[Help] Snow plow mechanism

[Mechbuilds]

I need help designing a snow plow mechanism.. 
I've seen some snow plow mocs with pneumatics for the snow plow or hand cranked mechanisms.. What i want to do is use small linear actuators and M motors. 

Features: 
-Up and down
-Tilt side to side
-2 M motors to operate. (OR A COMPACT GEARBOX WITH SELECTOR)

The blade itself will be made mostly off from 5x11 panels  (3 panels wide)
(Inspired by unimog B model)
The whole mechanism should be somewhat easy to remove from the moc. 

Edited December 5, 2019 by Mechbuilds

[TeamThrifty]

This seems like its not even been started, surely it would be better to present what you've managed to build so far? 

[Mechbuilds]

2 minutes ago, TeamThrifty said:

This seems like its not even been started, surely it would be better to present what you've managed to build so far? 

This is my current progress:





I wonder if i can make it a little bit more sturdier than the unimog B model blade. Perhaps just a notch wider? 

My plan is to plow actual snow with this so it needs to be robust but still RC so i can just sit, have a beer and plow my walkway. 

[Mechbuilds]

Update:



This mechanism works.. But i worry that the blade will fall off or loosen due to the connection point mounted to the top instead of between something. 

[M_longer]

You have checked how those mechanisms look on real machines, right?

[Mechbuilds]

58 minutes ago, M_longer said:

You have checked how those mechanisms look on real machines, right?

Yes.


But the issue is how to make it work with small linear actuators instead of pneumatics. 
It's proving to be very difficult.. Easiest way is to just copy somebody who's done it without RC parts but i want it to be adjustable with a controller. 



EDIT:

Just saw RM8's brilliant mechanism for the snowplow without using any linear actuators.. I wonder if he's willing to share the design.. 




The wormgear linkage version works so much better and is less of a headache to make. 
I might need to still work on the blade. 

Edited December 5, 2019 by Mechbuilds

[pleegwat]

Have you checked the Claas B model blade?

[Mechbuilds]

On 12/6/2019 at 7:10 PM, pleegwat said:

Have you checked the Claas B model blade?

Blade like that wouldn't work when trying to plow snow in real life. The snow would pile up and create so much friction that the moc would stop moving or go over the snow. 
I need a blade that pushes the snow to the side. 

[Maaboo the Witch]

33 minutes ago, Mechbuilds said:

Blade like that wouldn't work when trying to plow snow in real life. The snow would pile up and create so much friction that the moc would stop moving or go over the snow. 
I need a blade that pushes the snow to the side. 

Would a CLAAS-B type setup work with one side flange removed? At least then the snow has somewhere to go.

[1gor]

IMHO it is easier to use snow showel than Lego Moc for snow cleaning 

Just joking; looking forward to see your idea with small linear actuators; it is something that I was thinking about to install on my Syn-trac (when it would be finished)

[Mechbuilds]

30 minutes ago, I_Igor said:

IMHO it is easier to use snow showel than Lego Moc for snow cleaning 

Just joking; looking forward to see your idea with small linear actuators; it is something that I was thinking about to install on my Syn-trac (when it would be finished)

Worm gear and linkage is easier to go with. My issue currently is getting the tilt to be equal both sides.. Having no information and no experience with snowplows, this is a learning curve for me how this works mechanically. I might invent something new if i don't look too deep into snow plows.. But i do want to go with a long bar that's tilted instead of anything else.. I want to push the snow to the side as the moc moves forward.. And i do want to implement soft springs to dampen the plow when it's lowered to the ground. 

But first i need to start cracking on the tilt mechanism. 

[Sadap]

After googling around a bit, I found a real snow plow mechanism on the german wikepedia page about snowplows: 

As we can see, there something similar to a double wishbone suspension to lower/raise the blade. Then, there is a a joint in the vertical axis to tilt the blade. You can power it by two linear actuator or a worm gear.

But why do you want to use linear actuators and worm gears? In my opinion pneumatic cylinders would be better suited for this job.

 

 

[Mechbuilds]

Because i have zero pneumatic cylinders. And buying a massive kit to have them is not that cheap. Also i'm still waiting for dumper parts to arrive that i ordered 14.11 and it's 9.12.. Where are all my parts?! 


I think the only way to have both mechanisms on the blade is to have the tilt mechanism fixed inside the raise/lower mechanism and have U joints to power the tilt mechanism. 
I was also toying around with the idea to have the blade mounted on springs so the blade is pushed down with force. 

This project would be a success if i can manage to fit everything to a nice attachable box that i can just plop on any moc with ease. So probably two M motors mounted inside a box.  

[sirslayer]

@Mechbuilds  Instead of pneumatics system, how about water power!!??!!  

 

Edited December 9, 2019 by sirslayer

[Maaboo the Witch]

32 minutes ago, sirslayer said:

 

Wouldn't say that's much of an option. Availability doesn't seem to be great; the only lot I could find outside of the Hyact site (whose English page for AquaBrixel doesn't work) was a small set from a German seller, and it was fairly expensive.