colinrichardson

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Everything posted by colinrichardson

  1. colinrichardson
    As one of my structures professors used to say (and make dozens of powerpoint slides that said..) "Triangles are Magic"
  2. colinrichardson
    Great model and great video. Details on the suspension will be very interesting, I'm sure.
  3. colinrichardson
    finally have the boom built and was able to load-test the firgelli actuator. I was wrong about 1 actuator being sufficient- it was juuuuuust able to raise the extended boom but sounded painful. 2 actuators twinned together work fairly well - some strain, but not excessive.
  4. colinrichardson
    I've put quite a bit of force on it with my hand and am confident that it will lift the boom throughout its entire range. The actuator has a lot of mechanical advantage when the boom it at its peak (most vertical), so I think it will be able to support a significant weight at that point.
  5. colinrichardson
    Thought I'd share the boom geometry I'm planning on implementing using a firgelli actuator:
  6. colinrichardson
    Tighter rear end? "Size 0"?
  7. colinrichardson
    It's similarly cheap off of amazon.de, a bit more expensive on amazon.co.uk
  8. colinrichardson
    I'm trying to use Brick Wizard for the first time but keep getting this error: "Unable to retrieve store information. Please try again." Has anyone else run into this?
  9. colinrichardson

    [MOC] Tandem Helicopter

    colinrichardson replied to colinrichardson's topic in LEGO Technic, Mindstorms, Model Team and Scale Modeling

    A few videos of the mechanisms I've been working on: The control combinations discussed above- one is linear-actuator based: https://flic.kr/p/r86eSo the more compact one uses worm gears and racks: https://flic.kr/p/qSVTri The rotors and swash-plates have been through a number of iterations and are remarkably similar to designs by some other MOCers I've seen recently. Cyclic: https://flic.kr/p/r86phf Collective: https://flic.kr/p/qSW18K In Motion: https://flic.kr/p/qdA9LP Finally, a quick look at my first attempt at a control stick mechanism that outputs rotation: https://flic.kr/p/qSNt7j
  10. colinrichardson
    I started this project a few years ago but let it sit dormant. I've started it up again and figured it would be good to track its progress and start getting some feedback (though there's not much to critique yet). This is going to be a tandem helicpoter loosely based on the Chinook. I'm especially interested in mimicking the Chinook's flight controls and expect this to be the biggest challenge. The real helicopter's controls uses a sophisticated, for its time, hydraulic system to mix inputs from the throttle, stick, and pedals into outputs to the rotors so that it "feels" to the pilot that they're flying a more traditional helicopter. Though I briefly considered using pneumatics to create the control system, the lack of pressure variability made it an unappealing option. Instead, I'm working-out a mechanical gear and axle system to combine and actuate the controls. I may convert to an rc/servo system in the future, but plan on only motorizing the rotor's spin for now. The crude testbed / proof-of-concept mockup that I'm starting with. I'll upload some more images over the next few days.
  11. colinrichardson

    [MOC] Tandem Helicopter

    colinrichardson replied to colinrichardson's topic in LEGO Technic, Mindstorms, Model Team and Scale Modeling

    Very nice work - I hadn't seen it before. I've been focused on gear mechanisms for the control combinations but your lever-based system seems to be very elegant. It's going to take me a few more work sessions to install and test my current design, if it fails (too much friction etc) I'm going to give your system a try. Thanks.
  12. colinrichardson
    1: 10 3: 6 35: 4 28: 3 19: 2 11: 1
  13. colinrichardson
    eBay: http://www.ebay.com/itm/Pneumatic-HOSE-for-Lego-Fittings-305cm-10-feet-Technic-Tubing-Ts-/251338032768?pt=Building_Toys_US&hash=item3a84ea0680 I've bought similar (not from this seller) and it has worked well for me.
  14. colinrichardson
    Yep - differentials are a bit counter-intuitive but were an important innovation, both in real-world machines and in lego. This article http://www.howstuffworks.com/differential.htm might be a bit long, but explains things well.
  15. colinrichardson
    I agree, this forum is not plagued by too many posts, and any more info on the 41999 is absolutely on topic.
  16. colinrichardson
    Interesting question - they do seem to keep ratcheting things up and it will probably be hard to pull back down. I would bet that the 2000 piece range might be a practical maximum for some time, but that the amount of PF, RC and more sophisticated parts will keep creeping up.
  17. colinrichardson
    Very fun looking. I really like that the engine was made without the pre-made engine block pieces and that it has a bunch of good functionality without PF. I'd support it on cuusoo - it actually might get through the gauntlet.
  18. colinrichardson
    All of them, in order to build a crawler army that can take over the world.
  19. colinrichardson
    Very slick. From now on, let's all pretend that this was the official B model.
  20. colinrichardson
    That was a great presentation- it must be hard reviewing your own design. Do you think that it will be possible to gear down the winch so that it can pull with a bit more force without slipping?
  21. colinrichardson

    Ford Fiesta WRC

    colinrichardson replied to piterx's topic in LEGO Technic, Mindstorms, Model Team and Scale Modeling

    Wow! Almost as fun as watching the real thing.
  22. colinrichardson

    Ford Fiesta WRC

    colinrichardson replied to piterx's topic in LEGO Technic, Mindstorms, Model Team and Scale Modeling

    Nice - I like the minimalist style: just enough material in the right places to convey the right form. Now you just need to make a guy in a gorilla suit riding a segway.
  23. colinrichardson

    Set 42000 (F1 car) - C Model

    colinrichardson replied to Paul B Technic's topic in LEGO Technic, Mindstorms, Model Team and Scale Modeling

    I haven't seen one, but I think that there's so much room for improvement in the B model that it could become a C model by giving it a good suspension, etc.
  24. colinrichardson
    You're having way too much fun with this.
  25. colinrichardson
    heads up to anyone looking for one of these: amazon.co.uk just dropped the crawler's price to 99 pounds, which comes to $139 shipped to the US for anyone w/ prime.