[MOC] [WIP] Concrete Beam Transporter

[aminnich]

Hey guys,

On my drive to school, a bridge is being rebuilt and it is almost done by now. Everyday I drove by I saw a bunch of cool machines; cranes, excavators, and transport trucks. One day the traffic is at a slow crawl, when I finally got to the construction zone, I noticed a concrete beam transport truck was getting a police escort the the job site. Awesome site to see. I thought i would be a really cool build to do, so I tried it.

I already had a truck made, but from other topics I started, it had some problems with it and I did not think it had enough power. So first I modified the truck. Then I made the rear axles of the trailer. I made it 5 axles with 3 of them steerable. The the concrete beam was built.

Building goals:

powerful truck

steerable "trailer"

make a beam some what to scale (this is really too short)

The only problem with the build is with the receivers. The distance in between them is almost 8 feet and I'm not able to control the truck and trailer at the same time. So driving this around gets pretty challenging.

Here are some amateur pictures from my iPhone.

BTW, the table is 8 feet long

ALSO, sorry for the rainbow of color, I don't have a ton of grey bricks

I had the camera focus on the truck and if you notice it could not focus on the rear of the trailer then

If you notice, the back of the beam is actually higher than the front, that is something else I want to fix.

42042 is trying, but no luck. I guess that is the next thing to get an upgrade.

I hope you guys like it. Like I said i'm still working on a bunch of things, but I wanted to show you what im working on.

[dr_spock]

Nice. You could run a PF extension cable or two from the front to the back and have your IR receivers closer together if distance is a problem. It is not far fetch since the real trucks do have a control line that goes from the truck to the rear trailer for brake, lights, remote steering, etc. Although, I've seen people control LEGO trains with 2 engines on opposite ends of a train, each with a IR receiver on the same channel without problems.

Have you tried the 42042 with the boom at a higher angle? The lifting capacity of cranes are better with the load closer to the crane.

[aminnich]

Nice. You could run a PF extension cable or two from the front to the back and have your IR receivers closer together if distance is a problem. It is not far fetch since the real trucks do have a control line that goes from the truck to the rear trailer for brake, lights, remote steering, etc. Although, I've seen people control LEGO trains with 2 engines on opposite ends of a train, each with a IR receiver on the same channel without problems.

Have you tried the 42042 with the boom at a higher angle? The lifting capacity of cranes are better with the load closer to the crane.

Thanks for the comments dr spock.

I want the rear axles to be on a separate channel because those axles would turn around a corner at a different time than the truck does. The extension cable idea is good, but i dont have that many.

Regarding 42042, I tried to lift the beam closer to the crane itself, didn't budge. The clutch gear is too effective.

Edited February 12, 2016 by aminnich

[Tommy Styrvoky]

Nice job, it's interesting to see setups for moving massive objects. How is the I beam attached to the 5th wheel and rear bogie, as could It shift around?

Here's maybe some inspiration something for a larger scale in the future.

Edited February 12, 2016 by Tommy Styrvoky

[aminnich]

Nice job, it's interesting to see setups for moving massive objects. How is the I beam attached to the 5th wheel and rear bogie, as could It shift around?

Here's maybe some inspiration something for a larger scale in the future.

Thanks Tommy!

As of right now the beam is just resting on a bracket with some LEGO rubber bands so it does not slide off.

UMM that is crazy big. I actually was looking at that setup for inspiration, that trailer is actually 4 trailers in one and all those wheel wells could have wheels... and i dont have that many. But it would definitely be a really awesome build

[Tommy Styrvoky]

Thanks Tommy!

As of right now the beam is just resting on a bracket with some LEGO rubber bands so it does not slide off.

UMM that is crazy big. I actually was looking at that setup for inspiration, that trailer is actually 4 trailers in one and all those wheel wells could have wheels... and i dont have that many. But it would definitely be a really awesome build

I think this could be made at a smaller scale, the central drum or whatever that is mixer for rock crusher or part of smeltery equipment? That could be used to house PF parts, and the rest of the trucks could be made at a scale such as 1/32 (minifugure scale) or smaller. The first truck could house a Servo motor, and the back trucks could both house L motors for drive.

[aminnich]

So have the whole thing kinda as one vehicle? that would be interesting, hmmm. now u got me thinking.

[Tommy Styrvoky]

So have the whole thing kinda as one vehicle? that would be interesting, hmmm. now u got me thinking.

I had that thought a while back for doing something like this in minifigure scale, the Tiger would be the drive system, then there would be U-joints linking to the other two Sd kfz. 9's for the tracks, and then steering in the second and first with the usage of linkages connecting the two together.

I think it's a cool concept that could be applied to many different vehicles.

Edited February 12, 2016 by Tommy Styrvoky

[Saberwing40k]

Actually, Tommy, you are partially right about the drum in the Mammoet move shown above, it is a coke drum, I think used processing steel. The trailers are actually not just 4 units, there are actually 6 Scheurle modules in each platform. Your picture shows a model of the setup, there is a review of said model on CranesEtc, which is an invaluable site for machineary nuts like us.

Also, ammnich, your trailer looks nice. For steering, some real beam transporters have a second driver in a steer car under the rear of the beam. Or, you could just make the trailer self tracking. Basically, you connect the turntable to the steering racks, such that as the beam moves off center, the trailer steers. Or, just leave it remote control, some real trucks do that to.