doug72

See this thread for how a built up bucket wheel can be constructed using standard non modified lego parts except for the 8 hole wheel hub from Efferman, he designed for me. http://www.eurobrick...howtopic=130443 Maybe it can be enlarged to use larger buckets.

A 12T double bevel geat is designed by Lego to mesh with the new Z60 turntable BUT can only mesh with the bevelled part of the turntable gear ring. If you look at the gear ring you will see that one edge is 90 deges and the other bevelled at 45 degs. ie. the edge closest to the gray turntable part. If you try to mesh with the 90 deg edge you will get jerky motion as you describe. Works fine if braced correctly.

No jiggling up & down - its all done by gravity. The short conveyor in the hopper bottom transfers the "stones" to the inclined screen. The large 2 x 2 "stones" can't pass through the screen and roll down the slope onto its discharge conveyor while the 1 x 1 "stones" fall through the gaps in the inclined screen onto its discharge conveyor. Exactly how a full size machine works. There will be at least 8 - 1/4 gear racks left over plus lots of 5 x 7 frames and other parts.

Middle "N" position - conveyor is unlocked and can be moved by hand or by using the black 20T double bevel gear wheel. 2nd position: conveyor is locked and stays stationary relative to the crawler base as the turret rotates. (black gear rotates) 3rd position: conveyor is locked and rotates with the turret. (black gear does not rotate) Backlash is due to the inherent slack between the two red clutch gears and driving ring. Downloaded very quickly - 150Mbs I reckon it will take some time to dis-assembly the BWE and organise the parts before can build the B model. I may go straight to building a MOC of a BW Trencher and a base for a large mobile harbour general purpose / container crane.

Check out Sariels Video Review which shows how the lower conveyor functions at 19 mins - 57 secs.

With lever in Neutral position you can move the discharge conveyor by using the black gear by hand to desired point to load the dump truck. With lever moved towards the turret - the discharge conveyor unit rotates with the turret. With lever moved to other position the discharge conveyor stays stationary over dump truck while the turret rotates.

A useful addittion to Lego gears would be a 24T one way clutch similar to the white 24T clutch gear which would allow drive in one direction only but prevent rotation the other way.

Missing Parts Now completed building stages 2, 3, 4 & 5 without problem. Stage 6 found three parts were missing from the # 6 bags:- All were Medium Stone Gray Technic Cross Block 3 x 2 (Axle/Triple Pin) used at steps 282 & 301. As I have plenty in my spare parts the build continues OK. I ordered the missing parts from Lego.

Now available on Lego UK website £179.99

Just tried wedge wheels in the grooves of the new gear quadrant and the groove on one side is slightly narrower than the other side Wedge wheel rolls freely on one side but has a lot of friction on the other side. So when assembling the turntable gear racks need to make sure the sides with the wider groove are used for the wedge wheel to roll along. Above is incorrect !!

If the store had been open I could have collected in less than 1 hour !! Each local store now appears to have one in stock which replenished from the local depot overnight. Argos in the UK seem to get advance delivery of new lego products. Price remained the same at £179.99 despite the fall in the value of the UK £. Now studying the instruction book befor commence building.

Ordered from Argos 23:00 hrs Sunday - collected 09;00 hrs Monday. Now out of stock in UK for Click & Collect but available for on line for delivery. Now in stock at North East Argos stores for next day collection. IMG_3763 by Doug Ridgway, on Flickr

Ordered mine last night and collecting it from local Argos this morning, on sale a week early.

Very Neat - I have a lawn that needs cutting !!!

BWE spend most of their time going back and forth on a fixed heading while swinging the arm or raising/lowereing the cutter head as it advances, until that cut is completed, only then do they need to steer to start a new heading. Shouldn't be problem fiiting M or L motors into the base to power each track to allow steering and another to drive the two LA's I intend to build the A model, then B model and then use the parts to build a large bucket wheel trencher using the new gear quadrants. I hope the UK price doesn't go up !!!

Merman: Can you confirm the number of teeth on the new Gear rack quadrants ?

Lego used to make Square pistons in the early technic days. 2 x 2 Block (3652) http://www.brickowl....-x-2-block-3652 I have a set of 4 along with connecting rod bushes somewhere in my parts boxes.

My # 3 & 4 GBC’s now combined onto one base plate and linked together for a continuous ball run. #3 to #4: via a drop tower #4 to # 3: via an open drop into a catchment box. One thing I have learnt is put fresh batteries in BEFORE setting up the timing, angle of ball runs, guards etc. Balls ended up flying all over the place when first run until speed settings etc. were OK. Had to use a IR receiver and a dual train controller to set the optimum speed of each drive motor to synchronise ball transport around the loop. See Video: [m.e.d.i.a.] [/m.e.d.i.a.]

Depending are where the stop is on the lever it can be varied to deliver 1, 2 or 3 balls at a time. Now linking the two ball lifts together with ball runs to form a circut on one 56L x 28L base plate. Good luck with building your lift. Doug

Done and holds up !! Test run carried out for 3.5 hours without any problems, M motor slightly warm and structure, loading and unloading mechanisms worked faultlessly throughout. Each lift cycle takes 6 secs,= 600 per hour so x 3.5 = 2,100 lifts.

Will have to buy new batteries !!!

Vertical Lift GBC completed and operating consistently and smoothly. The no. 1 mechanism (powered crank change over) proved to be the most reliable and consistent for driving the lift. Output to lift drive pulley is via 12T/20T gear reduction. The other 2 proved to be complicated to arrange trip levers etc. prone to drift and unreliable. 24T white clutch gears replaced by 21mm wedge pulley and arranged to allow ball carriage to reach base level. Elastic drive cord is adjusted to give enough friction to raise the lift carriage but to slip when end stops are reached top and bottom, giving enough dwell time for balls to load and discharge. Ball loading and discharge took some time to get working repeatedly but now satisfactory. Return ball runs & catchment container are only for video demonstration. This Vertical lift will be linked to my # 3 GBC on same base plate with improved ball runs between them. See Video [m.e.d.i.a.] [/m.e.d.i.a.]

Click the link you provided, then 381available to see all the traders selling them !,

Progress:- Ball loading device installed. Left side of photo shows ball lift carriage in loading position. Right side shows rear view of the sliding axle change over unit. IMG_3691 by Doug Ridgway, on Flickr

GBC # 4 BY DOUG (WIP) VERTICAL LIFT To link with my # 3 GBC I decided on a vertical lift based on the Aklyuki / Blakbird designs but with only one lift carriage. Progress to date: Vertical structure built with a single lift carriage with automatic unloading device. Drive to the lift cord is by hand at present with friction drive via the double white 24T gears. Next step is to design an auto loading similar to that I used on my incline ramp lift, which can be adjusted to load 1, 2 or 3 balls each time. The ball carriage has a slope to ensure balls stay in place as carriage rises. Vertical Lift Structure with ball carriage:_ IMG_3689 by Doug Ridgway, on Flickr Undecided at present how to power this so I have made up three possible mechanisms all driven by M motors and all built using 5L X 7L or 5L x 11L frames for a rigidity. See image: 1/. Powered change over via worm / 24T gear & crank operated c/o lever. 2/. Sliding Axle change over (Based on an old Meccano design for a Transporter Bridge)) Very simple but need to ensure the various gears and cams stay in correct place on the long drive axle. Red 8T and White 24T clutch gears used to allow axle to slide. Change over to be operated by cranks tripped by the ball carriage at top and bottom of travel. 3/. A smaller version of the Aklyuki GBC with instructions by Blackbird. Axle is riased and lowered by trip levers with a simple snap over device and a smaller dwell device (not shown) Drive speed to lift cord can be varied as desired for optimum cycling speed. The three possible drive mechanisms: IMG_3690 by Doug Ridgway, on Flickr Each one will be tried in turn to find the most reliable drive unit.