GTRulez

Guys have you tried a non lego compressor yet? I'm using a small single cylinder electric compressor designed for Airbrush pistols. modified the hose a bit so it will accept a standard Lego hose. it lets you adjust the air pressure so you can always find a good balance between speed and power. it can generate up to 4 bar of air pressure but you wont need that much (the hoses will pop off the ports anyway at that amount of pressure) you can adjust it anywhere in between 0.1 to 4 bar My biggest pneumatic MOC right now is a big material handler on top of a crane carrier chassis (42009). it uses 14 big pneumatic cylinders in the boom and its grab. its way to big to operate at a reasonable speed with the lego pumps. but with this small compressor its very fun to play around with, just hook one hose up, start the compressor and you have an endless supply of air! you can find them new for around 50-100 euro's but i found mine for just 20 euro's used but its still in perfect condition :) great for excavators and such, i guess it would be fine for a pneumatic engine aswell. only downside of it is that you cant really build it inside of a model.

Hi, i couldn't take pictures of it the last couple of weeks because it is now on a job site in aruba building windmills. but i can answer some of your questions The GMK6400 uses Grove's Megatrak suspension like every other Grove all terrain crane does. it has independed suspension on all wheels. it uses one big hydraulic cylinder per wheel. the suspension system itself is quite simular to Nooteboom's Pendel X, although it only uses one wheel per side instead of 2 like a pendel x. the diffrential of a driven axle is mounted directly to the chassis with 2 drive shafts per axle that fit directly on the hubs. it truly increases ground clearance when you raise the suspension, that is what makes a Grove unique. it soaks up speed bumps with ease, for a crane a Grove is very comfortable to drive. the real deal has 30cm of suspension travel per wheel wich is quite impressive. from the lower cabin you can raise or lower the front, rear or either side manually to make the crane level on uneven surface. each cylinder has 2 suspension arms that connect the top and the bottom and allows it to steer the wheel. Here is a video of how it works The 6400 has a unique drive system though. Axles 1 and 2 are driven mechanical using drive shafts and diffrentials like any other Grove crane. axle 3 is not driven, only steered. axles 4 and 5 are fitted with hydraulic motors. they are only used at slow speeds to get it in motion, or when manouvring the crane on a job site...they offer alot of torque. axle 6 is not driven at all. every axle of the crane can steer, the rear axles can be steered independently from the front at slow speeds to allow crab steer. They used hydraulic motors on the middle axles because the outriggers of the crane take too much space, there simply is not enough room for the driveshaft. its also an easy way to save fuel consumption and weight cause it has alot less turning parts that need to be driven.

You guys might want to check out this site, it shows some nice pictures of a real grab operated by using an extra rope. (they also have pictures of diffrent types of grabs) by the looks of it they use a couple of sheaves/pulleys to increase the power of the grab. the only problem you will have with lego is that the grab is quite lightweight so it might not open as well. because space is tight in the grab you wont be using as much pulley's anyway. these kind of claws/grabs are used in freight ports all over the world. Link: http://www.tgs-grabs.nl/products/mechanical-rope-grabs/mechanical-two-rope-orange-peel-grabs/ At my current job site there is also a crawler crane working, its a Liebherr LR1140 that has a Luffing jib installed. i wanted to make one out of lego for the 42042 so i took some pictures and started from scratch. it uses an extra motorized winch in the first section of the lattice boom just like the LR1140 wich operates the jib. i used an M motor wich fits perfectly in the original boom section and a simple winch of the same design used in the model. there are alot of pully's in the jib to adjust the angle of the jib and to support the hoist cable just like the real deal. i also added another pully on the main boom to make it a bit stronger (clutch started slipping when erecting the crane) need a longer rope to get the full range of movement though.. i replaced the claw with a simple lego metal hook simular to GVO25 although mine only uses a single rope on the block. the winch of the hoist is strong enough for lifting loads with the Jib. I'm surpised how stable the model still is with its standard ballast :) It's still wip but im pleased everything works well.

I noticed that the 2nd front axle has to carry alot of weight so actually it needs those hard springs there, the 1st axle is way too stiff though.. So i've tried another setting, keep the rear 3 axles as they are. and only swap the first axle with a pair of soft springs. It works like a dream :) smooth ride and it does not lean forward. if you tilt it from side to side it still returns to the middle because of the hard springs on the 2nd axle. Try it out, it works :)

Outstanding model guys! If someone here wants pictures of the real machine to design or detail their crane i can make them for you. My employer has a real Grove GMK6400 in the fleet. so i can make close ups/detail shots etc. if you like.

This is the skyline btw :D

Welcome! i love the 8459 aswell, i got it for my 7th birthday back in 1997! i still think its one of the best technic sets ever made. so much fun to play around with!

Hi all!! My name is Jim and i live in the Netherlands. I'm 25 years old and Mobile Telescopic/Tower Crane operator is my job! And it all started when i was a small kid, im a big fan of lego technic! Back then (somewere around 1995) i only had some small Lego System sets. But soon i got my very first lego technic set wich was 8207 For my 7th birthday i got my first big technic set wich was the pneumatic front end loader 8459! since then i've been a big fan of technic sets and the construction/truck sets in particular. when i got the 8462 tow truck for my 8th birthday i've build my very first MOC excavator and many followed! (i just love to build these complex machines full with functions) 8448 was my very first supercar. a few others followed like 8461 and 8466 in 2003 i bought my first crane, 8438, the crane i always wanted when i was a kid! 8455 back hoe followed, absolutely loved that set! so many pneumatics!! 8421 was my second crane i also started with other hobby's (RC Drifting) so thats were my "dark ages" begun in terms of Lego, i did build a moc every now and then, most of them used pneumatics in them 8275 was the last set i bought in a looong time....2007 is also the year i started my current job. 8043 followed a couple years later, absolutely love that set! such a great model! although it doesnt have pneumatics...it was like THE excavator i always wanted to build so it was awsome Lego designed it themselves! At work as a Mobile Telescopic and Mobile tower crane operator you meet alot of people and you travel to alot of places. One day at work i saw a picture on the wall of a building wich i found VERY interesting! It was a big material handler (huge excavator like machine) build on a Mobile Telescopic crane carrier! I did some research and its something that has been done a couple of times in Belgium. because the job sites are so far apart, they need something that could move the material handler over public highways fast. i thought that would be a great idea to build as a MOC! first i tried to modify the 8438 chassis, ad 2 more axles etc. but i quickly discovered this would not work. When i looked on the internet for inspiration i saw the new 42009 set...Perfect, just what i needed! bought one in my local store right away! never build the telescopic boom but instead used the 8043 superstructure panels as a base to build my own crane on top of the carrier. It now has become a pneumatic monster using 14 big pneumatic cylinders and 2 RC power function motors! in fact it needs so much air that instead of using the standard lego pneumatic pumps i just hook it up to my small airbrush compressor (that i use for the RC hobby). it also sparked my interest in new technic sets. 2015 seems a great year. 42030, 42042 (duh its a crane!) and 42043 (pneumatics are back :D) are on their way and should arrive tomorrow! Apart from my job, Lego, RC's and game's i have one more hobby...and that are my cars! i own a Tuned Silver 1995 Nissan Skyline R33 GTR V-spec with 565HP and 624Nm! i use a Renault Twingo from 2007 as a daily drive to go to work. (alot less exciting haha) I hope you all get to know me a bit better this way! This forum has been a great source of information with alot of great projects and MOC's! Cheers, Jim