Another 42042 Claw Mod (Late to the Party)

[Pattspatt]

Hi folks - this is my first Technic post on Eurobricks. Excited to join the community!

Like many modders before me, I wanted to do something to improve the fiddly-ness of 42042's claw. And I wanted to give the tracks independent control. 

I really enjoy 42042's looks, its playability, its stock gearbox, and I also like unnecessary mechanical complexity. So I wanted the mods to affect the looks as little as possible, and I wanted to keep it limited to one motor. My solution was adding a function to the gearbox for the right tread control, and I added another reel for "remote" claw control, along with a button that couples and decouples the extra reel from the main one. I'm pretty happy with this mod, and I love how playable the claw is now.

The new reel:

I made a video of the mod as well - if all you're interested in is the claw, feel free to skip to 3:30. 

Thanks for looking!

[MangaNOID]

fantastic! never too late.

I did this mod a couple years ago and I think our claws are very similar in function/design 

however I made my 42042 with 8 motors remote control...but I love how you still have the one motor and the playable gearbox with the claw mod and independent track drive (through a coaxial?) 

you have inspired me to remake mine with manual sticks and gearbox.

[Pattspatt]

I checked out the video of your mod again - amazing!! Can’t believe how dense it is, and that it still manages to slew. 

I’ve had this built for a long time and only recently got around to making the video - I’m sure I was helped along in the tinkering process by your claw pictures at the time, because they are very similar. Thanks for the inspiration!

Yep, the independent track drive is through a coaxial. I pretty much disassembled the original chassis and then rebuilt it with the extra gears integrated, as any non-braced solution would “skip” when other functions were being used simultaneously. 

Now I can use all functions simultaneously with one motor, and no skipping - it’s just really slow ? The motor is protected with two of the white clutch gears. 

[MangaNOID]

well its a crawler crane so slow is ok!

I got inspiration off youtube for my claw too. its really a good solution.

would love to see any pics of how your coaxial drive is braced etc (upper chassis) as I had to brace everything sooooo much in the upper chassis to make it work. although that could have been my inept building skill.

anyway have fun 42042 is still a great set. and I think you made it so much better again. although I still do not like the cabin  but that's just aesthetics.

[BusterHaus]

Excellent work, this should have been a part of the official set. 

[iLego]

This is so cool. Absolutely loved it. Can you please share few more pictures which show how the additional functions are achieved ? Thank you.

[Pattspatt]

22 hours ago, MangaNOID said:

would love to see any pics of how your coaxial drive is braced etc (upper chassis) as I had to brace everything sooooo much in the upper chassis to make it work.

I took a few pictures that might help:

The "extra" track drive is to the left - the gray "T" liftarm helps keep it in place.

Bracing detail #1: The bevel-gear bracket sits on a 16-tooth-gear, which meshes with another 16-tooth gear. 

Bracing detail #2. You can see the mesh a bit better in the pic above. On the left and in red, there's a glimpse of the 2nd track driveshaft from the gearbox.

The above is a bit buried but the 16-tooth gear is sitting on a bracket with an axle-3 through it, and another 16-tooth below the bracket.

This is the layer (reconstructed with different colors) sandwiched between the turntable and the other layers of bracing. The 16 tooth gear on the other side of this layer meshes with the top of the coaxial assembly in the middle of the turntable.

The gray 7L liftarm on the right is about all you can see of the "sandwiched" layer from this view.

Hope this gives an idea! Definitely a lot of brackets, liftarms, and 3L connectors in this section. :)

9 hours ago, iLego said:

Can you please share few more pictures which show how the additional functions are achieved ?

I'll try to take some pics of the expanded gearbox tonight. 

[Pattspatt]

I took some pictures of the gearbox: 

The white clutch gears at the top connect directly to the motor. The red clutch gear on the shaft third from the top connects to a 16-tooth gear below it, which is on the same axle as the two 24-tooth gears. Also on the shaft is an 8-tooth gear, which meshes with two additional 8-tooth gears in succession. This allows the rightmost row of gears to be turning in the opposite direction from the left row, at the same speed. 

I was nervous about this solution because of backlash and torque, but I haven't had any problems yet. If anyone else has a solution using fewer 8-tooth-gears, I'd be interested in your tips!

If someone wants to add this to their 42042 or see it from more angles, there's an album at https://imgur.com/gallery/WYBf1cX. 

[BrickDabbler]

Beautiful! I love this modell, have it still in a box and buildt in red with other parts ... what a great crane you did there, very good footage, thank you for sharing!

[MangaNOID]

On 7/3/2019 at 8:07 PM, Pattspatt said:

cant believe you get away with that on the drive! I tried to incorporate the original drive too but the vertical axle bent about 5mm or so each direction as they were not secured at the top...just like a flag waving in the wind!. 

maybe because my L motors were not geared down before going through the perpendicular setups...

I ended up with this below. In there buried deep are the perpendicular gear holders! haha must of been my lack of building skill.

Spoiler

 

 

[iLego]

Thanks for sharing all the details. I  am now getting tempted to do something extra with my own copy. I am not that skillful though. But the good thing is even failures are fun in Technic 

[Pattspatt]

6 hours ago, MangaNOID said:

I ended up with this below. In there buried deep are the perpendicular gear holders!

Wow, that is some serious bracing! 

6 hours ago, MangaNOID said:

maybe because my L motors were not geared down before going through the perpendicular setups...

So does the gearing down happen after the turntable, then? That makes sense - the innards of your superstructure looked crazy cramped with all those motors. Still can’t believe that you were able to fit the third reel (and its drivetrain) within the existing body. Mine had to be slapped on top, haha, as I wasn’t willing to do a complete rebuild. 

The L-motor in my build is geared down just slightly less than the stock model - so I got away with mostly the stock bracing, haha. Actually, the only reason why I added any bracing was because I had a gear skipping on the new track drive - I thought it was in the superstructure, but it was actually after the turntable. Which I only discovered after bracing  and re-bracing the superstructure :P

3 hours ago, iLego said:

I  am now getting tempted to do something extra with my own copy.

Go for it! 42042 has been my favorite modding experience so far.