JLiu15

Thanks! Fun fact: NJ Transit is the 3rd largest transit system in the US

Thanks! Definitely looking forward to this one

Thanks! I'll check it out

Hey guys, here is a long-anticipated project of mine that I'm finally starting. It is a model of NJ Transit's 2020 New Flyer XD60 articulated bus. My model will be fully motorized, with remote-controlled drive, steering, and opening doors. It'll be either controlled by the PF IR system or by SBrick. The model will be propelled by a PF XL motor, which is already in place. The power source is a PF 8878 battery sitting in the very rear of the chassis. So far I have the rear portion of the chassis built - just missing most of the seats. I've already been building the model digitally on Stud.io for about a month, mostly working on the chassis, so this part should be done relatively soon. However, this is not taking into consideration any potential issues that may arise as I build the chassis in real life. I also have prototypes for the doors' and bellows' mechanisms ready (not pictured), and they seem to work pretty well. So overall, it'll just be a matter of putting these mechanisms together into a coherent chassis. Aesthetics wise, my model will mostly be about the outside appearance, which means I'll focus much more on the bodywork than the interior details-wise. However, the seating layout will still be identical to the original bus, with a total of 59 seats. This is definitely a project I'm really looking forward to. It'll be the first time I model a particular real-life vehicle. I'm a huge fan of NJ Transit's buses and buses in general, and these artics IMO are some of the best buses they've ordered in recent years. And because I'm doing a digital build while simultaneously building in real life, I plan on publishing instructions for this MOC when it's finished. Photo:

Yup, essentially the entire base of the model is made of motors. You can see a bottom view in the video, as well as internals in the WIP topic: As for the "heavy duty" part, my inspiration for this model was the CASE SV340 which looked pretty heavy-duty to me. It looked significantly larger than most skid-steer loaders I've seen. I didn't want the name to be too generic either, but I remember back to 2018 when the 42079 wasn't really "heavy duty" as the name says lol.

Thanks! 4x medium angular motors are used for driving; you can see it in the video. Yup, tried to make it as compact as possible.

Experimental MOC combining Mindstorms Robot Inventor and Control+. Features drive, backing alarm, arm elevation, bucket tilt, and a pallet fork alternate attachment with manually adjustable fork width. Functions/features: Drive (4x medium angular motors; 1 per wheel) Arm elevation (C+ L motor) Bucket tilt (C+ L motor) Manually adjustable fork width (on pallet fork attachment) Backing alarm Ever since I had heard that the new Mindstorms Robot Inventor is cross-compatible with Control+, I made a goal of creating a MOC combining them. A skid-steer loader seemed like a good subject to start for me - I wanted the drive to be as direct as possible, without connecting the wheels on one side with gears to a single motor. This meant 4 motors for the drive and 2 motors for each of the arm functions - perfect for the 6 ports on the Robot Inventor hub. The building process started with a base for the model - 4 medium angular motors each connected to a single wheel via a planetary hub. The motors were sandwiched between 2 11x15 Technic frames, creating a robust structure. The Robot Inventor hub is placed behind this part, and the C+ L motors for the arm functions are located above the drive motors. The chassis was kept as flat as possible with everything kept low to lower the center of gravity. Just in front of the Robot Inventor hub are two gear trains that transfer drive to the arm elevation and bucket tilt functions. Thanks to the use of planetary hubs, the model had plenty of torque and is able to climb some steep slopes without any issues, as shown in the video. Aesthetics wise, the model has a simple yellow/black color scheme. My original inspiration for this model was the CASE SV340, so the color scheme had some resemblance to that. Building the bodywork was quite discouraging at first due to it feeling like a building a box on wheels, but the model's looks really came together as the arms and rear body panels were installed. I also used plates and tiles to cover up bare pin holes and make the model look more finished, especially on the roof but also in other areas like the front windshield pillars and the top of the arms. Additionally, the model includes a handful of new 2021 panels, such as the small 3L curved panel and the 3x7 flat panel. As for accessing the Robot Inventor hub, there are 2 discreet switches in the bottom rear of the model that press the power and Bluetooth buttons on the hub. As everything is done from my iPad after powering it on and connecting it via Bluetooth, I don't have to look at the screen or press the left/right buttons. The status sounds from the hub allow me to know if the hub is powered on, connected, or powered off. As for controlling the model, I created a simple control profile in the Robot Inventor app using its code blocks. Two sliders control drive, and the arm functions are controlled using buttons. Additionally, a backing alarm sounds when driving in reverse. This feature is only controlled by the left slider, as I found that controlling it with both will essentially cause two backing alarms to play over each other. One issue I had is that the drive motors often don't start all at once - there'd be a noticeable delay in one or more of the motors. The C+ motors for the arm functions, however, work fine. I'm not sure what causes this, but this will definitely be something to consider for my next Robot Inventor/C+ hybrid MOC. Overall, I'm decently satisfied with this MOC. It was an interesting experiment in combining Robot Inventor and C+ that largely went according to plan. As someone who builds Technic MOCs, the new Robot Inventor hub is far better than the EV3 brick - it's got much better form factor (it's even a stud lower than the C+ hub), uses rechargeable batteries and is therefore much lighter, and has 6 ports that aren't restricted to motors or sensors. The only downsides IMO are the color (as teal doesn't blend well with most colors in Lego Technic) and the bright screen, but that can be easily covered up as I've done here. I definitely have plans for more Robot Inventor/C+ hybrids in the future, whether that be a Robot Inventor hub MOC with C+ motors or a C+ hub MOC with Robot Inventor motors. Photos: Video:

Hey guys, so I'm trying to use a mini linear actuator in a digital build that will be at its fully extended position. The mini linear actuator, however, is "stuck" at its fully retracted position in Stud.io. I've seen files others created with extendable linear actuators, but those are see-thru when collision is turned on (meaning there's an issue) and when I create instructions, it has you assemble the individual components of the actuator! I've read in another topic that you have to "break" them into their components/subparts. However, I'm not sure what this means. Is this done in Stud.io or PartDesigner? I've tried playing around with the features in PartDesigner on a miniLA, but so far had no luck extending the rod. Any help from Stud.io experts will be appreciated

This thing looks awesome. Just wondering, which software did you use to design the digital model? I use Stud.io, and they still don't have C+ elements which is super annoying.

I feel that it would be better to have steering be directly connected to the motor. The gap between the clutch gears and the driving rings will mean backlash for the steering, not to mention it will make it much harder to have return-to-center steering. I hope it's just drive and 3 crane functions connected to the gearbox or 4 crane functions with drive connected to its own motor, using a 4-output distribution gearbox with a single rotary catch sorta like in the 42114. With the latter we will be able to have 6 total functions: drive/steering plus the 4 gearbox functions.

UPDATE: turns out it was just because the battery was low. I did not notice there was a battery icon in the app, but when I did I saw it was at 0% so I charged it to full. My brother charged the hub when it came out of the box...he must've charged it just enough for it to power on

Hey guys, so I'm currently making a MOC that uses the Robot Inventor hub with 6 motors (4x medium angular motors from the 51515 set connected to ports A-D and 2x Control+ L motors connected to ports E and F) and while testing it today I found that after pairing the hub via Bluetooth to my iPad, the hub will shut off after about 30 seconds with no warning. I initially assumed it was the motors being overloaded and the hub's power overload protection was kicking in, but it would shut off even without doing anything. What do you guys think the issue might be? Maybe the battery is low and I need to recharge it? The motors don't seem to be straining or anything, but the light around the power button would turn orange occasionally (I'm assuming that means the battery is overloaded, but correct me if I'm wrong). I was also wondering if it could be that the hub needs a firmware update, but I did update it pretty recently and I haven't got any messages in the app saying I need an update. Any help is appreciated

UPDATE 1/10/21 I've got the arms built and installed for the model. They are elevated with 2 XL linear actuators. The bucket is tilted using 2 large LAs, and is meant to be detachable as I might also make a pallet fork for the model that can be interchanged with the bucket. All I got left to do is add the rear body panels, and the model is complete. If all goes well, I should be able to finish it early next week. Photo:

UPDATE 1/9/21 Lots of progress here. The majority of the bodywork is done, especially around the cab. The rear still looks like a crude black box, but there will be yellow panels going around that area once the arms are in. The cabin is complete with a driver's seat, and a good amount of tiles were used to give it a clean finish, almost like a Creator model. Initially working on the bodywork proved quite discouraging, as I felt like I was just building a box on wheels. To make things worse, the teal Mindstorms hub was an eyesore. I did the best I could do conceal it, only leaving a small opening for the speaker as one of the features I programmed into the control profile is a backing alarm when driving in reverse. Fortunately this area should be pretty well concealed once the yellow body panels are installed. Note that the attachment points for the arms and LAs are also in place. Photo:

UPDATE 1/4/21 Made a little more progress on the model. I've got the Mindstorms Robot Inventor hub installed now; I put it on its side and low in the chassis to lower the center of gravity. Because there's no screen I need to look at like on the EV3, there's only two buttons that I need to press on the hub - the power button and the bluetooth button for pairing. I can simply listen for the power on/connected/power off sounds to know the hub status. Thanks to this, I don't anticipate needing to create any opening parts on the body to access the hub - maybe just some pieces integrated into the body that can hit the necessary buttons. I've managed to route the mechanisms on this model through a small space. Both the arm elevation and bucket tilt will be controlled by C+ L motors sitting side by side, which makes for a nice symmetrical layout. The left motor controls arm elevation and is connected to port E, while the right motor controls bucket tilt and is connected to port F. Ports A, B, C, and D power the medium angular motors that propel the model. Arm elevation will be done using XL linear actuators, which I ordered off Bricklink but have yet to arrive. As for the bucket, I'm planning on using the large bucket from the Volvo sets. It won't be the most realistic bucket for a skid-steer loader, but I definitely prefer that over using a custom bucket. I might also make interchangeable attachments for the model, such as a pallet fork. If you have any suggestions for me, please let me know. Photos:

Just wondering - what software did you use to create this? I use Bricklink Studio, and honestly it's missing A LOT of pieces...like the XL linear actuators

Just wondering, since you said yours had 2 PF L and 2 PF M, how did you drive the wheels? Did you just use a system of gears? I was hesitant to use gears for such a drive system as with so many gears they're all gonna be stressed a lot, especially when turning. Also do you have pics of your skid-steer MOC?

Good to know. Where would you recommend me place the battery box (or in this case, the hub) here? I plan on placing it in the rear so that it can act as a counterweight. However, the new Mindstorms hub is very light so it shouldn't affect the center of gravity all that much. I could also try placing it horizontally right above the chassis, but then accessing the buttons on the hub could be difficult.

Thanks! Lmao it does kinda look like one at the moment

Thanks! As for the wheels, they're normally pretty close together on a real skid-steer loader.

For me, it's usually the bodywork, I've had it happen way too many times where I'd finish the chassis and all the mechanisms thinking the hardest was over, and the bodywork ends up being an even bigger struggle. I think it's that since the bodywork is what goes on the outside, I can't really build however I want anymore. I actually have to pay attention to how it all comes together in the end. Additionally, I'd often find myself having to make slight adjustments to the chassis (e.g. changing 2L pins to 3L ones) in order to create an attachment point for the bodywork.

Hey guys, here's a new MOC I'm working on. This MOC will be an experiment in combining the new Mindstorms with Control+ to control 6 motors with a single hub. It will be powered and controlled by the new Mindstorms hub, with 4 angular motors for drive (1 per wheel) and Control+ motors for elevation and tilting. With the new Mindstorms having much better form factor than EV3, I anticipate it being much easier to use in my MOCs than EV3. The loader is inspired by the CASE SV340 skid-steer loader. However, some parts of that vehicle, especially the rounded section of the arms towards the rear, will be difficult to model with Lego pieces, so I won't model this after any specific skid-steer loader. So far, I have the chassis built. It's a compact chassis made of 4 angular motors sandwiched between two 11x15 frames. The wheels are driven through planetary hubs, giving it lots of torque. This gives me a good starting point to attach other elements, such as the arm mechanisms and the Mindstorms hub. This will definitely be an interesting build. When I learned that the new Mindstorms is cross-compatible with C+ thanks to both being in the Powered Up ecosystem, I knew I just had to make a MOC combining them. If all goes well, I'll definitely be experimenting more with the new Mindstorms in the future. If you have any suggestions for me, please let me know. Photos:

UPDATE 12/24/20 I've decided to cancel this MOC. I've got a lot of projects in mind that I'm looking forward to build in 2021, and unfortunately I've quickly lost interest in continuing this build after it became apparent it was gonna be harder than expected. I wanted this to be a simple build, which reveals another problem - it is essentially just my previous MOC in a different body. The functions are all pretty similar save for the gearbox - in fact, the RC motors are geared nearly identically in 2nd gear. Another issue is the wheels - I've designed it with tractor tires in mind, as I have plenty of those so I could install a spare wheel or two in the back - a pretty common feature on trophy trucks. Unfortunately, I've realized the tractor tires are simply too unrealistic for trophy trucks, as most trophy trucks I've seen have flat profile tires. I am keeping the stud.io file and the instructions I have made so far though, in case I ever want to use this design in a future MOC.

UPDATE 12/23/20 The majority of the chassis is now complete. I still need to make the rear axle, which will of course have soft suspension with long travel. The front axle is now joined with the heart of the chassis - I actually ended up installing it "backwards" as otherwise the servo motor would take up too much chassis space and make it longer. The front axle is installed at an angle for positive caster, and it'll be interesting to see how it does performance-wise. I am building the model digitally in stud.io as I go, so it's likely there will be instructions for this model in the end. If you have any suggestions for me, please let me know. Photo:

Another RC motor MOC I am working on. This time the RC motors will be configured differently - they are located in the chassis, placed in a cross configuration so that their inner outputs are lined up. There is a 2-speed remote controlled gearbox at the heart of the chassis along with the RC motors and there will be full long-travel suspension. The front suspension module is already complete, and it will be attached at an angle for positive caster. There will still be some gearing down in the rear suspended portion (e.g. with portal hubs) to ensure the model has sufficient torque. As the name might suggest, this is the third model in my Red Beryl series (not sure why I chose that name, honestly ). It'll be a typical trophy truck with either a fully red body or red with black detailing. I've always wanted to use my older-generation Technic panels from the 8436 set, sorta combining two generations of Lego Technic. Like a typical trophy truck, there will be one or two spare wheels in the back. Like my previous MOC, it will all be controlled by BuWizz. Photo: Update: I initially planned this MOC in late 2020 but decided to cancel it after challenges arose. I revived the project with a smaller scale, simpler drivetrain, and newer Technic panels.