andythenorth

Gonzo video, with blooper at the end Anyone know how to embed flickr videos on EB? I had a search, but found no answers, only other people with same question.

I do insist I'm going for pulling power rather than trial-truck (crawler) performance, so more batteries actually helps. I haven't built a trial truck, but I've looked at a lot posted here, and I would guess power puller wheels are disadvantaged in trial trucks - too heavy, too much inertia? Original plan was 8 XL, but it's actually too much power and will tear up the chassis and drive train, which is kind of boring to keep fixing (I prototyped). I could do 4 XL instead of 8L. But I want to avoid diffs, and I want left / right sides on separate channels to aid turning. I could run spur gears along the walking beams, so each motor drives 2 wheels on same side, but it would be a lot of power lost to gears. Chains are out, too weak Intrigued to see how much it will pull. I have another smaller 8x8 with 3 XL motors and locking diffs, that will pull a 15KG toddler on a scooter. I'l post some more pictures when I have something worth showing.

Yup, agreed. Current set up is 8 L motors, 2 v2 receivers and 2 battery boxes. The v2 receiver takes 4 motors ok under light load, but stalls out quite easily. Not sure if it's battery box or receiver protection kicking in (it's not the motor). Or maybe it's just not enough juice available. I'll try a third battery box and receiver, need one for the steering anyway. Using multiple battery boxes only really works with matched batteries in each (type + charge level). Shame there's no easy way to gang battery boxes together. Definitely one reason against doing the 14x14 version of this truck. Just been re-reading your Fox thread. A beast

This: http://s4.e-monsite.com/2011/08/30/67134866rolligon-14x14-khan-pdf.pdf Perhaps not

The trees are what really bug me. The trees can't be rebuilt as anything. What's wrong with brick built trees? I swear Lego has been going downhill since they were introduced. It's new parts like this that I'm referring to: http://www.bricklink...Item.asp?P=3470 Where's the creativity in that?

I for one am looking forward to the imminent collapse in the price of used Metroliners once Serious Lego Collectors realise that the nose parts are Not Real Lego.

More motors arrived today... Uno: a v1 PF receiver will power 8 L motors from a single AA battery box without cutting out. Kinda. Until you put any serious load through the setup. In case anyone wanted to. Duo: Are 4 powered axles (8 L motors) enough? How about 7 powered axles (14 L motors)? http://s4.e-monsite....14-khan-pdf.pdf

The toy fair videos (posted earlier in this thread) appear to show a rear pendular axle. Could be a mistake. Dunno. Worth looking though. The 8043 B model (crawler loader) has equaliser bar between the track frames = same principle as pendular axle.

Exactly. And these brick-built monorails prove it http://railbricks.co...monorailbricks/ So that means you have to send your monorail track to me, right? To be clear, I won't use it, as it's Not Real Lego, and I am a Very Serious AFOL. But my kids won't mind playing with it, they have this weird view that Lego is just a toy.

Personally I am sending back all my boat hulls, all large cockpits and windscreens, and most definitely the large transparent-blue panels from the space monorail. I am disappointed to learn that they are not real Lego. In fact, I feel like the emotional heart of my hobby has been ripped out. Most of all the wheels. The wheels are not brick built, especially the large technic wheels. I feel cheated.

are Lego now including third-party parts? I certainly won't be buying any more if that's the case.

L motors offer excellent mounting options, shame they couldn't be one stud shorter for same power Axles turned out pretty robust. Parallel walking beams for suspension. Brutally simple. Battery box center and low down, counteracts tendency to flip. Rear unit will clone front unit, just waiting on an expensive L motor order. Untitled by andythenorth, on Flickr

About to design some heavy duty articulated steering for this: Untitled by andythenorth, on Flickr Ignore the ball joint, that will go, replaced by proper articulation joint, this is a prototype. Front and rear units will be same outline, 1 L motor per wheel. So to move the articulation joint: - 1 LA or 2? Will two stay in sync? My 8043 excavator frequently gets one LA out of sync on the boom, which creates a torsion on the boom. - big LAs or small? I like the small ones, but will they handle the load? - which PF motor? Or is a set up with racks or a crank better? Wheel motors have one channel per side, which will aid steering (can counter-rotate).

Evolved this now to 1 PF Large motor per Power Puller wheel. Gearing is 12:20 then 8:24. Is that 5:1? Anyway it works well. With 4 powered wheels the chassis will climb a wall then stall out (or fall on its head). Chassis is 4 studs wider than I wanted, but I managed to get double shear in. Trade off. Also more stable. I managed the narrow chassis with a PF XL per wheel, but it was actually overkill, and would have needed a heavily overbuilt axle to contain the torque. The L motors have a nice balance, with enough torque, but won't destroy the axle. \o/

It goes like this: - you're not a natural sharer, if you were you would not have these concerns - if you share it's going to worry you - worrying destroys the joy in what you're doing - as soon as someone does something you don't like it's going to be pain and drama for you, and probably for others So forget sharing. It's clearly a very big deal for you. Avoid it. For the record I have a 100% opposite view about freely sharing what I make. I figure life is too short to worry about insignificant things like people copying the toys I made, or even making (very small) amounts of money from them. But you should do what's right for you.

You are absolutely not ready to share to stuff. Don't do it.

It would be neat if Lego would include a fabric strip for battery removal. I use NiMH which seem a little thicker and are hard to remove. The sleeves are torn from prying them out with the battery box lid.

Double shear = trapped in liftarms both sides of the gear? Which reduces the bending moment on the axle when the gears try to climb away from each other?

It's an interesting challenge. The frame width is very narrow (9 studs), and I want to get a motor to each wheel. Suspension and steering are not required which helps. I was hoping to use L motors, but they don't have enough torque without a lot of reduction. XL needed. Turning anything through 90º will need a rectangular frame and 1 stud bevels or knob wheels, best avoided. For another smaller truck using diffs I found a pretty clean structure (picture attached). It has 3:1 reduction hubs also, with easily access to replace 8t gears. This next project is bigger though With the PF wheels, the XL motor will eat 12t single bevels for breakfast. I broke one already just testing. Diffs are out of the question (and there's no space to lock them either). Any ideas?

So what's a good ratio for PF XL motor with power puller wheels? Intended design - one motor per wheel (8 in total) - portal axle frame (for the strength of hub mounts, rather than for reduction or ground clearance) - no shredded 8t gears - not intending to go rock crawling, power puller wheels unsuitable for that, want balance of moderate speed and ability to climb small obstacles Building one of these https://www.nov.com/Brands/Rolligon/Rolligon_8X8_Model_Brute.aspx With smaller (81.6) wheels 20:12:24:8:24 has worked perfectly, but it's not enough reduction with power pullers.

Apologies for going off-topic - interestingly the L motor will shift the Power Puller wheels easily on a flat smooth surface, and will run over large obstacles if already moving fast. But on slopes the motors stall, and then the overload protection kicks in on either the battery box or motor (can't tell which). One motor per wheel. A stall on one seems to suck power from the other (same battery box). Not surprising - gearing is only 12:20. Need to rethink

Related - any comments on using knob wheels in a PF drive train? Setup would be: L Motor, knob wheels (90º), 12t double bevel-> 20t double bevel in portal axle frame, Power Puller wheel. (1 motor per wheel). I have broken lots of 12t single bevel gears in other mocs. Wondering about using the knob wheels for a 90º turn I need to do. They're high friction though. Alternatively I could do the 90º with bevels and make them easy to replace. Thoughts? Also anyone split a 20t single bevel?

http://www.eurobrick...25#entry1876437 (scroll a bit)

This was great. Let's do it again sometime.

I want a real-life Pinin