[MOC] Motorized Garbage Truck

[mihao]

Hi, I'd like to present my latest MOC. This is a LEGO technic motorized side-loading garbage truck, and all parts are LEGO original. The features include:

• two PF XL motors for propulsion. each motors drive the front wheels and the rear wheel separately, and this design leaves a nice space for the grabber to reside after retraction.
• one PF servo motor for steering;
• one PF medium motor for the grabber arm movement and the hopper opening;
• one PF medium motor for both the cab tilting and the body tilting with a manual switch;
• one PF light for the head lights with a manual switch;
• openable doors;
• automatic opening back door with door locks;
• independent suspension on all wheels;
• steering wheel rotates when turning even the cab is tilted.

Below is a video showing how it works, and instructions are available at https://rebrickable.com/mocs/MOC-95540/Lego__Bee/lego-technic-motorized-garbage-truck.

Here is a early prototype video showing how the grabber works, it leverages both the gravity and the friction.

Here are some pictures I took.

 

 

The size is about 1:12, here is how it looks side by side with a 1:12 supercar.

 

Hope you like it. Thanks!

Edited January 27, 2022 by mihao
Restored the images with smaller size.

[lcvisser]

I like it very much 

The grabber is a bit scary 

[Jundis]

What a cool model! There are so many nice touches, from the red engine bay to the full suspension.

Especially the grabber mechanism works great. I really admire that it seem to work without the typical"I need it in the exactly right position" ;-)

[SNIPE]

Love it.    Well done.

Can we get a picture of the underside?

Also some information about the drivetrain

regards, Snipe

 

 

Edited January 24, 2022 by SNIPE
never mind, missed the rebrickable link

[gyenesvi]

That grabber mechanism is pretty cool! I also like that it opens the rear part simultaneously with the body tilting. But I don't understand why the cabin tilt needs to be motorized. Nice work!

[Milan]

Hello @mihao

Thanks for showing the truck. This seems like the most functional vehicle of those you have presented so far!

You need to make some changes in the topic:
- Your pictures are way to large. Please re-read the site rules about the max allowed image size, and re-post your pictures.
- Also in the rules: when presenting your model, do take some time and really present it, write something about it, explain how it works, its functions and features etc...By posting just pictures and a link to the paid instructions, this posts looks more like an ad, which is a shame. I have removed the rebricable link. You are free to put it back once you have corrected those two notes.
Thanks.

[mihao]

On 1/24/2022 at 8:19 AM, ludovisser said:

I like it very much 

The grabber is a bit scary 

Yes, actually the old idea of this MOC begins when from a prototype of the grabber as below. Thanks

 

On 1/24/2022 at 9:03 AM, Jundis said:

What a cool model! There are so many nice touches, from the red engine bay to the full suspension.

Especially the grabber mechanism works great. I really admire that it seem to work without the typical"I need it in the exactly right position" ;-)

Thanks! The grabber leverages both the gravity and the friction in order to fully work.

On 1/24/2022 at 1:41 PM, SNIPE said:

Love it.    Well done.

Can we get a picture of the underside?

Also some information about the drivetrain

regards, Snipe

 

 

Thanks. Here is the bottom picture. Two XL motors drive the front wheels and the rear wheel separately, and this design leaves a nice space for the grabber to reside after retraction. ;)
 

On 1/24/2022 at 2:01 PM, gyenesvi said:

That grabber mechanism is pretty cool! I also like that it opens the rear part simultaneously with the body tilting. But I don't understand why the cabin tilt needs to be motorized. Nice work!

Actually the cabin tilt is fun to play when motorized, because you can tilt the cab while driving. ;) Thanks!

On 1/24/2022 at 3:16 PM, Milan said:

Hello @mihao

Thanks for showing the truck. This seems like the most functional vehicle of those you have presented so far!

You need to make some changes in the topic:
- Your pictures are way to large. Please re-read the site rules about the max allowed image size, and re-post your pictures.
- Also in the rules: when presenting your model, do take some time and really present it, write something about it, explain how it works, its functions and features etc...By posting just pictures and a link to the paid instructions, this posts looks more like an ad, which is a shame. I have removed the rebricable link. You are free to put it back once you have corrected those two notes.
Thanks.

Sure. I have thought that the video and pictures are better than words. But I will add some descriptions there anyway. Thanks for pointing this out.

Edited January 26, 2022 by Milan
Oversized image removed, 2 days after asking the author to resize them to allowed size.

[brunojj1]

14 minutes ago, mihao said:

I have thought that the video and pictures are better than words. But I will add some descriptions there anyway. Thanks for pointing this out.

I like it a lot and I also like to read painfull descriptions (sometimes) ! Not because of the boring color scheme and the atrocious blue dots sticking out everywhere. But one can see the level of skills put into this proper build. No matter it has tons of functions, it ultimately pales next to the Aston IMO . But the philosophy of doing dirty work first and having fun taking a ride after work totally makes sense  ! By the way - which was easier to design? 

Edited January 24, 2022 by brunojj1

[mihao]

1 hour ago, brunojj1 said:

I like it a lot and I also like to read painfull descriptions (sometimes) ! Not because of the boring color scheme and the atrocious blue dots sticking out everywhere. But one can see the level of skills put into this proper build. No matter it has tons of functions, it ultimately pales next to the Aston IMO . But the philosophy of doing dirty work first and having fun taking a ride after work totally makes sense  ! By the way - which was easier to design? 

You read my mind!  I planed to build a dark green with yellow garbage truck at the beginning, but those colors are not popular in LEGO technic parts, so I changed my mind to use white. Actually, white is another authentic color for garbage truck in the real world. 

Design wise, each model has its own difficulty. The challenge of Aston is the body work, I took a lot of time to reduce the size of chassis, so I can have enough space to shape the body. But for the garbage truck, it is the internal mechanism. for example: 1) how to use a lever to open the back door when the body tilts 2) how to properly gear down to tilt the cab - I in the end used the clutched gear to avoid gear grinding 3) how to rotate the steering wheel while the cab tilted. Honestly it has a lot of fun designing while a bit painful sometimes. .

Thanks!

[suffocation]

Brilliantly crafted Love the looks and the functions.

[whitepen]

Nice job from a fellow garbage truck builder!

[2GodBDGlory]

Good job! I appreciate how, although your MOC is built around one standout function (the arm), you went the extra mile and added some other simpler, unnecessary, but valuable functions, like the suspension and cab opening.

[Hrafn]

That arm is wonderful! Any chance you could share some more photos of how it is constructed?  

[mihao]

On 1/24/2022 at 5:44 PM, suffocation said:

Brilliantly crafted Love the looks and the functions.

Thanks!

On 1/24/2022 at 8:42 PM, whitepen said:

Nice job from a fellow garbage truck builder!

Thank! I used to build supercars in small scale, but now I realized that building trucks can be equally fun.

On 1/24/2022 at 9:01 PM, 2GodBDGlory said:

Good job! I appreciate how, although your MOC is built around one standout function (the arm), you went the extra mile and added some other simpler, unnecessary, but valuable functions, like the suspension and cab opening.

Yes, the grabber function is great, but to become a good vehicle MOC, other functions are necessary as well. Thank you!

On 1/24/2022 at 10:10 PM, Hrafn said:

That arm is wonderful! Any chance you could share some more photos of how it is constructed?  

Sure. may not be easy to shoot component picture from my build because all details have been hidden, so I extracted some pictures from the LDraw file.

Edited January 26, 2022 by Milan
Oversized images removed, 2 days after asking the author to resize them to allowed size.

[ginger-snapped]

This is absolutely stunning. Great work getting 6 wheel drive and that beautiful grabber and everything else stuffed in there. I am in awe. It is builds like this that continue to drag me back to Technic after any sort of dark age. Keep up the great work!

[Mikdun]

I love the grabber mechanism. 

Great MOC.

[thekoRngear]

That grabber arm movement is epic, more like a robot and also the hopper opening. The body tilting speed is fine, if only the operation could have been a bit smoother. Overall- I have watched the video thrice! Awesome job.

[SaperPL]

Amazing model, Great job!

[mihao]

11 hours ago, ginger-snapped said:

This is absolutely stunning. Great work getting 6 wheel drive and that beautiful grabber and everything else stuffed in there. I am in awe. It is builds like this that continue to drag me back to Technic after any sort of dark age. Keep up the great work!

Glad the drag you back! I love Technic because it can achieve a simple and steady design as I want. Thanks!

10 hours ago, Mikdun said:

I love the grabber mechanism. 

Great MOC.

Thank you!

7 hours ago, thekoRngear said:

That grabber arm movement is epic, more like a robot and also the hopper opening. The body tilting speed is fine, if only the operation could have been a bit smoother. Overall- I have watched the video thrice! Awesome job.

Thank you for your comments! The weight of the body causes its movement a little unsmooth. But just because of its weight, when it starts to tilt up, it actually moves back instead of up, which makes it possible to move out of the white frame cover above it. The gravity helps this time!

6 hours ago, SaperPL said:

Amazing model, Great job!

Thanks!

[Thirdwigg]

Great job on this moc. I love a great garbage truck, and the side loader mechanism is well designed. Thanks for sharing it with us.

[Celeri]

The grabber arm is just EPIC!!

I really like this MOC: sure it would be better with some colors, but everything else is great. I find that garbage trucks are really too rare in Technic despite their highly interesting functionalities, and yours is a serious milestone in this domain. Congratulations!

[mihao]

On 1/25/2022 at 11:06 AM, Thirdwigg said:

Great job on this moc. I love a great garbage truck, and the side loader mechanism is well designed. Thanks for sharing it with us.

Glad to share, and thank you for your comments.

18 hours ago, Celeri said:

The grabber arm is just EPIC!!

I really like this MOC: sure it would be better with some colors, but everything else is great. I find that garbage trucks are really too rare in Technic despite their highly interesting functionalities, and yours is a serious milestone in this domain. Congratulations!

I was thinking about using colors, such as dark green and yellow, which is what my local garbage trucks use. But unfortunately, the availability of LEGO part in that color is low. The only feasible color theme is white which is also used by real garbage truck in some countries I believe, as below:

Thanks.

 

[Gray Gear]

Nice MOC. I like the wishbone used for the front edge of the side window. Nice idea!

The lifting arm somehow reminds me of the Power Miners Monster Grabber lol

[nerdsforprez]

Thanks for sharing this.  Terrific MOC.  Clean, functional, just an all-around great build.  

BTW... I know @brunojj1made some comments on the Aston, but, have you presented this build as well?  I would love to get some more information, this looks like a fantastic build as well!

[MCD]

So cool!

love the mechanisms, the scale and proportions look spot on!