look of an oil field ... Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
eurotrash Posted December 21, 2014 Have you considered attaching the bridle to the horse head so it goes up and down too? I agree with dr_spock that the bridle should be connected to the head if possible. You guys are right of course and I was struggling with that aspect of the design for a while (before I gave up on it). There's two problems that I encountered. First, building on a baseplate doesn't give you any depth of drilling pipe into the negative space to really play with. I found this to be important because of the weight that the additional pipe could add. In it's current form it's incredible light and bounces around all over the place. The second problem is the height difference between the low stroke of the cycle and the high stroke. It's just over four bricks high and that meant that the well head needed to be at least five high to ensure that the light drill pipe stayed where it was as it went up and down. Do you have any suggestions? I think my current preferred plan of building it on a raised structure then using a rocker and cam underneath to push the pipe up and down (rather than from the top pulling it up/down) means that at least I'd get the look and feel consistently right, but getting the timing right is going to be a fun challenge. Now you need three or four more of them to get the typical look of an oil field ... This sounds like the beginnings of a mighty oil exploration and extraction empire! I'm in! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Captain Braunsfeld Posted December 21, 2014 Cool, just perfect. If I only was a bit better at that technical stuff. Very good! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Andy D Posted December 21, 2014 This is really amazing! Go "Old Timer" power. I guess I didn't look at this tight away because I was expecting an animal. Pleasantly surprised. I also like LT's idea about a bar... Ha, ha. Great detail on such a small scale. Andy D Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
AirborneAFOL Posted February 6, 2015 (edited) image by airborneafol, on Flickr Eurotrash, I was so awestruck by your build I made one for myself - after finally acquiring the necessary PF elements. It was very challenging and I still need to find a good way to hide the PF elements - and no doubt it doesn't come close to your brilliant work. But I want to truly thank you for sharing this, and inspiring me to implement some motors (unprecedented for me beyond trains). Hopefully you don't mind the flagerant plagerism - as a newcomer to motors, I mostly just wanted to focus on figuring out how to utilize the gears accordingly without fussing (yet) over some personalized modifications. You're a savant - and I'll be sure to credit you accordingly when friends and family see it amongst the industrial district of my city layout. Thanks again for sharing this brilliant build! Edited February 6, 2015 by AirborneAFOL Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
eurotrash Posted February 6, 2015 You're a savant. Well you're half right and coincidently 'flagrant plagiarism' are my middle names Thanks for the kind words, but that's what this community is for - it's to show techniques and to get people to build. Your Nodding Donkey looks awesome by the way and isn't it a fun thing to build! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
AirborneAFOL Posted February 7, 2015 Right on. I'm going to be working on a way to get the "head" to actually pump the well - make that vertical rod churn up and down. I'll be sure to share it once I've figured out how to do it right. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
eurotrash Posted February 7, 2015 Right on. I'm going to be working on a way to get the "head" to actually pump the well - make that vertical rod churn up and down. I'll be sure to share it once I've figured out how to do it right. I'm still thinking that the drill pipe is so light that a good approach would be use the negative space under the baseplate and 'push' it up in synch with the rocker rather than pull it from above, but I can't wait to see what you come up with. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
AirborneAFOL Posted February 27, 2015 Got it. Basically, you have to run a rope element up from the "pump". Weight a rod just a bit and put the rod down into a "tube" (I user some technic elements) - throw in a fair bit of tweaking to get the rope/pump rod measured out right, and boom - works like a charm. IMG_2405 by airborneafol, on Flickr Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
LittleJohn Posted February 27, 2015 (edited) Fantastic work! I really like the wooden fence and the road Edited February 27, 2015 by LittleJohn Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
eurotrash Posted February 27, 2015 Got it. Basically, you have to run a rope element up from the "pump". Weight a rod just a bit and put the rod down into a "tube" (I user some technic elements) - throw in a fair bit of tweaking to get the rope/pump rod measured out right, and boom - works like a charm. IMG_2405 by airborneafol, on Flickr I see what you did. By letting the rope go slack at the bottom of the cycle the rocker can still move downwards while the pipe remains stationary. And on the upstroke you get 3-4 studs of vertical movement. It looks good. I'll have to try this on mine. Could you post a video of it working? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
AirborneAFOL Posted February 27, 2015 Precisely! Modifying the rope length, and its connection points, also provides some options in terms of the vertical lift. The key was making sure the "well hole" was big enough to avoid any resistance for the rod, but small enough to keep the rod as upright as possible. I'm not savvy with videos - but if I can get one online in the next few days here I certainly will. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
