Nico71's Creations

[DLuders]

emilej92 posted this YouTube video of Nico71's Trial Crawler climbing abilities:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=idxXaBwtoMs

[timslegos]

Looks like it climbs pretty well. Hopefully i can build it sometime.

tim

[nico71]

Hello !

I am curently working of a concept vehicule for Trial Truck field. I called that "wheeled snake" because it has a articulated body (frame) thanks to multiple 3 dof joins and has of course wheels. A XL motor drives the 3 axles with 3 differentials and the suspensions system is managed with flex hose which enables to have free rotation for steering but strained rotation for other axis.

Basically, the frame "follow" the ground by crawling. Concerning the steering, I have motorized the front axle, the rear axle follows the rotation of the middle frame like a trailer. Regarding the clibing abilities, there are very good thanks to the multiple 3 Dof joins and the steering abilities are much better : turning radius is very small. It is of course possible to duplicate the rear axle to make more rear axle (4 or 5 instead of 3 axle) to have a longer "snake".

I have shooted the video, I an learning at the moment adobe premiere and then I will make the video.

Again, all comments are welcome.

[DLuders]

@ Nico71: C'est magnifique! It is good to utilize the Unimog U400's pieces for the 3 Degrees of Freedom (DoF) displayed in your "Wheeled Snake".

[timslegos]

Wow that is interesting, looks pretty cool. How well does it work?

tim

[Splat]

Nice work nico71.

It's a very interesting concept, and something that I have been thinking about for a little while now too, but I have a few other models to get out of the way before I start on mine.

I'll be watching your progress to see where you go with this concept.

[nico71]

Many thanks ! it works good, you will see on the video, when it is done... (premiere is a bit complicated to use but very powerfull).

I work also on a loom machine, an automated loom which will be displayed at Fanabriques2012. I will talk you about soon.

:)

[nico71]

And here is the video of the Wheeled Snake, a bit in late because of Adobe premiere, very complicated to use :

And here are some pictures of the abilities of the vehicle, turning radius and clibbing angles :

And a view of the underneath of the chassis, now equipped with portal axle :

I hope you like the video, I have spend many hours to make it.

[Jurgen Krooshoop]

Very cool chassis !! And the video looks very professional, great work

[Splat]

This turned out really well. I like how the 'snake' can articulate over the rough terrain.

Are you planning on building a body for this? Even just some sort of roll cage frame would look good.

Do you think this could work with more than three sections? What about a really long one with about 15 sections (with multiple motors)? I think the main problem might be the steering...

PS. I've also started using Premiere for my videos. Once you've used it a few times you'll get used to how it works and be faster. One thing I tend to do when starting a new project is use my previous project as a starting point. That way you can have a lot of your title screen and stuff like that already set up, and you just have to make changes from there.

[timslegos]

The video looks awesome! Looks like you are getting the hang of it . How did you capture the google earth intro? it looks really cool.

tim

[Zerobricks]

Wow, a very interesting idea! Seems to work really great! Nice video editing!

[nico71]

@Splat : exactly what I want to do for the next video.

@Tmir : I have used Fraps a free softawre limited at 30 second of shoot. Also, I have used the function "mapping" "trim" and "adjustement of the background" to remove the Fraps inscription and to inlay the rotating rendering of the Crawler (made in SR3D builder).

Concerning the sound, I have mixed some computer noise and atmosphere noise, score of the trailer of Alien VS Predator game (the 3 black screens at the begining) and use a song that Zapac on http://dig.ccmixter.org/ has created for me. Lot of work in some ! More than the Lego creation... ^^

[TimH]

Another great MOC nico. Love the video, shot very well!

[arjanofski]

That thing runs really smooth. It would be cool if you make a prolonged version of it, with 10 wheels.

[_techniclego55_]

Very nice MOC The Video is Awesome...

Great Work...

[nico71]

That thing runs really smooth. It would be cool if you make a prolonged version of it, with 10 wheels.

If wish I could ! I have only two Ball-joins, I must buy 5 unimog ^^

[DLuders]

On his website, Nico71 posted a detailed description of his "Wheeled Snake" MOC. He wrote that "The building instructions as a photo sequence are going to come."

Edited May 5, 2012 by DLuders

[nico71]

Exactly.

To avoid misunderstanding, the photo you show is a prototype version of my crawler. With 2 XL motor for drive and differential steering. The final version don't use this kind of drivetrain. The reasons why are explained on my blog : http://www.nico71.fr/wheeled-snake/

[DLuders]

@ Nico71: Mon erreur -- I switched out the photo above to show the correct drivetrain. Thanks for sharing your Wheeled Snake MOC -- your website is full of great Lego Technic creations!

[nico71]

Thanks David !

Soon, I will present you my work arround my Loom Machine (automated of course), started on Setechnic : http://www.setechnic.com/Forum/post105697.html#p105697

[Ramacco]

Thanks David !

Soon, I will present you my work arround my Loom Machine (automated of course), started on Setechnic : http://www.setechnic.com/Forum/post105697.html#p105697

I have been following SeTechnic about the Loom Machine. It's very impressive how you have build a mechanical loom machine with only one XL motor. Pretty good job. I even like the color scheme! :thumbup:

Did you learn this from your studies (Mechanical Engineering) how to build something like this? Or just from some pictures and YouTube?

[nico71]

Hello, thanks for following my work.

Concerning the loom, I am just enthousiast of machinery and mechanical engineering (my job) but I have not learnt the principle of loom machine at school but several principle of mechanical movement has been learnt at school. So I have a kind of mechanism culture from my school. The rest is google search :)

[DLuders]

On the bottom of this webpage, Nico71 posted 23 images for his Wheeled Snake photo-sequence Building Instructions. Save them to your computer in reverse order. He included this visual Parts List:

[nico71]

And the Wheeled Snake has been indexed by Nathan at rebrickable : http://rebrickable.com/sets/nico71/wheeled-snake

Caution : heavy post !

I will present you my work around loom machine. First of all, here I am today:

Of course it is not the first attempt, I have made lot of attempt, searches and I present you the first working prototype. To read the complete development, you can read the translated page of setechnic :

The aim is to build for the exhibition Fanabriques 2012 a automated mechanical loom (no RCX-NXT) which is capable of weaving non stop during the exhibition (except maintenance time).

The prototype is quite validated. Concerning the functioning, I encourage you to read the article on Wikipedia : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Loom it explains very well the functioning.

Which is composed of:

1. Wood frame

2. Seat for weaver

3. Warp beam- let off

4. Warp threads

5. Back beam or platen

6. Rods – used to make a shed

7. Heddle frame - heald frame - harness

8. Heddle- heald - the eye

9. Shuttle with weft yarn

10. Shed

11. Completed fabric

12. Breast beam

13. Batten with reed comb

14. Batten adjustment

15. Lathe

16. Treadles

17. Cloth roll- takeup

My model is a flying shuttle model. Here is the basic cycle of weaving:

• The heddle frames move up
  
• the shuttle moves from righ to left
  
• the reed moves and press the weaving pattern
  
• The heddle frame moves down
  
• the shuttle moves from left to righ
  
• the reed moves and press the weaving pattern

And the cycle is repeated.

Now how I built that. I have first of all build a basic chassis which support all the component:

Then I have put in place a basic system of slider to lead the shuttle :

You can see here the group of reel which composed the 22 thread of the shed.

After that, I have made the system for moving the shuttle called the pitcher (the green liftarms) :

Each pitcher is linked with a rubber band in order to launch the shuttle. To make the movement and tighten the pitcher and the rubber band, I use a cam with variable profile. It is composed of 3 corner 3x3 technic. The last empty corner is to generate the launch of the shuttle :

And in order to have a accurate pitchers, I have made two device of pre-tension. Indeed, the accuracy and velocity of the shuttle linked to the pitcher depend lot of the stretching of the rubber band.

At the end, all setting will be displayed on multiple dials (speed, pre-tension, movements).

Also, after the group of reels, I have made two drums which grip the 22 thread of the shed in order to unroll slowly the shed and to control the tension for the sheed (again important for the functioning).

The crossed reed is used to avoid the snarl.

On the front, it is a big drum which winds the complete weave.

All drums are going to be synchronized in order to have a slowly and constant forward movement.

Concerning the shuttle, it is very simple and yet not so simple. Indeed, the shuttle muste be smooth as possible in order to slide smoothly in the shed (no stop, no clash, no bump). That is why I use liftarms which have rounded shape. On a shuttle, 10m of thread is winded.

Now concerning the « mechanization » of the loom. First of all, a XL motor with 2 8t/40t gear drives the main shaft. The shaft drives after the two system of cam for the pitcher and the system of control the heddle frame. Here is a underneath wiev :

On the right and left view, you can see in blue the mechanism of control of the heddle frame. The system is not based on well-known lever and connecting rod. I use a lever but with a sliding connecting rod, also considered at variable length connecting rod. This system enable to have a output intermittent movement which is better for the application than linear motion.

To finish : the loom works, it works good but not really accurate. I need to improve the accuracy and reliability. The last part of the mechanization is to connect the main reed to press the weaving pattern and after the construction of the dials.

Here is a view of a preliminary weave :

And to finish, a complete view of the loom :

If you have some questions, remarks, comment, don’t hesitate !:)