Recommended Posts

Man this is going to be cool! So much RC complexity, such good looks, and such large scale!

I like it a lot!

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Can't wait to see it in real life!

45 minutes ago, Jeroen Ottens said:

Two XL motors are used to toggle the pneumatic switches.

Why did you choose XL for the switches? I made the experience that the L motor offers a better control for pneumatic switches. In my Steinwinter XL motors tended to overshoot or swang back a little.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Seeing all those motors (and hubs) make me :innocent2: *oh2*

I really like what you've done so far...but looking at your tracks / rear wheels combination now I understand why on sariel's scaler tool when I put Jaguar in 1:18 scale both biggest sprockets and Zetros tires are best combination... somehow rear tires look to big in comparison to sprockets?

But it is very impressive and I like using frames, but in my case 11 x 15 frame is not very stiff; it is bending to much for my needs

Kind regards

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
10 hours ago, 2GodBDGlory said:

Man this is going to be cool! So much RC complexity, such good looks, and such large scale!

I like it a lot!

9 hours ago, Scoar Sonander said:

At the beginning I thought that I might be able to build this but 3 hubs and 11 motors? No way. Great job though.

 

Thanks guys. Config is not final though. In my experience things will fill up more quickly than expected, so I might have to drop a few functions along the way. If I stick to the known pneumatic functions I can use two of the spare functions on the pneumatic gearbox to drive the fan, fake engine and the cutter. Combining drive and the other harvesting functions in one geartrain will free up the other two motors on the third hub. That way I have still all the functions (the ladder and panels will be manual, like on the real machine), but one hub and three motors less.

9 hours ago, Andman said:

Can't wait to see it in real life!

Why did you choose XL for the switches? I made the experience that the L motor offers a better control for pneumatic switches. In my Steinwinter XL motors tended to overshoot or swang back a little.

I haven't tested the setup yet, but I assumed that I needed all the power available to move these switches. I'll take your word for it that L-motors are good enough and use those instead. Thx.

9 hours ago, 1gor said:

Seeing all those motors (and hubs) make me :innocent2: *oh2*

I really like what you've done so far...but looking at your tracks / rear wheels combination now I understand why on sariel's scaler tool when I put Jaguar in 1:18 scale both biggest sprockets and Zetros tires are best combination... somehow rear tires look to big in comparison to sprockets?

But it is very impressive and I like using frames, but in my case 11 x 15 frame is not very stiff; it is bending to much for my needs

Kind regards

Thx. You have a sharp eye. According to Sariel's scaler the sprockets + track shold be a bit over 9 studs, whereas in reality the are more like 8 studs. So there is indeed a slight mismatch. It is still the best tire/track combination I could think of for this scale.

 

Edited by Jeroen Ottens

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

What a massive built so far! With this size, 3 hubs and 11 motors you will end up with at least 4 kg...

11 hours ago, Jeroen Ottens said:

lifiting the reel (2x small thin)

Did you manage to make this happen? Really nice addition!

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
3 hours ago, Jeroen Ottens said:

 

Thx. You have a sharp eye. According to Sariel's scaler the sprockets + track shold be a bit over 9 studs, whereas in reality the are more like 8 studs. So there is indeed a slight mismatch. It is still the best tire/track combination I could think of for this scale.

 

This is always my problem (proportions) and modern curved lines on machinery are difficult to replicate, so sometimes my WIPs look like roof.

Glad to see you continuing to work on this MOC

Kind regards

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
12 hours ago, Jeroen Ottens said:

I haven't tested the setup yet, but I assumed that I needed all the power available to move these switches. I'll take your word for it that L-motors are good enough and use those instead. Thx. 

I should probably add that i did not connect the valves directly to the C+ L motor. I needed/wanted precise control. But also had to make sure that the calibration procedure does not break the gears, since it applies the full torque while it runs. Unfortunately you cannot change the torque for the calibration.

3:1 ratio worked best for me. Below is what i use in my truck. The two 24z gears are not connected, but both are using roughly half the width of the first 9L liftarm.

Just in case you are not aware, check out the first tip here. There is still a little issue with C+ motors used as servos.

 

campact_valves.png

Edited by Andman
typo

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
On 12/11/2021 at 7:53 PM, Andman said:

3:1 ratio worked best for me.

This I can confirm, at least for the PF servo motors. Only 6 parts needed for this self-contained setup, and it works great:

320x591.png

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
5 hours ago, astyanax said:

This I can confirm, at least for the PF servo motors. Only 6 parts needed for this self-contained setup, and it works great:

PF is a different case. The PF servo has a defined range of rotations. So in order to use the full range of the valve you have to use 3:1. With C+ motor you basically don't have this limitation, since everytime you start a Powered Up code, which includes the servo block, the servo motor is calibrated.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Hi,

After some days of digital building I switched back to a physical build:

51755059679_015af59a89_b.jpg

On this side not much is visible. The L-motor on this side is used for the high-low/locked-unlocked gearbox.

51755290905_ac96104232_b.jpg

On this side the internals are visible. In the lower half the drive gearbox is located.
The light grey conveyor belt is intended to be used to transport the 'grain' to the grain bunker. The two 3x11 dark grey panels are one of the walls of the grain bunker.
Below the grain bunker is now a big hole, there three drums will be placed to drive the harvest to a seef. The seef is located roughly behind the white 7x11 frame.
In the back the gearbox for the switching of the pneumatic functions is located. I am now back to XL motors for the switching. Mostly because the 42100 has three of them and there is space enough to fit them.

In terms of drive I am back to a 2-hub setup. I now use two angular motors for the main drive of both the wheels and the harvesting functions. I do still have my worries whether this setup will work. Especially the harvesting functions will get some really long axles. It is about time to test the functions, but I must say that it is annoying that this will require some programming before I can even test basics like running the two angular motors. I would really love to have a physical controller with just a basic joystick-motor coupling.

 

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Looks really cool, I follow this tread with so much interest, and this thing really impress me. All those functions are just so nicely done. It would be really cool to see this harvester moving in a short clip.

Edited by Lukes_Brick_Studio

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Wow, this concept looks really cool so far. I’m following this topics for a few weeks now as a guest. To be honest, I’m not so familiar with the building process – it’s more than 20 years now, that I build the last model. But I’m really familiar with combines – especially with this beautiful seed green products, so maybe I can add some helpful information.

 

Gearbox and drivetrain: as 1gor and Jundis already mentioned, the LEXION has hydrostatic drive like the JAGUAR. The headland protection mechanism is only necessary for the JAGUAR machines, because it’s mainly made to protect the surface on grasland. Based on your description, you built a 4-gear  gearbox with differential locking. That’s unusal for machines with TerraTrac. The have a regular 2-gear gearbox without differential locking system. In addition to that, 4-wheel drive is not a common option – it’s possible, but not often in the market. In general the 4-wheel drive is a complete hydrostatic solution, so no PTO shaft between front and rear axle.

 

Maybe you can simplify this concept a little bit and get more space for your pneumatic function in the bottom of the machine?

 

You asked for opinions on the planned pneumatic functions: to be honest I would skip this left panel / right panel / ladder functions, because they are not existing in reality. Maybe you can use these free switches to support the threshing functions (or driving the straw spreader).

 

Concerning the header: what kind of header are you planning to build? At the moment it looks like a 40ft / 45ft header? A realistic option could be a 40 or 45 ft Vario header – or (and that’s my preferred solution) a Convio draper header (here). This fits to your large foldable unloading tube and I guess it looks quite cool with these belts in it and it could be more easy to build because of the missing header table adjustment, like the Vario has.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
13 hours ago, janes said:

Wow, this concept looks really cool so far. I’m following this topics for a few weeks now as a guest. To be honest, I’m not so familiar with the building process – it’s more than 20 years now, that I build the last model. But I’m really familiar with combines – especially with this beautiful seed green products, so maybe I can add some helpful information.

Gearbox and drivetrain: as 1gor and Jundis already mentioned, the LEXION has hydrostatic drive like the JAGUAR. The headland protection mechanism is only necessary for the JAGUAR machines, because it’s mainly made to protect the surface on grasland. Based on your description, you built a 4-gear  gearbox with differential locking. That’s unusal for machines with TerraTrac. The have a regular 2-gear gearbox without differential locking system. In addition to that, 4-wheel drive is not a common option – it’s possible, but not often in the market. In general the 4-wheel drive is a complete hydrostatic solution, so no PTO shaft between front and rear axle.

Maybe you can simplify this concept a little bit and get more space for your pneumatic function in the bottom of the machine?

You asked for opinions on the planned pneumatic functions: to be honest I would skip this left panel / right panel / ladder functions, because they are not existing in reality. Maybe you can use these free switches to support the threshing functions (or driving the straw spreader).

Concerning the header: what kind of header are you planning to build? At the moment it looks like a 40ft / 45ft header? A realistic option could be a 40 or 45 ft Vario header – or (and that’s my preferred solution) a Convio draper header (here). This fits to your large foldable unloading tube and I guess it looks quite cool with these belts in it and it could be more easy to build because of the missing header table adjustment, like the Vario has.

 

Thanks for the kind words and the offer of help.

The gearbox is just two speed, but the switching of the differential locks is done with the same gearbox. If the machine has only 2 wheel drive, are those the rearwheels or the Terratracs that are driven?

Making it two wheel drive would simplify the design, but so far I do not need the extra space for the pneumatic functions, so I am happy to stick to 4 wheel drive.

For the header I am indeed thinking about a Vario header. It is now ~70 cm wide, so that is about a 35-40 feet header. The convio header uses a superthin conveyorbelt that I don't think is buildable in LEGO.

My current setup has only six pneumatic functions available. The ones that I know for sure are:

- Opening grain bunker
- Extending unload tube
- Lifting header
- Lifting reel
So I have two more functions to add. That could be
- The bending of the unload pipe (but this could also be combined with the extending of the unload pipe)
- Adjusting the header table (no idea whether I can squeeze that in)
- Adjusting the direction the straw is thrown out in the back (don't know how to do that, but it would be cool to choose between spraying straight out, or moving from left to right and back)
I know there are all kinds of threshing panels that can be opened or closed during operation hydraulically, but what I have designed so far in terms of threshing mechanisms sort of resembles the real thing, but not to that level of detail that I can add these panels. Furthermore I'd like the functions to still make sense in the LEGO model as well. Ideally I would like to be able to 'harvest' a combination of big and small 'produce', the small stuff gets collected in the grain bunker, while the big stuff is thrown out in the back.
 

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
10 hours ago, Jeroen Ottens said:

The gearbox is just two speed, but the switching of the differential locks is done with the same gearbox. If the machine has only 2 wheel drive, are those the rearwheels or the Terratracs that are driven?

Making it two wheel drive would simplify the design, but so far I do not need the extra space for the pneumatic functions, so I am happy to stick to 4 wheel drive.

Yes, the rearwheels are the drive ones. The frontwheels of the Terratracs are only "rolling" (as well as the midroller) but of course necessary to have enough tension on the belt and keeping up the friction between the wheels and the belt. Therefore the wheels are pushed to the outside with hydraulic cylinders.

10 hours ago, Jeroen Ottens said:

For the header I am indeed thinking about a Vario header. It is now ~70 cm wide, so that is about a 35-40 feet header. The convio header uses a superthin conveyorbelt that I don't think is buildable in LEGO.

Yeah i agree - the belt will be the problem, especially if you want to have the belt moving. A Vario header will be cool - i'm a little bit afraid how to move the table to the front without opening a hole in the table. In reality it's build with overlapping sheetmetal, which is pushed out by hydraulic cylinders and then pulled back by gas pistons. But i'm sure, you will find a way :)  In the existing mod of kneisibricks he created a Cerio header with a rigid table. This is possible as well - but not in that size. The largest available Cerio header is 30ft - and this does not really fit to your setup with the foldable unloading tube.

10 hours ago, Jeroen Ottens said:

So I have two more functions to add. That could be

- The bending of the unload pipe (but this could also be combined with the extending of the unload pipe)
- Adjusting the header table (no idea whether I can squeeze that in)
- Adjusting the direction the straw is thrown out in the back (don't know how to do that, but it would be cool to choose between spraying straight out, or moving from left to right and back)
I know there are all kinds of threshing panels that can be opened or closed during operation hydraulically, but what I have designed so far in terms of threshing mechanisms sort of resembles the real thing, but not to that level of detail that I can add these panels. Furthermore I'd like the functions to still make sense in the LEGO model as well. Ideally I would like to be able to 'harvest' a combination of big and small 'produce', the small stuff gets collected in the grain bunker, while the big stuff is thrown out in the back.

Totally agree - the threshing and separation mechanism is so complex in reality that i makes sense to focus on the main elements. In my opinion this is a working feederhouse with "transport function" to the three primary threshing drums (two threshing one transport drum) that are working 'cross' in the machine. Here you can seperate "the big from the small parts" with some kind of sieve. The big parts could be transported forward to the secondary threshing area - while the smaller parts fall through the sieve and can be transported to the grain tank with the eleveator you already implemented. The secondary threshing area with the huge lenghtwise rotors could be quite more difficult because of the pneumatic functions (you already mentioned) - so maybe just a conveying element to tranport the bigger parts to the straw spreader?! I know, it's way more easy to talk about than building these functions :D 

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
On 12/10/2021 at 10:53 PM, Jeroen Ottens said:

If anyone has more ideas for pneumatic functions, let me know.

Hello, Jeroen! How about suspending operator's seat with a small pneumo cylinder?

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
11 hours ago, janes said:

Yes, the rearwheels are the drive ones. The frontwheels of the Terratracs are only "rolling" (as well as the midroller) but of course necessary to have enough tension on the belt and keeping up the friction between the wheels and the belt. Therefore the wheels are pushed to the outside with hydraulic cylinders. 

I think I will stick to the 4 'wheel' drive for now. I have the space and it makes for a more interesting drivechain :grin:. Tracktensioners are much tougher to implement as well.

 

11 hours ago, janes said:

Yeah i agree - the belt will be the problem, especially if you want to have the belt moving. A Vario header will be cool - i'm a little bit afraid how to move the table to the front without opening a hole in the table. In reality it's build with overlapping sheetmetal, which is pushed out by hydraulic cylinders and then pulled back by gas pistons. But i'm sure, you will find a way :)  In the existing mod of kneisibricks he created a Cerio header with a rigid table. This is possible as well - but not in that size. The largest available Cerio header is 30ft - and this does not really fit to your setup with the foldable unloading tube.

The variable floor sounds like a great challenge :classic:, so that will be the fifth pneumatic function then...

 

11 hours ago, janes said:

Totally agree - the threshing and separation mechanism is so complex in reality that i makes sense to focus on the main elements. In my opinion this is a working feederhouse with "transport function" to the three primary threshing drums (two threshing one transport drum) that are working 'cross' in the machine. Here you can seperate "the big from the small parts" with some kind of sieve. The big parts could be transported forward to the secondary threshing area - while the smaller parts fall through the sieve and can be transported to the grain tank with the eleveator you already implemented. The secondary threshing area with the huge lenghtwise rotors could be quite more difficult because of the pneumatic functions (you already mentioned) - so maybe just a conveying element to tranport the bigger parts to the straw spreader?! I know, it's way more easy to talk about than building these functions :D 

I currently have the the three transversal drums and the two longitudinal rotors in concept:

Here are the drums:

51766946560_38525b354c_c.jpg

And here are the rotors:

51766068911_8d4cb3ba74_c.jpg

I have now only a sieve below the two rotors as there is not much space below the drums (because of the 4 wheel drive & gearbox :laugh:). I also like the curve of the 3x13 panel below it...

9 hours ago, Aleh said:

Hello, Jeroen! How about suspending operator's seat with a small pneumo cylinder?

I guess the suspension is really a suspension and not so much a height adjustment. So a spring would then probably be better to use.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
On 12/22/2021 at 8:54 PM, Jeroen Ottens said:

The variable floor sounds like a great challenge :classic:, so that will be the fifth pneumatic function then...

Nice! This will be an outstandig feature :pir-love:  If want an additional challenge - or maybe in case that the variable floor is not possible: the reel can be moved forward and backward as well, to fit to the table position and the different grain conditions...and there is usually a horizontal knife for harversting canola as on the picture below.  

51770820478_7c4d1b3b08_b.jpg

 

On 12/22/2021 at 8:54 PM, Jeroen Ottens said:

I currently have the the three transversal drums and the two longitudinal rotors in concept:

Here are the drums:

And here are the rotors:

I have now only a sieve below the two rotors as there is not much space below the drums (because of the 4 wheel drive & gearbox :laugh:). I also like the curve of the 3x13 panel below it...

The drum package looks really good - and the panels below are offering a realistic shape! Maybe one idea for an improvement - without giving you a technical idea how to solve this: the biggest drum in the middle transversal bars across the machine instead of teeth. Maybe you have an idea to give it a nice shape? The current drums look a little bit like a "shredder".

51771223529_3b86dece7c_b.jpg

The rotors look brilliant. Especially that you somehow managed to put two rotors into that narrow space. The driveline is from the backside of the rotors - because in reality there is no space for gearboxes or PTO shafts in the front. Maybe you can put some kind of "return floor" below these sieves. Of course an active movement of this floor will be difficult - but close to reality!

 

51771223524_61dc7e433d_b.jpg

 

On 12/22/2021 at 8:54 PM, Jeroen Ottens said:

I guess the suspension is really a suspension and not so much a height adjustment. So a spring would then probably be better to use.

100% agree...it's usually pneumatic suspension for this class of combines.

 

Keep up that brilliant work and have a nice Christmas Time!!

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Time for another update.

One of the things that bugged me was that the unload pipe was at an angle not extended. This is the same angle as the pipe has when extended because the small geartable I used for the rotation was put at that unload angle. But the result of that is the folding part of the unload pipe is tilted downwards when the pipe is in transport mode. So one morning I woke up and I had this idea in my head that could solve this issue. It is a bearing of sorts that can rotate 90 degrees. In the position shown the white rotation axle is nicely perpendicular to the red supporting structure. But when rotated 90 degrees the white axle will be tilted.

51787114533_a2a90cf3fe_c.jpg

It remains to be seen whether I can translate this principle to something sturdy enough to hold the weight of the unload pipe, but I thought it was a nice principle to share.

Second update is on the doors of the grainbunker. After a couple of iterations I finally have something that works and looks like the real thing:

51786861796_83fcce34e8_o.gif

This is the first time I made an animated gif, so if this gives issues because of the size please let me know and I'll hide it in a spoiler window.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
35 minutes ago, Jeroen Ottens said:

But when rotated 90 degrees the white axle will be tilted.

Nice and elegant!!

 

35 minutes ago, Jeroen Ottens said:

This is the first time I made an animated gif, so if this gives issues because of the size please let me know and I'll hide it in a spoiler window.

 Works on my devices, I like these animations! However, I can imagine that the size could be problematic (75 meg). I don't now what the easiest workflow is to create compact animated gifs... anyone?

 

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Grain bunker doors idea is genius simple (like old Bosch slogan). I really like your project, so one day (in 5 years I'll continue my Jaguar Terratrac project; until then Lego would / could introduce read Technic wheel racing small 43.2 x 26).

Very nice Jeroen :thumbup: :wub:

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Hi,

An update has been long overdue, so here is a photo of the current state of affairs:

52058342717_51ab75d12c_b.jpg

From the outside not much has changed, but on the inside a lot has been done:

- The motorized pneumatic switches block has been implemented. With the new long rotors inside there is not much space in the back anymore, so it is pretty tight now. I also started working on routing the pneumatic hoses to the front. For some reason I thought it was smart to put the pneumatic switches in the back, while most pneumatic functions are in the front...
- A feeder module has been added at the back. It can be raised and lowered. I've thought about making a mechanism to direct the chaff to the left or right, but I couldn't think of a elegant solution (plus I am running out of free functions)
- rearranged the layout of the motors and Control+ hubs to make room for the feedthrough modules that now occupy a significant volume inside

Functionally it now has the following RC functions:

Drive + reel + cutters + header spiral + first conveyor belt + drums
Steering
Difflock (will engage automatically when running at low speed and/or with small steering angle) + High-low gear

Fake engine + fan in the roof
long rotors + feeder
Pneumatic pumps
Pneumatic raise/lower feeder
Pneumatic extend unload pipe
Pneumatic bend unload pipe
Pneumatic open grainsilo doors
Pneumatic raise reel
Pneumatic raise header

But, I have started from scratch (again) with v15... I want to make the build more modular than it is now. In fact the current build is quite difficult and requires some bending of parts at times to get them into place. As I only work on this in my spare hours progress will remain slow.

 

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.