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Hi,

Probably not the wisest move with three other projects ongoing, but a couple of weeks ago I couldn't resist starting again on designing the Liebherr LTM11200 crane:

39968032090_47b2046f36_c.jpg

Some of you may remember the first version of this, which I designed a couple of years ago:

25230291690_ab4fdf6e9a_c.jpg

This time however I try to iron out all the kinks that were present in the earlier version. It is still work in progress and even though the performance has improved over the earlier version I am still far from a smooth operating, well working machine.

Especially the retracting of the outriggers and the whole steering system are still pretty poor performance wise.

As you can see I have changed the colour scheme to a more available white with orange livery.

Comments, questions and advice are welcome

Leg godt

Jeroen

Edited by Jeroen Ottens

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:wub:

Your "still-need-improvement" models are a million times better than any of my "finished" models.

It seems to drive very smoothly. How many driving wheels are there? How many driving motors and with what reduction?

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Just now, suffocation said:

:wub:

Your "still-need-improvement" models are a million times better than any of my "finished" models.

It seems to drive very smoothly. How many driving wheels are there? How many driving motors and with what reduction?

:laugh:

Driving is a bit jerky to start up (a train remote or phone controller would probably help here). The 6th and 7th wheel pair are driven, propulsion is done with 1 XL-motor with a 20:28 reduction (basically no reduction until you come to the differential). Even with the added weight of the carrier and the boom it still is capable of driving around.

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Wow Jeroen - I admire you for taking another stab at this crane.  There have been so many great renditions of this model..... but who cares?  I never grow tired of other models of it.  I think it is such a fantastic machine. 

I have never made this comment before, but probably should have. When I built my large rendition of 42009 (signature block) there were some catches in the drive train and boom when extending.  It sat on my shelf for years, but then I got it out again, dusted it off, etc.  Still had kinks.  About a year ago I rebuilt the whole thing, but coated all axles and gears in drivetrain, boom, outriggers, etc. with silicone lubricant.   Real machinery uses axle grease, oil, etc. in the mechanics, so why not Technic? I admit for most models in Lego it is not needed, but when there is alot of weight, friction, or speed it is needed. Used often in pneumatic engines (lego) but I don't think we use it enough in our large, technical builds with large gearboxes or friction.  Anyways, it was a ton of effort to coat everything, but it worked perfectly after.  It really was the solution.  You may want to consider doing this......

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These beauty machines can´t be properly represented with Lego, there are too much functions and no space, I would never try to build one with more than 4 or 5 axles but you are doing an awesome work so maybe you make me change my opinion.

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If this is 'just' a WIP I can't imagine how great it'll be once it's completed. It's already awesome.

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Great! Good luck improving!

My thoughts:

  • I see why, but the backwards panels are annoying.
  • Is there a way to cover the colored axles.
  • I like that the engine always runs.
  • The body is well shaped.

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I have no idea how the steering mode switcher works, but it's one of the cooler functions of this thing. Which has a lot of cool stuff going on. I actually like the red/yellow axles. They add a touch of colour, and white-yellow-red works quite well.

I do notice on the photo that the right two outriggers have their extender worms attached differently than the left two outriggers. Is that needed to reverse the direction?

Anyhow, great job so far. That said though... the undercarriage is the easy part. The superstructure and boom will be harder, especially with this monster :)

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Another crane, must be crane season :grin:

I'm very curious to follow this; the previous version was already impressive, so this is surely going to be awesome.

What are the rubber bands for on the bottom? And why does the engine only run when you lower the outriggers, and not the other functions?

@Erik Leppen: I'm certain I've seen this steering mode switching mechanism somewhere else before. Not sure where though. @Jeroen Ottens, was it in one of your previous models?

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1 hour ago, Aventador2004 said:

Great! Good luck improving!

My thoughts:

  • I see why, but the backwards panels are annoying.
  • Is there a way to cover the colored axles.
  • I like that the engine always runs.
  • The body is well shaped.

I agree about the panels. Since I have to make some sort of guidance system to avoid the lock-up during retract anyway I might be able to reverse the panel's orientation as well.
Covering the axles will be difficult. That said, it is actually convenient that you can see the colours. I use coloured axle-axle connectors on my remote and this way I can easily see which channel is operating on which function (the functions are respectively red, yellow and black, switching is grey).
The engine only runs when a 'red' function is used. That is either driving or lowering the outrigger feet.
Thx, allthough it must be said that there is not a lot of shaping to do on carrier :laugh:

59 minutes ago, Erik Leppen said:

I have no idea how the steering mode switcher works, but it's one of the cooler functions of this thing. Which has a lot of cool stuff going on. I actually like the red/yellow axles. They add a touch of colour, and white-yellow-red works quite well.

I do notice on the photo that the right two outriggers have their extender worms attached differently than the left two outriggers. Is that needed to reverse the direction?

Anyhow, great job so far. That said though... the undercarriage is the easy part. The superstructure and boom will be harder, especially with this monster :)

Thx. The steering mode switcher works by having two gearracks per axle. One gearrack is for the crabsteering and the other is used for the normal steering. By moving the steering axle forward or backward one of either gearracks engages. The only thing to take care of in this system is that you can only switch steering modes when the wheels are all straight. I have added a guide to the steeringmechanism to ensure you can only switch it when it is straight, but with the tolerances in the LEGO system that is not fool-proof. In the next iteration I plan to add another of these guidance systems to improve the performance.
The two outriggers do indeed need a reversal of the direction of the driving shaft
The superstructure is much denser than the carrier, I have incorporated 13 RC functions in it and with the weight of everything it is a real challenge to brace everything properly and route that many functions through it at the same time.

16 minutes ago, Ludo Visser said:

Another crane, must be crane season :grin:

I'm very curious to follow this; the previous version was already impressive, so this is surely going to be awesome.

What are the rubber bands for on the bottom? And why does the engine only run when you lower the outriggers, and not the other functions?

@Erik Leppen: I'm certain I've seen this steering mode switching mechanism somewhere else before. Not sure where though. @Jeroen Ottens, was it in one of your previous models?

I noticed the same thing when LEGO anounced the 42009. Also than a lot of cranes appeared on this forum. The 42082 might have to do with this :wink:

The rubber bands are used to keep the driven wheels centered when in normal steering mode. In that mode the wheels are basically unsteered. Unfortunately there is so much slack in the system that this solution not really works...

I have used this steering mode selector in my previous incarnation as well, so maybe you have seen it there

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Wow. Very impressive start! I personally do not mind the exposed colored axles, I think it looks cool, and it's quite handy to know which function is which. How do you have the outriggers mounted? And what is the gearing on the large linear actuators?

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26 minutes ago, Leonardo da Bricki said:

Wow. Very impressive start! I personally do not mind the exposed colored axles, I think it looks cool, and it's quite handy to know which function is which. How do you have the outriggers mounted? And what is the gearing on the large linear actuators?

The outriggers are mounted with a pair of these elements: 18677.pngand 11458.png

It was quite a challenge to get all the heights right. The gearracks need to be mounted slightly out of system to ensure good contact with the wormgears. At the same time the large linear actuators needed to be mounted in system to have the long axles move smooth through their mounting points.

The gearing is a bit excessive: 1:10 from the L-motor to the linear actuator. I have looked into making it less geared down, but I couldn't find a better solution within the space constraints.

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The new worm gears will not fit in the requisite space, will they? They allow for better contact between the racks and drivetrain.

Can you post a closer or overhead shot of the middle section of the crane with the outriggers?

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1 hour ago, Leonardo da Bricki said:

The new worm gears will not fit in the requisite space, will they? They allow for better contact between the racks and drivetrain.

Can you post a closer or overhead shot of the middle section of the crane with the outriggers?

No they are too wide, I do plan to use them on the outriggers on the boom though with the new gearracks.
I'll see if I can find some time for an overhead shot of the middle section. Anything in particular you want to see?

22 minutes ago, Aleh said:

Do the building instructions planning when done?

That will depend a bit on the interest I get and on whether I think the quality of the build is high enough. Making instructions will be a mammoth task, I estimate I'll end up using 8000 to 10000 parts... I might also release it as an exclusive set like I did with the Tomcat, but if I do that I will make the instructions available separately as well.

Edited by Jeroen Ottens

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It's clear. How about making this complex MOC in Mammoet colour theme?

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9 hours ago, Jeroen Ottens said:

That will depend a bit on the interest I get and on whether I think the quality of the build is high enough.

Wow - very impressive carrier so far. You certainly have my interest - they other models i've bought from you have been very impressive - this is shaping up to be equally amazing. Please stick with it in amongst your other works. I've no doubt it will be as exciting as your other works.

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Really like the close-up of the switching mechanism - great to see all the mechanical elements. I like the coloured axles. Steering using two racks is such an elegant solution. Would love to see more close ups, especially of the outrigger mechanisms. I really enjoy the mechanical solutions on complex mocs like this..:classic:

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On 29/04/2018 at 11:11 PM, Aleh said:

It's clear. How about making this complex MOC in Mammoet colour theme?

That should be possible I think. I use a pretty basic parts set, so by the time it is finished changing into different colours should be relatively straight forward.

On 30/04/2018 at 9:01 AM, bonox said:

Wow - very impressive carrier so far. You certainly have my interest - they other models i've bought from you have been very impressive - this is shaping up to be equally amazing. Please stick with it in amongst your other works. I've no doubt it will be as exciting as your other works.

Thank you, I'll do my best to keep the standard high.

On 29/04/2018 at 11:28 PM, Leonardo da Bricki said:

I figured the new gears were...

Just a closer look at the outriggers and how they are extended and driven, if you don't mind. :classic:

On 30/04/2018 at 9:33 AM, TeamThrifty said:

Really like the close-up of the switching mechanism - great to see all the mechanical elements. I like the coloured axles. Steering using two racks is such an elegant solution. Would love to see more close ups, especially of the outrigger mechanisms. I really enjoy the mechanical solutions on complex mocs like this..:classic:

Here you go:

41029722665_0d023ceb8f_c.jpg

 

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Admire the complexity of this MOC! Can't stand build my own copy!

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Well, first of all: WOW!

This is an absolutly amazing Moc.

1The whole truck looks incredible stable and well fixed, like I mostly see only in the offical Lego Technic Models.

2 The design of the trucks is just cool!

3 The functions work prett well and the solutions how you builded it is well done. The problem with the reversing of the outtrigger-booms:

I think that the outrigger-booms push the end of the boom, inside, above, in cause of their weight, so that the boom touches a fixed piece, so that the boom can`t reverse. The solution could be:

You have to build a guideway above the outrigger-boom, so that the boom can`t push above. In simple words: Build over the outrigger-boom-beam another beam.

I hope I can help you- in order to finish this great model!!!

Keep on!

 

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This moc looks very complex so far...that’s what makes this very interesting! I will look forward to more photos of this.

 

 

 

Edited by AFOLegofan66
Mistake!!

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