2GodBDGlory

After TC30 got me back in the Technic habit, I've been plugging away some more at this model. I've now got three L motors installed to drive the functions, and a servo motor to shift between different modes. So far all the installed functions (drive/steering, turntable rotation, front blade, and first boom segment) are working satisfactorily, so hopefully they all keep working under the model's full weight! There's a lot of complicated gearing going on, so there are a lot of potential failure points. I ended up having to use chain for a both the drivetrain from the servo to the shifter (probably a good solution), as well as from one of the L motors to the gearbox (a little scarier to have transmitting that torque), so hopefully that keeps holding up. I've also pivoted from the original contest-legal solution of using a 8878 rechargeable battery and two IR receivers, to using the much nicer MouldKing 6.0 battery. Furthermore, the more I look at the model, the more I feel like its proportions match a NORMAL excavator, rather than the MINI excavator I was planning on building. To do a proper mini, I'd have to push the cabin further back into the section occupied by the mechanicals, but everything should work fairly nicely with a normal excavator, so I think I'm going to move to that. It'll still have the front blade and the claw/thumb by the bucket, which aren't nearly as typical on full-size excavators, but probably exist somewhere? It feels like most of the challenging parts have come together, so hopefully I can have a finished model to present before too long!

Looks very impressive! This looks to me like the best LOTR set since Rivendell, with more impressive scale than The Shire, and less ugly source material than Barad-Dur. So it checks Faramir off the list of most-wanted minifigures, but we're still waiting on Eowyn?

That is a real shame about Bricklink! So are you thinking you can just use a VPN to get into the website, and then hope the seller doesn't care what country they're shipping to?

[EDIT: Finished model presentation on page 2] Well, I just got back to my apartment (and Lego) for my next semester, and conveniently, I've got a much lighter class schedule than last semester--plus my 3D printer projects are winding down! Altogether, I might actually have some time for Lego this time around! For topic, I decided to go with a backhoe, since they're infamously function-heavy, and I was curious what I could do with that at a small scale. For a companion model, the obvious choice seems to be a dump truck that it can load up, but I haven't actually started that, and I suppose it could change if I think of something better This is what I've gotten put together in my first night of work. I'm not sure the wheels match each other too well sidewall-wise, but otherwise I'm quite happy with the combo; mainly since I think I've only used the front tires one other time, and the rear ones never! We've got basic steering on the front: And a basic, compact worm-gear traverse for the rear arm: There's also a worm gear and 20T gear for the first stage of the boom: Finally, we've got another worm gear meshing with one of those weird 12T gears with an axle sticking out of it, to allow for boom rotation: That's the last part I built, and I'm not 100% happy with the worm gear mesh there, because it's technically 1/4 stud too tight. If I could move the worm gear downwards 1/2 stud to have it mesh with the beveled part of the gear it would work better, or if I could drive it with a 1L worm gear at a half-stud offset longitudinally. Unfortunately neither of those options appears too easy at the moment, and it does work as is, so we'll see what happens. We're currently sitting at 110g, which seems like a good amount for this stage of progress I've quite enjoyed the work so far, and am glad to be back into the Lego!

In my opinion, 3D prints are pretty self-consistent. If you print the same thing several times on the same machine, it should be the same size. However, there can be inconsistency between different printers, so any parts would have to be designed for your printer's tolerances. It does sound like a realistic option to me, though! TPU is a rubbery material that can be printed, and I believe it works well for seals. It's also not a grippy rubber at all, so maybe there wouldn't be too much resistance to motion, either?

That is cool! And again, I love the perseverance displayed in this thread

That's a neat idea! The axle holes do give some versatility for operating the switches using motors, etc., but for most manual applications a pinhole would be a lot more convenient

If I remember correctly, I think GT86 was the overseas-market name for North America's first-gen FR-S/BRZ/86

Nice work, that looks very compact!

DANG that looks cool! Nice work!

@steph77?

Impressive! I guess I was wondering if there was a way to just use the original controller for people who don't have a gamepad, but that's probably a niche situation that's not worth developing for.

Huh, cool! So that's gamepad support for the MouldKing hubs, as well as GeekServo compatibility? Do you know if this works on 6.0 hubs? Does it also work to use the GeekServo alongside the original controller?

I think they are attached properly; it's just that it's using rims that are wider than the tires.

Thanks for sharing!