2GodBDGlory

Cool project! I remember hearing that a larger layer height for 3D prints was stronger, because you have fewer joints to break. Do you think implies that using a smaller nozzle also makes a weaker print? I'm not sure, but if it does, I'd think a project like this would need strength over precision. Not that I really understand what you're doing, but it's a thought I had! As for hiding photos, I assume you're talking about the spoiler feature? If so, it's activated by a little eye icon at the top of the text box. I'm not seeing it on mobile right now, but it's at least there on PC

Neat idea! The trailer will definitely be a cool addition You know, I'm not sure how easy this would be to do, but once the contest is done, you could always build a new cab modeling a real-world truck, and use all your accessories and chassis along with that! That's only true until one of the legs hits the ground, though--after that, it'll naturally be easier for it to deploy the other leg. It might look a little funny if only one leg moves at a time, but I think otherwise it'll work fine

Ooh, nice! And cheap, too! I recall you saying you were going to sell it at cost, and that price definitely reflects that! Also, I recently finished reading the ebook, and found it quite educational! I've built a few basic Lego clocks before, but the book introduced me to much more advanced things than I knew existed!

Cool! I don't recall any situations where I needed a centrifugal clutch, but if I did, something like this would work well! Maybe with LPEs?

Truck-Mounted Forklift Functions: HOG Rear-wheel steering Knob-operated front wheel 90 degree turning (Sideways drive mode) Knob-operated mast sliding (Forward and backward) Knob-operated mast lift Knob-operated mast tilt Knob-operated scissor-fork-extend mechanism Manual fork side-to-side sliding

Wow, that is really interesting! I have a hard time imagining what I'd use that for, but it's really neat! (Also quite a clever MOC with the torque wrench. I was impressed by the click mechanism for it, and thought, "if only it ratcheted, but I guess he couldn't fit that in such a small space." To my amazement, though, it did have a ratcheting mechanism after all!)

Ooh, very cool! I'll have to remember that! I think I've done that before--was that just from 2018 on, or was it a one-off design before going back to a larger one?

It's been a while since I thought about that! If I remember correctly, kingpin inclination is similar to caster in that it relates to the angle of the steering axis, but instead of being tilted in the front-back plane, it's a tilt in the left-right plane: So in this picture, the red line would be the kingpin inclination, while the blue line would be vertical. Note that the wheel is tilted at a different angle than the steering axis, because the camber of the wheel is different than the kingpin inclination. Is that helpful?

Oof, that's rough about the battery! I hope my 6.0 hub holds up better than that...

Oh, to clarify, I just meant that while I've seen RC models like you linked, I've never seen display-focused builds modeling what those robots look like

Interesting models! Building RC combat robots out of Lego was something I was aware of, but building models of those robots is a niche I haven't seen before!

Nice job! I really like the execution of the auto-clutch mechanism! I've always thought of that as being a cool mechanism that's impractical to implement, but your mechanism looks very reasonable!

Nice progress, and I look forward to seeing more! But (gasp!), why does your Australian truck have a Michigan license plate? ;)

Oh, and just so you know, @DonTomasino, Eurobricks doesn't really host images, so you'd need to host it somewhere else, like flickr or Bricksafe, which is a bit annoying, but it's how the forum works

No, there's not really any realistic way to model a full Geneva mechanism with Lego. For one thing, not only does a Geneva mechanism advance the output by a specific number of degrees each rotation, but it also holds the output in a fixed position whenever it's not moving, so it works for a gearbox like this much more nicely than a stepper would

That's pretty cool! It definitely would be useful for Lego gearboxes, like you demonstrate there, though I'd be more likely to aim for an all-Lego solution for most models with gearboxes

I've done a few different LC70s in 1:8, and while I'm sure I could improve them if I rebuilt them today, I liked them! (No real Aussie-style accessories, though) I look forward to seeing what you come up with!

Well, I'm definitely late to the party on this one, but I don't like to let Eurobricks contests go by without an entry, so I might as well throw my hat in now! I've had an extremely busy summer, mostly away from my Lego, so now that I'm getting into a time where I'm only very busy, we'll see if I can churn out an entry for this contest! As I mentioned in the discussion topic somewhere, I'm interested in building a truck-mounted forklift, similar to one of these: https://www.hiab.com/en-us/products/truck-mounted-forklifts Unfortunately for me, these typically use three wheels, which is too few for legality in this contest, but I think I can make it work with two rear ones mounted side-by-side. Maybe I'll build both compliant and non-compliant variants, too! Anyways, these forklifts have a couple interesting features in real life. For one, while they usually steer with a single rear tire, they can also steer the front two tires to a 90 degree angle, allowing the whole forklift to drive sideways, parallel to a truck it'd be unloading! Additionally, they have a sort of scissor-link in the fork mechanism that can extend the fork forward and backwards, to reach loads on the far side of the truck, I assume. So, the plan for functionality is: Steering, with both normal and parallel modes Fork tilt Fork lift Fork extension I'd like to include some sort of drive, but in real life, I think these things are driven by hydraulic motors in each wheel, because their layout is extremely inconvenient for mechanical connections. At small-scale, I think this would become prohibitive, so I probably won't be going that route. Motorization would also be nice, but I don't expect to have a lot of internal space, so I'll have to see what it looks like once I've made more progress. Anyways, I started with the fork mechanism, and made a two-stage lift system using framed racks (Arocs racks, in my mind), and a chain pulley system. I also figured out a scissor-type linkage that looks realistic, but figuring out a way to control it within the given space proved very challenging. Racks, linear actuators, and linkages all didn't seem like they'd work out well, so in the end I fell back on string. To me, string seems like a magical substance that can do virtually any function in virtually any space, but one that you usually ignore because it's so annoying to work with. Anyways, it did end up working quite nicely, so I've got a weird little winch reel with two outputs, one going up to pull a link down, and another going out to pull a link in (one for each direction of travel). It's a bit unorthodox, but it works and fits well. This is driven by a drivetrain from a worm gear, which can slide on a 32L axle, giving me hope of controlling this function from within the forklift's body. Forks down Forks up Scissor linkage (String can be cleaned up later. Just one fork installed as a mock-up) Scissor linkage extended I suppose my next job is to try building some sort of frame. I'm not familiar with the proper order of operations for forklift models, so we'll see what works out! I'm also still busy, so I'm not sure when the next update will be

Looks nice! I haven't seen suspension like that too often, but it might be worth trying! Do you have any concerns about that 3x3 L half-beam in the middle of the torsion arm? I find my half-beams break at the axle holes a lot, but maybe if your parts are new it'll be fine

This should be cool to see! I'm a huge fan of those Land Cruiser 70s like you have in the picture (It's my next planned MOC, actually), and even though you're not strictly copying one, I look forward to seeing what you come up with!

[WIP discussion] Well, it's done! I had a couple uninterrupted days home alone, which were very productive! Really the only challenging thing since the last update was building the mechanism to steer the front wheels. I knew I needed some linear motion on both sides, but it was surprisingly hard to get both sides to move equally without a bending mechanism, in my limited space. In the end, I found a mechanism using a 7L gear rack in the middle of the model, moving a transverse beam forwards and backwards, with a couple rubber bands pulling into the sideways drive mode to improve reliability. Once that was done, it became a very satisfying function to operate! Building bodywork was a little intimidating at first, because I really didn't have any idea where to start for a vehicle like this, but once I got going it fell together pretty easily. [Finished model presentation] This model was built after seeing these unusual forklifts at work around the job site. They're designed to ride on the back of trucks dropping off loads, so that there's guaranteed to be a forklift handy for unloading when you get there. Their unusual features include a mast that can slide forwards and backwards, their forks mounted on a scissor-linkage to slide forwards and backwards (for unloading both sides of a truck from just one side), and front wheels that can rotate in 90 degrees to allow the forklift to drive parallel to the truck it's unloading. Because all the wheels are rotating so far, and because of their inconvenient locations, I decided it wasn't worth trying to include any kind of drivetrain, which drove me to build the model fully manual, which I expect was the right decision, given the small scale imposed by TC27 rules. Functions: HOG rear-wheel steering Knob-operated front wheel 90 degree turning (Sideways drive mode) Knob-operated mast sliding (Forward and backward) Knob-operated mast lift Knob-operated mast tilt Knob-operated scissor-fork-extend mechanism Manual fork side-to-side sliding Aesthetics: I'm pretty happy with how the model turned out! I don't think it's as good as other builders could do, but I do feel like I'm improving. The colour combination seems to work nicely, and there's enough detail to keep it looking interesting. I added a license plate on the back, not because forklifts need them (at least in Canada), but because these forklifts typically have the rear plate of their host truck, because they'd obscure any license plate on the back of the truck during loading! Here's a picture of one in its typical mounting: Rear-wheel steering: This steering was about as simple as could be, with a knob placed directly above the tire. It felt too easy, but I didn't feel any need to complicate it. It would have been nice to have a working wheel in the cab, but I felt I was out of space and could only do it by seriously compromising the shape of the interior. Sideways Drive Mode: This was a fun feature to implement! I had the two front wheels on linkages allowing them to steer inwards, pulled by two red 16L links. These were then connected to a sort of beam in the chassis, which was moved forwards and backwards by a 7L rack gear controlled by a knob. It ended up working very nicely, allowing the whole model to be driven sideways, provided that the rear wheel was steered at 90 degrees as well Mast Sliding: The whole mast of the forklift can be slid forwards and backwards, to allow it to compact itself for transport. To accomplish this, it was mounted on two "Arocs" racks, which were extended using worm gears connected to a knob. This function itself wasn't very complicated to make, but it caused a lot of other complications in making all the other mast functions have to be driven by extendable driveshafts using 8T sliding gears! Mast Lift: The mast was also lifted using two worm-driven "Arocs" racks, but it also included a chain pulley mechanism to make for a higher-lifting 2-stage mechanism. I realized after building it that because this style of build requires gravity to lower the forks, it would be completely unable to lift the forklift onto a truck! Thankfully, building a truck was never in the plans, so it's pretty irrelevant. (Except when gravity has a hard time overcoming friction to lower the forks, but generally it works alright) Mast Tilt: The whole mast was tilted using a small linear actuator. It was a little tricky to fit, but after that it worked smoothly! Apparently I didn't get any pictures of it tilted, but the above picture is good for showing the LA, and tilting can be seen in the video below Scissor-Fork Extension: The function that initially drew me to these forklifts (before discovering the mast sliding and sideways driving) was the distinctive scissor mechanism to slide the forks outward to reach loads further away! My scissor mechanism was slightly more complicated than some, and closely followed the linkage setup on real ones. After trying lots of strategies to operate it, I settled on using a small winch-type mechanism to pull the forks in, or pull the top of the linkage down to slide them out. I don't love using string, but it worked quite nicely here, and didn't require much space at all! The drive for this function was really complicated, though, going through a sliding shaft in the chassis, around a joint for the mast tilt, and then up a 32L axle up the mast, on which a worm gear could slide that ran a couple gears to finally run that string reel! Manual Fork Adjustment: The forks were mounted on axles, which allowed for the manual repositioning of the forks to lift different loads: Anyways, I was quite pleased with how the model turned out! There was a lot of craziness with all the parts moving relative to each other, but it actually turned out to be reliable in the end! Cranking knobs for long periods of time wasn't fun, but I don't think there was any other way to do it More images available at: https://bricksafe.com/pages/2GodBDGlory/tc27-forklift

Yeah, the front of that does look really good! I like the part usage with the unsteered hub being used as a CV joint in the rear suspension, and the engine piston parts as tailgate locking pins!

Thanks for showing pictures of the inside! That does look like it was quite a challenge to compact it that much!

Well, I guess it's time for an update! I've made a lot of progress since last time, and gotten most of the mechanical things figured out. One thing I hadn't realized before is that the entire mast of the forklift slides forward and backward, in addition to having the forks move forward and backward on the mast. This was accomplished using two more framed racks with worm gears. I also used a small linear actuator to tilt the mast. Now, none of this is inherently super complicated, but the challenge is just how much relative motion there is in the model! The mast is sliding forward and backward, tilting, and extending, so to route drive through joints and sliding components to knobs at the back was very challenging. Those red 8T gears that can slide on shafts ended up being invaluable, but it was still a challenge! The other feature I want the forklift to have is the 90 degree steering mode, so I now have some basic linkages set up to rotate the front two wheels 90 degrees inward, so with the rear wheel steered to 90 degrees, the forklift can drive sideways. Getting this hooked up to some reasonable control is probably the main mechanical thing I still need to do. Other than that, I pretty much just need to build some bodywork and a cab, but that's honestly more intimidating to me than the mechanical stuff... ^Mast slid forwards ^Mast lifted ^90 degree steering mode

Ooh, that is very unique! Nice job!