[MOD] 42042 inspired - full manual update

[MangaNOID]

hey all, I thought I may share my Modded 42042 crawler crane. 

hopefully this presents as a little bit different than others (there is many ofcourse)

this 42042 has 2 Sbricks, 6 M-motors 2 L-motors and sound functions!

because I wanted a small challenge in the build (as this was my first Lego set in 30 years since i was 12) I decided to have a coaxial system integrated in the original chassis and keep all the motors etc up top. also I only used bits from 42042...well except the sound functions and motors and Sbricks :)

I wanted to keep a few charecters of the original 42042 aswell such as ladder and continuous noise when operating. 

originally I was going to try running a motor with some cogs to get the noise but then thought of a pneumatic pump to get a more 'pop' engine sound. so I have one motor hooked up to a 8110 pump for continuous 'engine' sound. this is where i thought it got interesting as I was trying to amplify this sound with Lego bits and ended up with a whistle/beep sound! so now I have another 8110 pump hooked up to another motor connected to 'circuits' mode in Sbrick to operate it when the crane moves or slews.

it all just squeezes in the original body size.

I changed the slewing cog to be at the same plane as the turntable because the original setup would not let me slew even 200 grams without cog skipping. I had to fully plate the lower chassis so the cog could not work its way off.

the coaxial drive took a while to get right too as I really had to stiffen the pre turntable bits up. there is a few photos of progressive attempts.

anyway there is a whole bunch of changes and I'll just let the photos and video speak for themselves. hope you like.

oh and also just want to say that after doing this video I really appreciate how everyone does videos here as they are a lot of work! I thought they would be easy compared to the animated short films I do but this vid was a lot of work so thanks to all for Video efforts.

to skip to the sound function bits (if you dont want to see another video of 42042)  go to 3mins roughly

 

 

Edited May 21, 2021 by MangaNOID

[legolijntje]

Nice work!

When the first (preliminary) images of this set appeared online, I instantly knew that this would make a super fun project to make remote controlled. So, I bought one early last year (or late 2015, can't remember), but in the end, I never started modding it  Still a cool set though.

Your version looks to perform pretty nice. Also very cool that you also made the claw controlled by a string. The claw in the original set was so awkward to control with the controls on the claw itself.
And the sound effects are also obviously the star of this build  

Nice work!

[Aleh]

Very nice work! Looks too complex! Any chance of instructions?

[Imanol BB]

Sound function, i really didn't expected that , very nice work on the crane, looks very robust and i can spot very good building techniques, it looks amazing.

[technic_addict]

Excellent work indeed.   I like that you incorporated the motorized claw feature without adding a motor anywhere near the claw area.  Any plans to put on rebrickable and make instructions?

[teos]

1 hour ago, technic_addict said:

Excellent work indeed.   I like that you incorporated the motorized claw feature without adding a motor anywhere near the claw area.  Any plans to put on rebrickable and make instructions?

I'm also curious about this claw and how it works.

[MangaNOID]

Kind comments thank you!

the claw idea has been around for a while I think? I saw a couple similar on YouTube and tried to re create my own version as small and minimal as possible. It works great!

A small problem with how the crane is now is that the slewing is a bit 'sticky' (you can see in the first bit of the video) or rather there is a bit of slack or movement when not being used. Maybe the worm gear plays a small part in that.

ridgidity of the structure comes a lot from the side panels now.

if there is enough interest I could do instructions but that means taking apart and my daughter and I really enjoy using the crane, it's a great toy now! Although it disrupts my wife meditating with the beeping ?

[suffocation]

Love it! 42042 is my favourite studless set and the one that brought me out of my dark age for good.

With a few more parts not belonging to the original set you can add a subtractor and bogies to the undercarriage.

[MangaNOID]

That's the problem though with LEGO (and the reason I probably wont [have time to] MOC much), in that you can change a thousand things. I didn't even know what a coaxial was until I started this MOD so I may hold off on the subtractor etc for now. I liked the challenge of integration on original chassis and the subtractor looks like it cant do that? looks great though!

[Diabolique]

Very nice mod. I search claw mod to my 42042 and i found this topic :) good job. 

 

[GBTechnic]

On 1/29/2017 at 4:59 PM, teos said:

I'm also curious about this claw and how it works.

Love all the mods particularly the sound and claw functionality without putting a motor in the claw...  now if only I could figure out how to do that!  Can you detail what & how many motors are dedicated to each functions?  Thanks! ????

[MangaNOID]

Thank you for the kind comments!

I will try and take some more detailed photos of the claw tonight and edit this post with the information. I started trying to explain in words but I even confused myself...haha!

 

OK, here are some photos.

the two spindles in (almost) the original 42042 position now control just the claw. the spindle below them controls the crane arm. there is one M motor for each of the spindles.

both strings go up the arm of course

 

under the wheels at the lower end of the arm, then over the wheels nearer the top to keep the sting taught and neatly evenly aligned with the arm.

 

two pair of wheels side by side at the top

 

string ONE is tied to the very top of the claw assembly which kind of lifts the whole thing up and down. but string ONE will not lift a loaded claw. string TWO, which goes down around the wheel on the centre peice of the claw then up and ties on to the same bit string ONE is on (photos obviously show better than my explaining) provides clamp and lift to a loaded claw. Then you should bring string ONE up with it in operating or string ONE will be a loose floppy dangly thing. 

 

close up of claw

 

inside of claw. 

the bottom of the claw is almost similar to original 42042 claw. I have swapped all pins to yellow 3 pins for free movement as the inside bit needs very smooth/easy pulling operation so it doesnt lift the outside of the claw also.

i put two half size 6L arms down the centre bit. the two grey 3L axels and pin things on them are there to add extra weight to help the inside claw bit lower itself within the outside assembly. it all makes sense when you build it and try operating it even just by hand.

 

one yellow 3L pin at the bottom of the two half 6L arms is all that holds the inside bit to the outside claw bit.

 

hope that helps anyone build the RC claw. its hard to describe how to operate it so just build it, its easy to get used too. 

I'll probably build a second 42042 with the bits left from my second set and have it more as a hands on non RC crane like the original, but have the gearbox levers operate this claw setup (leaving out the forward/reverse drive) to make it a bit more pure lego rather than sbricks and iphones etc. that way its seems better for a small kid to play with.

Edited March 9, 2017 by MangaNOID