teetertater

There are 1x1 liftarms (spacers) in other colours https://www.bricklink.com/v2/catalog/catalogitem.page?P=18654&name=Technic, Pin Connector Round 1L&category=[Technic, Connector]#T=C

Looks like we might've found a backdoor into the system :) Hopefully support doesn't get flooded with requests following these posts, but on the other hand, if they do, they'll know they should hurry up to make those parts widely available!

- Contacted TLG Support, they said my order "Never made it into the database?!" - They offered to reorder for free, and asked for a parts list - I didn't remember what I ordered but gave a new parts list - Shipped after just 2 days!! Now waiting

Sitting in the same boat... March 2nd and my order says "New Order", hasn't even been processed yet

Thanks for the description and photos! Cool concept and very well executed

Have you posted the details? Curious how you achieved that!

Thanks again ;) Absolutely agree. Btw I really loved your and the other submissions for TC16, definitely my favourite contest! Also impressive how quickly the submissions were done, no way I would manage in that time restriction haha. Thanks! Yeah the crab steering was definitely tricky, I tried several designs. Reddit user pattspatt recommended this system for switchable crab steering, but I haven't tried it yet https://rebrickable.com/mocs/MOC-8316/ErikLeppen/five-axle-crane/#details Mould king motors, pneumatics, controllers, some pieces, yep :) Definitely agree, I wouldn't be able to afford any of this otherwise ha! My only gripe with MK pneumatics is that two of the pumps broke where the plastic meets the metal, but fortunately I was able to fix them with super glue. Loy from yourwobb offered to replace them free anyway with my next order. >That's me on practically every MOC I make Hahaha same. On this one I just wanted to get it over and done with, otherwise it would've taken me a year

Thanks! :) I think the issue with both the RC pneumatic switches and crab steering was that I tried to do too many things at once and didn't focus on making them 100% robust. So e.g. combining multiple switches onto one servo makes it frequently not work as expected (only one side activates, the elastics don't bring the switch to the centre, etc etc. But these are issues with my execution, perhaps someone can come up with a better design! Perhaps I should also note that the video was heavily edited with multiple takes, IRL it seldom works so smoothly. With crab steering the main issue was the gears sliding back and forth across their axles and creating leeway over time. Then since I piled so much stuff on top of the steering system it became a nightmare to repair. I basically have to do surgery to put the gears back in place haha (without taking half of it apart). The other big issue / design flaw was having to align the wheels perfectly prior to switching back and forth between steering modes. This is quite difficult with the XL motor and my gearing ratio -- I geared it so steering would be relatively fast, but that means it's really hard to precisely align all the wheels in a row. I think this design was okay when I started, but should've been more robust with all the rest on top.

This is a project MOC I've been working on during my evenings and weekends for about 5 months. I really tried to cram in all the features I thought would be cool. The rover weighs just short of 3kg, has 11 motors, over 4 meters of pneumatic hose. It's controlled with two remote controls. Getting all those features with limited parts and tight space constraints was a huge challenge Main Functions: 4W Drive, Steering Switch between crab and 4-wheel steering "Solar Panel" unfold/fold Crane up/down, left/right, extension/retraction, "pincer" Cargo bay door open/close Pneumatic airlock Fully RC Other small stuff: Rotating satelite dish Detailed cabin Independent suspension on all wheels Two servos each control two pneumatic functions Design process I started with the chassis, and moved on from there. Driving and steering worked a lot better before it put on all the weight! I had to plan ahead for everything I wanted to add and how it would fit together, which got really complicated so I had to start drawing out the connections. I basically had one drawing for how the modules physically fit together, one for the pneumatics connections, and one for the electronics. Even things like the lengths of the cables would determine which battery I could hook them up to, and every single battery connection and remote control button is in use. I used a few clever tricks to give motors more than one function. For example, each pneumatic pump is also a switch, depending on the direction it spins, using a design I borrowed from youtube. Each servo motor controls two switches each, because by design it was possible to make functions opposites of each other. The pneumatics engage in order of easiest to most difficult, so there are some rubber bands to set the order of activation. E.g. the up/down motion of the crane is paired with the storage lid. Improvements There are a lot of possible improvements that could be made, but I'm eager to move on to the next project and I'm happy enough with it already. Here's what I would change: Less functions overall. My line of thought when I started this project was "ooh I'll make everything with pneumatics because they're cool, and make it all remote control, and add crab steering because why not, and etc etc". But then it really dragged on forever. Next time I'll keep it small and simpler. Especially now that I've ticked most of my idea boxes No / fewer remote-control pneumatics switches. I did it, it's possible, but it takes up a lot of space and often doesn't work so well More robust steering (and no crab steering). The crab steering takes up like a third of the space and adds a ton of weight, and doesn't work very well. After trying it myself, I'm even more impressed by Madoca's shaman If a vehicle, all wheel drive For something so heavy and high torque like this, i'll definitely keep each driveline on separate batteries. Having two drivelines (left and right) improved the performance a lot, but since I needed every single battery output I moved all motors to the same battery, which killed performance I'll probably avoid exteriors and paneling — I'm not that great at it and it just adds weight Inspiration The idea and inspiration came from Eurobricks mars mission contest (ZeroBricks, Samolot, Kubic5), Simon stallenhag's artwork, and image searches for mars rover concept art I'll take more (and higher quality) pics of it as I take it apart, just need to wait for a free day with good lighting! Happy to answer any questions! Thanks for reading

Super cool! Very nice execution of the concept and a great application of a binary counter irl

Looks freaky and cool! Is it remote-controlled per-leg, or did you program it somehow to make it easier? I.e. do you have to move the legs one by one?

There were lots of issues with the drivetrain. I think the biggest issue is that I used waaay too many gears to connect from the motor to the powered sprocket. E.g. motor --> 5 gears --> differential --> perpendicular gear --> perpendicular gear --> 5 gears --> sprocket. If I put the motor physically closer it wouldn't have as many problems with friction. 42069 did it right: the drivetrain is uhh yeah glad you noticed the ladders! Took some thinking how to make them so compact.

Hello EB! I'd like to humbly show this remote control (PF) winter expedition vehicle (MOC). Featuring 4 independently driven tracks with a unique steering system. More explanation below and in my YouTube video. It has many issues that I'm not willing to spend more time to fix, but I've learned a lot from the process, which will help improve my future MOCs. If I was to start from scratch here's what I would change: Put motors closer to driven axles Split drivelines into either front/back or single motor per tread less complicated steering system Use a different type of suspension instead of pendular raise the height of the driven sprocket instead of extending driveline with gears reduce weight with panels vs lifttarms (I didn't have any at the time of building) Never use an Adder again, or if I really have to then use the old-style 24t differentials Work more on the cabin/exterior design A sizeable portion of the issues stemmed from the weight, which is something I didn't expect! I ordered some parts to allow me to finish the frame, and added design elements in the meantime. The design elements were pretty much the difference between being-able-to-carry-its-own-weight and not. The MOC is already disassembled, but I'll be happy to hear feedback and suggestions!

Cool! How does it fit in with the rest of the train layout? Just curious.

Sounds cool, looking forward to seeing the result. Although I'm especially curious about how you'll make your Vacuum out of Lego