GroundskeeperWillie

In my recent Xerion MOC, I also went with the dual servo + pole reverser solution because space was severely limited. Not sure what steering modes JBTechnic have in his version. I did a little experimentation on a mechanical solution but both size and slack were huge problems. From the 42054 video, you can't see how much he turns the "HOG" wheel to steer. One possibility to control slack would be to gear down after switching between modes. I'm waiting in excitement to see how they've done it and how well it works. The demonstrator seems to lift the tractor just before switching. Maybe he is cheating a bit to disguise something...

LOL

This is a must buy for me. I like how they've combined cabin lift and rotation in one operation - even though it's a bit unrealistic that rotation starts before lift. Steering modes are all there. Wheels look great. It seems they may have sacrificed the fake engine and drive train entirely. That's a shame but sacrifices have to be made to fit everything in a narrow body. Hopefully the front pendular suspension is present. The crane is kinda strange but on the other hand it's nice that at least one attachment is included.

Wow, so huge and so messy. It sure takes guts to release something like that. It almost looks targeted to AFOLs. Can't wait to see more of it.

Not many tractors can do this...

Thanks 2LegoOrNot2Lego and AFOLegofan66. I don't think I'll do this in its current form. While I'm very happy with the result, it's not as good as your average MOC, I think. For one thing, the body is a bit fragile and the single XL motor is struggling just to move the tractor. I also don't have a near-complete model in MLCad so I can't provide parts list and pictures without taking it apart. And that would be opening Pandora's Box, I'm afraid I've learned a lot, though: Instead of three differentials, a better solution would be to replace the middle differential with another XL motor. This would allow it to actually move with something attached While the sequential switching box works fine, it is not very play-friendly. You always forget which gear it's in, so if you want to start the PTO, for example, you end up messing around with the gears before you get it right. For maximum playability, i actually think going manual (not motorized) or at least manual switching would be better. Loosing the complex switching box may also allow building slightly smaller. This would have the advantage of the wheels not looking too small. But instead of doing a rebuild now, I'm really curious of how TLG will go about it in their 42054 model (http://brickset.com/sets/42054-1/Claas-Xerion-5000-Tractor). According to the speculation topic, we should get pictures in a week or so. Unfortunately, it's unlikely I'll get any real building done before actually buying 42054 in August (small children and all).

Cute little things! I really like your building style. Looking forward to the video.

Nice progress. The steering and driving looks very smooth.

That could work too. Didn't know that part existed. Looking forward to the result!

Is there any chance you could build it using an NXT or EV3? This would allow you to play an EXTERMINATE! sample via RC. I mean, what's a Dalek without that?

This is a very nice little tractor. Great work! Can't wait to see the B model.

It's just a dish 6x6 outside of the rim

Except, the Xerion has distinctive red/dark red rims. I got the dark red ones for my Xerion MOC because the red ones are very pricey.

I can relate to the fact that the Mindstorms kits are somewhat limited when compared to Technic models. If you want to build something really interesting, you will quickly want more than the few motors and sensors a single EV3 can control. However, using the HiTechnic IR Link, you can control up to 8 PF motors using just one sensor port, as discussed in this thread: http://www.eurobricks.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=116460&hl=. Alternatively you could use multiple EV3s or one or more multiplexers to control additional sensors or motors. But still, that takes up a ton of space so it's rather difficult to include that setup in a MOC, unless it's a huge factory kind of thing. As a sw developer myself, I can recommend LeJos, a Java environment that is available for all the Mindstorms bricks. It provides useful high level abstractions if you're into that.

9: 10 6: 6 13: 4 12: 3 16: 2 5: 1

So, another update. I managed to fix most of the problems that bothered me Cabin rotation now uses a large turn table. This provides enough stability for the cabin to rotate and raise smoothly. The wiring now looks much better and provides less resistance for cabin movement. Video! Edit: The exterior has also changed slightly:

I've used it like that with the NXT. It should be possible to control 8 PF motors using 4 IR receivers and just a single NXT sensor port, though I didn't test using all channels at once. My guess is that you could do the same with an EV3. If not directly then certainly using a software sensor adapter. Good luck!

There are in fact numerous designs out there. Try googling 'lego multiplexer' and look the image results. Examples: An NXT version. This approach may also work with a PF servo. What looks like a very low torque version. But cool nonetheless. I think a common trait for these designs is that they take up a lot of space and it may be difficult to incorporate them in a MOC. If you have a large number of outs in one place you still need to transfer the power to where it is needed.

I've done a 2-in-4-out multiplexer in my Xerion MOC. Basically it just Sariel's latest gearbox modified to multiplex instead of changing gears. More details here: http://www.eurobricks.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=114684&hl=

What a nice car! Looking at just the chassis, it looked like it would be a little too long and maybe not look that great, but this is not the case at all.

Thanks a lot guys! I thought I was done with the model but I got inspired to make a few improvements. Also I've added a few more photos to http://www.brickshel...ry.cgi?f=559039 that I took while a had the back disassembled. @pingel: The PF system signal includes the position so inverting a servo via a PF switch just works, regardless of its current position. For a mechanical crab steering solution you're right, you would have to be careful to switch only in a neutral position to avoid misaligning the front and back steering angles. Also, while it now works, it still leaves the problem of actually steering left and right while in crab mode. Since my two servos are connected to the same IR channel, they cannot move independently, but that's a fair compromise of a model, I think. @MaxSupercars: Yes, I saw that model years ago. I liked it very much but thought it lacked the cabin lift/rotation which I think of as the defining feature of the Xerion 5000. There's also http://www.mocpages.com/moc.php/394462 (which I discovered just now) which have a lot of features but is not RC. And this http://www.eurobrick...showtopic=55879 which has a clever way to manually control steering based on a differential. I have a few more improvements I'd like to try out and then I'll shoot a video.

Congrats on a great looking model. I had been working on the same idea for a long time and just posted my model. It looks like yours could turn out a real gem. I especially love the front bodywork. I worked forever on that and could not get near what you've done

Hi all, I'd like to share my first MOC, a Claas Xerion 5000 TRAC VC. It's been several years since I came out of my dark ages and ever since I've been wanting to build this particular tractor. It looks like this: The MOC has been close to completion for many weeks and I've been worried that someone might get inspired by the 2016 speculation topic and present a Xerion before I could finish. Well, a few days ago JBTechnic did just that without even having seen that topic. Grr... My model features -RC via IR -4 wheel drive and steering (1 XL + 2 servo) -Cabin lift and rotation -Back PTO and linkage -2-in-4-out switching gear box -Crab steering mode (manually switchable) -Front pendular suspension Getting all those features packed into a narrow tractor is hard, especially since I have little MOC experience. So the project has been long running and I've had to learn designing in MLCad, collecting parts on Bricklink/BrickOwl as well as the actual tractor design and modeling. Sadly, the model is not a complete success. The decision to put the IR receivers in the cabin has caused me a lot of grief and rebuilding. First, I had to buy additional extension wires and I have struggled to find space for them. Worse, the wires are both heavy and rigid which causes trouble when lifting and turning the cabin. Second, I'm not thrilled by the look of the front. JBTechnic did a great job with that in his model. The gear box is located at the center. It is based on Sariel's gear box. I thought doing this was really clever and I needed 4 functions (lift, rotation, PTO, linkage). In reality, the gear box is rather large and it would have been far easier to find the space for 2 extra motors and an extra IR receiver. But it does work really well as long as its braced properly (and no wires get in the way). Cabin lift is done by a small LA and rotation via a small turn table. This was fine until all the cables weigh the cabin down. Now it sometimes needs a little help. And when turned, the cables look kinda ugly. The cabin is partly studded. The steering is loosely based on Madoca's SUV that I recently built. Turning a live axle into a pendular axle was quite simple. Initially, I tried using a single servo for both axles. It kinda worked but the back wheels did not always center completely because of gear slack. So my plan to extend this to crab stearing mechanically was a no go. Luckily the linkage turned out so simple, that there was just enough room for another servo in the back. Hope you like it!

My first test post with brickshelf image and clickable link Reply here on simplified post