Recommended Posts

Digital lego leaves me cold.... i work in i.t. so its not a technical issue, its that for me, if its not physical plastic parts, it doesn't feel like lego. I know its useful when you haven't got a huge parts inventory.. planning the parts to buy or something. And i know some people love it... but i love plastic bricks..!

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Lighter (neutral white/gray is good) background, coloured parts (preferably in a colour they are commonly made, for example red for clutch gears) and colour-coded liftarms and other parts commonly made in many colours would be nice. Unless you're trying to show off different parts of a drivetrain or some such mechanical device, colour coding the movement pathways (for example through a gearbox) is good.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

You can use Ctrl+K to take screenshots in LDD building mode (the shot will be framed as you see it).

What kind of vehicle is that axle for? It is very narrow yet has double wheels with a big diameter, so nothing comes to mind. Also, the 1x4 half liftarms are most likely going to disconnect from top&bottom, so a better structural soluction would be required.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

I don't understand what you are attempting here. Are you building a narrow steered axle with drive that is not supposed to have suspension? Why? There would be better solutions even though this will give you a very good steering angle if you change a few tings...

What is this for? Anything I can think of that needs this kind of axle is supposed to carry a very high load, hence not being suspended, but this build is far from strong enough for anything like that... The first thing that comes to mind is the axles of some heavy load transport platform, but that would be better solved by using a turntable mounted solution with a differential to allow the wheels to turn 360 degrees.

Would love to hear more of what you are thinking, and if you have made any actual prototypes and stress tested them.

_ED_

 

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

This seems way to narrow for a excavator, and it can't handle the stresses a excavator will expose it to.

I suggest trying to build it with actual parts and stress them by applying a load similar to the expected weight of the complete build to see what I'm on about.

Also you have a problem with the swing point being so far from the actual wheels. This makes the wheels move a lot in longitude rather than rotating around the wheel center. It makes for a unstable model as well as making it very hard to steer and event harder to steer while under power...

I suggest you start over, and start by addressing the steering point. You should place it as close to the center of the wheel as possible, and you want to make sure the stub axle is well supported as well. Using a hub with three pins holding the wheel would be preferable when carry a big load like a excavator, but it can be solved in other ways as well.

The setup you are showing in LDD is very good when you want a very large steering angle, but still has the problem of moving the wheels to much and not being stable or able to handle a high load. Ant that only advantage is hampered by the way you have linked the steering. 

 

If I can find the time I might post some suggestions for you later. For now, good luck with your excavator, and please don't give up just because the first iteration was not perfect. Making the perfect is a lot of trial and error, and in Lego you always end up with a compromise anyways... :) 

 

_ED_

 

EDIT: A quick mockup - Would suggest something like this. It would need some more bracing and maybe a better connection to the wheel, but gives you a much better piviot for the wheels being only a single stud away from the edge of the wheel, and is only a single stud wider than your own design. The diff should be braced with 20t gears on either side to keep it in place, and you need to ad 2x4 L beams to control the steering like you have in your own design. It is a suggested starting point. Do with it as you like, but if you have any hubs I suggest rather using those. Fore the steering angle you are trying to achieve they will do well.

steered_powered_axle_11_with_pluss_wheel

 

Edited by Nazgarot
Added picture and additional coments

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Who knows how to connect wires from motors? I just can't figure it out. 

By the way, here is the x-ray of the axis.6bfd7694678376bad9d76f8481974875.jpg

 

Anyone with an idea for the steering gear (it isn't here).

Edited by SUPER Max Black

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Here's the most basic setup for that axle. 

steeringsample.png

The wires in LDD are always "separate" from the component they belong to, there's no functionality of routing them. You simply connect the plug to whatever port you want it to use and that's all.

wire_sample.png

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
On 5/7/2021 at 9:32 AM, TeamThrifty said:

Digital lego leaves me cold.... i work in i.t. so its not a technical issue, its that for me, if its not physical plastic parts, it doesn't feel like lego. I know its useful when you haven't got a huge parts inventory.. planning the parts to buy or something. And i know some people love it... but i love plastic bricks..!

Now I know why you like tractors (I have similar CV and I even dislike where automotive industry is going with all those adds and you can not fix anything by yourself). I always prefer to feel with own hands and everything you do you have to develop feeling (that is why education has all those problems since 1960s in western world and since 2000 in my country; we have packs of "politically correct" professors who know everything about every subject in theory but in real life they are unable to properly screw a bolt). The same thing here without real bricks it is hard to develop proper MOC. So IMHO ldd is only good to roughly found out what bricks are missing for your project.

Edited by I_Igor

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
1 hour ago, I_Igor said:

Now I know why you like tractors (I have similar CV and I even dislike where automotive industry is going with all those adds and you can not fix anything by yourself). I always prefer to feel with own hands and everything you do you have to develop feeling (that is why education has all those problems since 1960s in western world and since 2000 in my country; we have packs of "politically correct" professors who know everything about every subject in theory but in real life they are unable to properly screw a bolt). The same thing here without real bricks it is hard to develop proper MOC. So IMHO ldd is only good to roughly found out what bricks are missing for your project.

In relation to real life, I currently started studying Civil Engineering, and many students have complained due to the fact that we don't use paper and pencil/pen to draw, but instead do everything in AutoCad. For me it is much easier to use a digital environment where I can group, delete and easily change any line, rather than starting a drawing all over or having to copy it several times. Same goes for LDD - I needn't dissasemble a structure just to change a single 2L pin for a 3L one becasuse I need that mounting point, with just a few clicks of a mouse it's all done. Also I can place parts in mid-air in case I need to set a certain limit or indicate that I want to mount it there and work around to connecting it that way.

Nonetheless in the end it all comes down to how one does thing and the experience they get. I first installed LDD in 2013, and used it ever since as my main building method, so I have almost 8 years experience in that field, so guessing that a certain part needs to be reinforced as it would fail irl will be possible most of the time. However I can imagine someone that has been building with real parts for the most of their life would have developed different skills and building techniques, therefore a digital build might feel cumbersome and unnatural to do. Of course any digital build needs a irl verification due to the fact that we're using plastic bricks with certain tolerances, and cannot test how/if a mechanism will work.

---------------------------------------

2 hours ago, syclone said:

Here's the most basic setup for that axle. 

steeringsample.png

 

 

Upon closer inspection you might want to use either U-joints or rotate the 2x4 liftarms and link the gearrack using 2x1 liftarms so as to avoid the twisting of the gearrack caused by ackermann steering.

Edited by syclone

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

@syclone, I have spent some 10 years on software development (mostly for industry or banks :sick:) and when you said that "we cannot test how / if mechanism works" you know you could not be more right; in real world only mechanical systems work can be predicted with certainty that you can relay on...

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Ha! Our cv is closer than you think... I am also a software developer (.net - c# desktop mainly :sweet:)

I ride motorbikes, kawasaki ZXR's mostly.. and these you can fix yourself with spanners. Sometimes its a wiring fault, but with patience you can fix it.. Cars?! I never work on my car.. but i always do all my own work on my bikes. Bikes and Technic lego are more similar than you think from a methodical, logical, mechanical, bolt/pin things together perspective.

I like physical bricks and spanners!!! 

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
3 minutes ago, TeamThrifty said:

Ha! Our cv is closer than you think... I am also a software developer (.net - c# desktop mainly :sweet:)

I ride motorbikes, kawasaki ZXR's mostly.. and these you can fix yourself with spanners. Sometimes its a wiring fault, but with patience you can fix it.. Cars?! I never work on my car.. but i always do all my own work on my bikes. Bikes and Technic lego are more similar than you think from a methodical, logical, mechanical, bolt/pin things together perspective.

I like physical bricks and spanners!!! 

I was C++, C#, Delphi... developer, but last 15 years I work in education and mainly teaching software development but for web based applications (php with MySQL database, JavaScript, some python ...) I'm passionate about cars; most classic or some custom. Motorbikes, since partisans took away my grandfather's Zundapps I never got back to them. Currently I work on bodywork on my everyday car (removing surface rust and preparing for painting if weather will allow me...)

Kind regards

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

As for tractors, I don’t like them very much, I’m liked by jeeps and trucks. 

But on the connection of wires, I cannot to plug them separately, then the motors, but some did it in their works.

Also, in my LDD, some parts are missing, such as a servo motor, a middle motor and some other parts. I looked everywhere for them, but did not find them.

And I would like to ask which version of LDD is better to use?

And also according to CC +, I tried to program the UNO board, but I stopped.

Edited by SUPER Max Black

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
6 hours ago, SUPER Max Black said:

And I would like to ask which version of LDD is better to use?

4.3.11, here's a guide on where to get it:

Also, there's new parts being added on Digital tools Subforum, takes 5 minutes to setup and adds a LOT of missing parts.

In regards of LDcad (LDraw is the system of file formats&tools) it has a steep learning curve but it is well worth it as it's probably the best digital building tool there is. 

 

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Thank you so much for your help.      And at the expense of new parts, I could not add them.

Edited by SUPER Max Black

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now

  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    No registered users viewing this page.