[MOC] [WIP] Excavator (L350F Bucket)

[tismabrick]

The journey started when Lego released the 42030 Volvo L350F Wheel Loader. I immediately fell in love with its bucket and I knew that I have to build an Excavator with it. The first prototype arm was finished within an evening and I was quite happy with it although I quickly realized that something does not fit. It also had a mechanical flaw where the gears did not excactly match. But it worked. The real problem was that I also needed a solid base that was able to hold the arm and lift it as well. And there my real problem started since I basically had no idea how to build it. I then crawled the whole internet for some inspirations. But in the end all there was was the arm. I actually put the whole thing aside and it rest there for almost a year with no real attempt to improve it.

After this long period I thought I give it another try and I just started to build the base with no real idea how it should look like in the end.

And here's how it looked after some days.

I guess I just built the one and only excavator with a real harddrive for stabilization. One user here in the forum actually mentioned that it's required for mining data :-)

It contained so many flaws that I was quite frustrated:

- without the harddrive it would not turn

- directly attached XL motors are way to fast

- arm still has the not properly aligned gearing problem

In fact I nearly just smashed it. But I remembered all the nice Lego MOC excavators that I found when I was loocking for improvements.

So there must be a way to make it better I thought. Since the arm was quite ok but far from being a good one I knew that I have to start from scratch. I googled for real excavator images that I liked and finally downloaded a pdf from the Volvo's website where I found all the details I needed to start with.

At about that time Lego released the 42042 Crawler Crane and after some calculations I decided to take its base for the excavator.

I then recalculatet all the numbers of the real Volvo Excavator and started building my new (hopefully) improved version of it.

And here's how it currently looks:

It's fully remotely controllable. No SBricks yet but those can be added without problems. More will follow...

Edited August 23, 2016 by tismabrick

[syclone]

Just Wow, I love how the arm looks!

[tismabrick]

Thanks! Decorating the arm was a nightmare. Didn't know which bricks to use for it. Lots of trial an error.

Here's another imgage.

As you can see I ran out of yellow ones. Have to replace them sooner or later. The problem is that I have to detach the arm for that. Gonna hate it for sure :)

Edited August 23, 2016 by tismabrick

[syclone]

I think you should buy a Technic Figure first ;)

Will you make stickers for it?

Edited August 23, 2016 by LXF

[M_longer]

From profile that bucket looks very good. From front not, because it is wide as whole excavator.

[tismabrick]

The bucket is not a perfect fit since it's actually not a real excavator bucket.

I once thought to make a custom one in lego. But then I made this excavator to match the bucket.

Let's see what I do with it.

[pyro690]

Just Wow, I love how the arm looks!

+1 Arm looks awesome!

[Jurss]

Paneling on arm is impressive

Overall look also good.

[Dafgek81]

The bucket is not a perfect fit since it's actually not a real excavator bucket.

I once thought to make a custom one in lego. But then I made this excavator to match the bucket.

Let's see what I do with it.

Efferman had custom bricks at Shapeways.

And there is a topic about the 8043 excavatorbucket that never was, that person made a very nice and affordable bucket.

[tismabrick]

Thanks for the hint but I will stick on standard Lego pieces so that at least in theory everyone interested can build it with normal bricks.

Edited August 25, 2016 by tismabrick

[tismabrick]

Found some time to further work on the moc. Here's what changed:

• Decided to play a bit with a different track which is a tad longer and higher
• Reworked the bucket mechanism
• Prototyped a smaller bucket (guees it could be wider)
• Moved one of the motors directly on top of the front arm since the torque was to much from the main chassis even for an L-Motor.
• Removed the gray lego peaces on the arm and replaced them with yellow ones.
• Replaced the M-Motors with L-Motors

Still don't like the chassis. Guess it's too wide. But it has to wait until I'm done with the other track.

Here some images of it...

[AFOLegofan66]

This excavator looks great........great job with all the trial and error...it pays off for sure!!