[MOC] Motor grader CAT 120M2

[Jundis]

On 7/16/2020 at 9:12 AM, howitzer said:

But hopefully TLG will come up with a set of their own design which will include at least some of these parts

That's a thing that I can't really wrap my head around: Why design complex, very useful parts for one model and then never use them again?

[1gor]

There is a strong possibility that it will be reused...perhaps 2022 in Volvo licensed set...

[Jundis]

18 hours ago, I_Igor said:

2022

[1gor]

24 minutes ago, Jundis said:

 

[J_C]

simply brilliant! bravo

[dhc6twinotter]

This is an excellent MOC!  Road graders are not easy.  I've been building one off and on for nearly five years.    Great work here, and I like the smaller scale too!

[Jundis]

12 hours ago, J_C said:

simply brilliant! bravo

 

2 hours ago, dhc6twinotter said:

This is an excellent MOC!  Road graders are not easy.  I've been building one off and on for nearly five years.    Great work here, and I like the smaller scale too!

Thanks a lot for the appreciation, guys! :-)

There are still many little things that can be improved. The turntable for the movable cabin should be placed two studs forward ... in the height of the front I strangely could go even one stud higher, didn't know where I missed that... ripper could be made bigger... the cabin is too high... *sigh*

But overall the shapes match :-)

[Jeroen Ottens]

Amazing model. I know from experience how hard graders are to design. But to get so many functions in such a small scale is mindboggling. I also love that colourscheme, blue with yellow pneumatic accents is just such a nice combo.

If you want to make instructions I'd highly recommend LDCad for the modelling of the hoses. It is not the easiest program to master, but once you get the hang of it it is by far the easiest program to route hoses with.

Funnily enough one of the details that really caught my attention is the roof. The combination of the curved wedge pieces with the 3x13 panels works really great.

[Jundis]

10 hours ago, Jeroen Ottens said:

Amazing model. I know from experience how hard graders are to design. But to get so many functions in such a small scale is mindboggling. I also love that colourscheme, blue with yellow pneumatic accents is just such a nice combo.

Thank your very much! :-)

10 hours ago, Jeroen Ottens said:

If you want to make instructions I'd highly recommend LDCad for the modelling of the hoses. It is not the easiest program to master, but once you get the hang of it it is by far the easiest program to route hoses with.

I am really unsure if I do the instructions, seems like a ton of work, maybe I start and learn with a smaller model. The hint with the LDCad is highly appreciated as Studio doesn't have hoses at all I think.

10 hours ago, Jeroen Ottens said:

Funnily enough one of the details that really caught my attention is the roof. The combination of the curved wedge pieces with the 3x13 panels works really great.

Yeah, I really like that, too. Especially since the structures for the mirrors cover up the first pin holes, so all aligns really nicely :D

Edited July 24, 2020 by Jundis

[Rudivdk]

4 hours ago, Jundis said:

I am really unsure if I do the instructions, seems like a ton of work, maybe I start and learn with a smaller model.

If you want to share the .io file, I can have a crack at it. I'll have to convert the .io to LDraw format, never done it but there are plenty tools and tutorials out there. I've gained some experience with flexible parts in LDCad over time, so I should be able to complete the build. I've done multiple instructions too, so that should work out as well. Will take some time though to fit it in between real life happening, so it's not done in a week... You can sent me a PM and we can discuss further if you like.

Edited July 24, 2020 by Rudivdk

[howitzer]

The two 1x11L cylinders to lift the blade are indispensable here, but I wonder if the third one could be replaced with a large 11L one? I know the small one is ideal here, but switching it to more affordable one would bring the parts cost down a bit...

Also, is the airtank necessary or could this model work without it?

[Jundis]

14 hours ago, howitzer said:

The two 1x11L cylinders to lift the blade are indispensable here, but I wonder if the third one could be replaced with a large 11L one? I know the small one is ideal here, but switching it to more affordable one would bring the parts cost down a bit...

Also, is the airtank necessary or could this model work without it?

During the built, I even thought about switching all the 1x11 for 2x11 but the whole Grader looked like on steroids and out of proportion. It is more a matter of space. As the third cylinder is connected by pins with ball joints it possibly would sack down while operating, therefor I dropped the idea. But I also waited and got two 1x11 cylinders for 15€ each. Still it's silly, but sadly necessary...

The airtank really improves the actuation speed, especially lifting of the middle blade structure, because of the higher pressure built up in the system. Without it, it takes like 15 sec or so to lift the middle structure.

Edited August 9, 2020 by Jundis

[howitzer]

21 minutes ago, Jundis said:

During the built, I even thought about switching all the 1x11 for 2x11 but the whole Grader looked like on steroids and out of proportion. It is more a matter of space. As the third cylinder is connected by pins with ball joints it possibly would sack down while operating, therefor I dropped the idea. But I also waited and got two 1x11 cylinders for 15€ each. Still it's silly, but sadly necessary...

The airtank really improves the actuation speed, especially lifting of the middle blade structure, because of the higher pressure built up in the system. Without it, it takes like 15 sec or so to lift the middle structure.

Yeah, I just bought myself a second Arocs for 115€, so now I have grand total of 2 of these precious cylinders. Maybe I should one way or another try to get me an airtank too as it seems really useful in some situations and to complement my collection of pneumatics parts.

[Jundis]

On 8/9/2020 at 10:00 AM, howitzer said:

Arocs for 115€

As I just got a message asking for help for the instructions: We are already working on these, thanks to @Rudivdk

[ben20]

On 8/9/2020 at 9:32 AM, Jundis said:

During the built, I even thought about switching all the 1x11 for 2x11 but the whole Grader looked like on steroids and out of proportion. It is more a matter of space. As the third cylinder is connected by pins with ball joints it possibly would sack down while operating, therefor I dropped the idea. But I also waited and got two 1x11 cylinders for 15€ each. Still it's silly, but sadly necessary...

The airtank really improves the actuation speed, especially lifting of the middle blade structure, because of the higher pressure built up in the system. Without it, it takes like 15 sec or so to lift the middle structure.

The use of an airtank does NOT increase air pressure. You have more volume and so you can activate more cylinders at once with higher speed. But this at the cost of control, more jerky movements. Your compressor or hand pump needs to be bigger or on higher rpm 

[trinitechnic]

I'm a huge fan of CAT equipment and a grader is not an easy machine to replicate, you've done an amazing job here! The colour scheme is perfect as well. Excellent use of pneumatics, hope we can get a resurgence of pneumatic sets soon so that experts like you could make more beauties like this! Well done again!

[Jundis]

1 hour ago, ben20 said:

The use of an airtank does NOT increase air pressure. You have more volume and so you can activate more cylinders at once with higher speed. But this at the cost of control, more jerky movements. Your compressor or hand pump needs to be bigger or on higher rpm

Yeah, my statement was not 100% correct, but easier to understand. When a cylinder is activated, the pressure drops (volume of the cylinder is added to the volume of the system). If you increase the systems volume by the airtank, there is less pressure drop if a cylinder is activated. The higher actuation speed is not much of a concers as the new valves are easier to regulate. Only the little cylinder for tilting of the middle blade is hard to control.

If I would have the space, I'd gear the pump up. :-)

29 minutes ago, trinitechnic said:

I'm a huge fan of CAT equipment and a grader is not an easy machine to replicate, you've done an amazing job here! The colour scheme is perfect as well. Excellent use of pneumatics, hope we can get a resurgence of pneumatic sets soon so that experts like you could make more beauties like this! Well done again!

Thanks :-)

I really have high hopes for 2021 for a return of the pneumatics.

[howitzer]

2 hours ago, Jundis said:

As I just got a message asking for help for the instructions: We are already working on these, thanks to @Rudivdk

My first Arocs I got for 74€ 

Anyway, I'll be sure to buy the instructions once you get it complete!