dandexter

I scanned through those, none of them have any merit as complaints in my opinion. Just someone complaining about progress, like the 1998 one about Mindstorms. With that logic never upgrade to VCR to DVD, never get a TV instead of a radio etc.

I personally only tell people who are very good friends or close family how much Lego I have. Only because I don't want random people (who know my address) I can't trust knowing how much I have.

Thanks for the replies, I didn't realize it was normal. At least I can stop wasting time re-design it to stop that happening. Never really played around with motors before.

I don't have any mineral oil, so I can't try that. I gave it a go with wheels, it works a bit better but still not great. They both spin, however the right wheel runs much better then the left one does. I'll give gearing it down a shot, which i'll probably need to do anyway for the truck to work properly once finished. I was just wanting to see how much weight it could move with the higher gear ratio first.

I'm currently building a truck with a very similar suspension, steering and driving system as the 8466 4x4 Off Roader. However i'm having trouble with the x873cx1 part. I'v narrowed it down to this part from testing, without them attached it works fine. As you see in the video link below, I can only get one side to drive at once. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Q_CT8WiEbE&feature=youtu.be If I have one x873cx1 part on each side the same thing still happens as in this video. Hold the left and right works, and vice versa. Hold neither and one will randomly spin, and the other spin very slowly/or not. I really have no idea what is causing this to happen/how to fix it. Might have something to do with the differential? The only way I have thought of fixing this is to use one motor per wheel. Note, the section i'm building is just to test if the construction method would work (clearly something doesn't) and how much weight it can move. So I can find the best gear ratio.

Wow some of you guys have a lot of part just sitting around. I don't keep many parts spare/not built - around 3,000 ish (collection in total is around 90,000).

Can't seem to buy them on bricklink, how big are they? Peeron just calls them "Tyre Power Puller with TECHNIC POWER Pattern' (32298px1)". No dimension given.

I think that LDD picture I posted before is just a bad angle, it makes the wheels look a lot smaller then they are. Here is a side on view, I copy and pasted another wheel above the real one, as you can see it is a bit over 2x the height - about 2.25x at most. Uploaded with ImageShack.us

After I post my update picture this weekend, it will probably be a few weeks until I get any more built. As I forgot there is still one small package on its way that happens to have the 15x 6x12 Black Plates I need to finish the frame. I'm going to re-order it from another store, as I don't want to wait another month for it turn up and find it doesn't.

Something else I forgot to add earlier, this is my first real MOC. I was wanting to when I designed it, however I don't think it would be possible. It would require a lot of motors and would have to geared down so low it would move so slow it wouldn't be worth it. I am currently designing other MOC's that are fully motorized and are a similar size to this model. 90cm long 12x12 truck (need to re-work the suspension/frame) 1.25m long Abrams Tank (only just started designing)

I agree the wheels are a bit on the small side, however while I was designing it I looked up a lot of trucks on google images. I worked out some ratios, my truck only came out the same or only a small percentage smaller then normal real life trucks and other official lego sets. Using the scale of the black cat, the height to the top of the cabin (not the exhaust pipe) is approx 3 times the height of the wheels - my truck is 3.5x. Below are some pictures of real trucks, have a look at the size of the truck compared to the wheels. http://www.hankstruckpictures.com/m_kulak_big_rig2003.htm As for the trucks detail, that is something I'll keep working on as I build it. However if you check, it has the same details as the 5571 - I just need to work on the appearance/size/location of them. Thank you, that was a good pick up with exhaust pipes. Didn't notice it before hand, will move it when I build that.

Thanks guys, as for the frame it will contain around 90 1x16 Technic Bricks + lots of plates + pin connectors etc. I posted a thread on here a few months back with my CAD design for this project. Forgot to add a picture of the finished product in the OP. I will making a few small changes here and there as I go along and see it in real life. I don't have the pieces for the trailer yet, as I ran out of money I can spend. I will buy the pieces for that within the next few weeks. I'v been dreaming of building a massive model team style truck ever since I was ~6 years old. So it feels good and is a lot of fun to finally do it.

This weekend I started building my massive tipper truck, everyone thinks the 5571 was a large truck... That's just the tipper tray. I will update this thread each weekend, as I get more work done on it.

That's awesome, good post. Also 113cm chest circumference, things almost as big as me dam. Even more awesome seeing massive MOC's.

Please no more trucks with cranes on them, I swear there are already too many.

That's an awesome MOC, keep up the good work.

Thank you very much, I hadn't noticed that picture before. It would be so much easier if I can just use that method.

Another question, not related to mindstorms, but is about my project. I'v never built anything with tracks before (only the Lego Bull Dozer) and I can't figure out how to make tracks/driving gears for the tracks that are big enough for this project. I want to use the same/similar method as the below model... http://www.brickshelf.com/cgi-bin/gallery.cgi?i=4556132 I understand how the track is made, but I can't find any pictures or videos on the driving gear for the track. Can someone post pictures/videos or something to help me design/make one. I know the theory behind how it works, just not how to make it out of Lego yet.

Thanks, I had a feeling it was only un-volted not geared down. However I thought I should check, just on the off chance.

I'm currently designing up my next MOC, I decided to combine to things I'v always wanted to make/use. First being the NXT Mindstorms, i'v have a fair bit of experience from years with the RCX 2.0, however I'v never used a NXT etc. So naturally I want to check a few things before I start designing to make sure my idea will work. I'm designing a large Abrams M1 Battle Tank, i'v always wanted to make one. Basic dimensions will be 100cm long (123cm to end of gun barrel), 48 wide, 30cm high. So to my questions. Clearly I will require several NXT to run all the motors (i'm thinking 8 to drive and 1 to operate the gun turret). Would it be possible to connect a sound sensor to each one, so I can give them a verbal command which each NXT hears then runs the program. So they'll all work together? The Servo Motor, according to the lego website it can be programmed to produce different RPM's. Does this mean at lower RPM's its geared down hence higher torque? Or is it just drawing less power, hence less RPM? Thanks

I would like a more professional style LDD released, i'd happy pay a fair price for it too. Some of the features i'd like are similar the ones in the CAD programs I use for work, Autocad & Tekla. I only design large and complex designs (small models don't interest me), as such to make the real life building process easier I normally design in modules. I would like it if I could link those modules into the assembled model. So when I update/change/add something to one it automatically updates or prompts me to allow it to update the other drawings. If there were any clashes, highlight them in a non-standard colour and open a message box asking for rectification. Similar to how a XRef works on Autocad. LDD manager is a great program, and whoever made it has saved me hours of work. However it would be good if it was built into LDD, and one feature i'd like to see added is the ability to calculate the weight of your model. Similar to the attributes tool in Autocad and reports tool in Tekla. Another thing I would like added is the animation features that SR 3D Builder has, I wish I could use that program. However the controls in general seem to go against the standard that LDD and all these programs I use for work have. So its like having to use my left hand on the mouse. Last I checked, LDD doesn't use the computer near as efficiently as it could. I'm pretty sure it only uses one CPU thread (which is annoying when you have 12). Would really speed up the instruction creation tool. I know that is a fair bit to ask out of a free program, but the question was what I would like added. Also as I said, I would happily pay (up to a good few hundred dollars) for a version with those features.

That helicopter looks good, going on my to get list. Finally something other then a truck with some sort of crane on the back.

The excavator is only meant to be a small/medium one, similar to the one below. http://www.gravelguy.ca/images/medium%20excavator.JPG However yes your right some of it isn't to scale. I'll keep working it, its only my first version/attempt right now.

In my previous post I forgot to outline it's functions. All 12 wheels drive Front 4 and back 4 wheels steer Independent wheel suspension Fully operating excavator attachment, same movements as the 8043 set (minus driving) Tipper tray raises and lowers 6x XL PF motors for driving geared down 3:1 1x M PF motor for steering geared down 2x M PF motors for raising/lowering the tipper 1x XL PL motor for operating the excavator I'll keep working on the design for a good few months now. I don't have near enough money to buy the parts for this model now, as I just brought the parts I need for my other MOC truck. http://www.eurobricks.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=67300 Thanks, good idea with the blue trim along the tipper. It looks much better. Thanks, in the end I thought I would make something a bit different then the normal trucks.

I'v finished version 1. Design Time: Appropriately 60 hours Pieces: 5,559 Length: 93cm