Paul B Technic

Back in June I designed and built a front mounted lawn mower attachment for my LEGO Technic Unimog U400 - Set 8110 (http://paulstechnic....lawn-mower.html). This used the front PTO to move the blades and the front PPTO was used to raise / lower the mower deck. At the time I was fairly happy with it but did think it was a bit bare and basic. I also didn't like using the front PPTO as this meant over time the mower deck would drop by itself. I recently redesigned and rebuilt a dozer blade for my Unimog U400, since doing this I have been thinking about having another try at a mower attachment, this would fit in well with the "civil services" theme of some of my other Unimog attachments. While researching this I had the goal of using a LA to raise and lower this instead of pneumatics, I also wanted it to be much more "professional" looking as far as the design and colours went. The first issue I faced was how to make two functions work off the single PTO on the rear of the Unimog. I started thinking about using a simple two way switch to split the PTO at the rear of the Unimog; I played around with this in LDD but decided it would look stupid. My next idea was to turn the blades using the rear PTO and have a handle at the top to raise and lower the mower using a LA. After thinking about this some more and playing around with it I decided I was not happy with this idea either. In the end I took an idea off set 9393 which uses a drive off the rear wheels to turn the blades, in my case the wheels are attached to the mower deck itself. The flashing light on the top of the mower also rotates as the blades turn. Late last week I sat down and started the building process, this went well and over a few nights / Saturday afternoon I got the mower deck built with the wheels turning the blades. I also built the mounting system to the rear of the Unimog using the "standard" mounting points to allow this to be easily removed if required, this uses the rear PTO to raise and lower the mower deck. This also has a pivot point at the front of the mower deck which allows this to turn as the Unimog goes around corners. While I was testing this I found that the mower deck was being lifted high above the Unimog and was swinging around as it was driven. At this point I left it for the day. Last night while in bed I woke up with an idea, instead of lifting the mower deck the full height I could add a hinge which would allow this to bend as it was lifted, it would still have good ground clearance but would not end up so high off the ground. This morning I made some changes based on my idea and I was very pleased to be able to get this to work how I had hoped. Now as it lifts it bends which works much better. Features are: - Lift and carry of mower deck (rear PTO / large LA) - swivel point for steering - Working mower blades (driven via rear wheels) - Rotating light (driven via rear wheels) After all the work I have put in to this I decided that this deserved something different when it came time to take some photos of it, most of the photos below (and the video) were taken in my backyard, sort of the "real life" environment that you would find this being used in real life. Here is a taster photo: More photos and a video of it in use can be found here: http://paulstechnic....wer-august.html

Looking good, I can't wait to see the final result :)

An "artistic non nude" of me

Thanks for all the replies :) Normally I am limited by what parts I have so I build to what size I can with my parts, even if the scale is off. The goal with this was to fit on my Unimog attachments to it.

Bikes are not my thing but I can see how great this is going to be... Good luck with it....

Well spotted, the hitch on the Unimog is 1.5 studs higher than the draw bar "at rest", this is to ensure it does not come out while it is driving.

Thanks for the feedback. I did have the draw bar to the Unimog black at one point. This is still very much a WIP so I can make changes based on suggestions. I am a bit of a fan of the Unimog ;) I have started designing my next attachment which will be my weekend project...

It is good to finally have some information about the 2015 sets. Nothing on that list really jumps out at me but I will wait until some photos are released before passing judgement ;)

A few months ago I started working on a trailer which was going to be used behind the Unimog U400 (set 8110) to carry earth moving equipment. After working on this on and off for a few weeks I moved my focus to Unimog attachments and this was left to one side half built. A couple of weeks ago I got that trailer back out and started working on it again, after a few hours I decided that it was not working and I was not happy with it, due to to this I pulled it all to pieces and started fresh with a new idea of a logging / equipment trailer. Below are a series of photos of this, while it is shown attached to the back of my Unimog U400, I have also added a towing hitch to the back of my off road aerial bucket truck and I will also be adding a towing hitch to my farm tractor and bull dozer to allow these to tow it. In the last few photos you can see it carry 5 of the different Unimog attachments I have built.

That is a very cool looking tractor :)

Thanks for all the replies, it is really good to get some different views on this. I am a member of 9 LEGO Facebook groups, 2 are general Australian ones, 2 are Tasmania ones, 2 are general LEGO and 3 are just Technic, I normally post on to some / most / all of them, in the future I might limit my posts to just a couple of them. I have posted on the general ones and had better replies than on the Technic ones. Sometimes with things like photos from our expos they are not Technic in nature so I post these to all of them. I am also on three forums, I am most active on this one. I think I will just leave it for the moment, keep posting to my blog and only share links to my most important / interesting posts. If people want to read my blog they will find it.

Thanks for the replies :) My problem is not that people like or don't like what I post, it is that they don't say where I am posting it that is the problem so I can stop. I do post links to my blog posts on various things to multiple groups / forums, this is because not everybody is on one group / forum. The other choice is to post large amounts of text + photos and videos, at least with a link you can decide if you want to click on it or not.

Thanks Jim :) I have removed myself from a large number of Facebook groups this afternoon which were just "general" LEGO and not Technic related. I also won't make the mistake of asking for such open feedback in the future. My survey was about my blog, not about if people liked me posting it. I have a new MOC to post later tonight, I will see what sort of response this gets ;)

Thanks for the well thought out reply. If people like or don't like what I post I can accept that, what I would like to know is what group / forum this is on so that I can change my posting behaviour. If I post lots of text and photos / videos then some people don't like that, I just put a short intro and a link and people don't like that either.....

**** I am posting this in here as this is the board I am most active on **** It has come to my attention that at least one person (I have no way of knowing who this person is) has a major problem with the amount I am posting on LEGO related groups / forums. I have come across this information due to a response I have received from the survey I have created about my blog, as this is totally anonymous I can’t respond to this personally. In the interests of ensuring that issues can be raised and dealt with like adults, I am posting this message on every LEGO related Facebook group / forum I am a member of for two reasons: 1) If any of the group / forum administrators have any issues with my posts, content or amount - please contact me directly. 2) If any members of the group / forum have any issues with my posts, content or amount - please contact me directly. My normal process is to post a short introduction about what I have done and a link to the blog post about it, to me this makes more sense than posting large amounts of text and multiple photos / videos which not everybody would be interested in. A link allows those who are interested to go and read about it / look at the photos and videos. Those who are not interested can simply skip past it. If you have a problem with what I post, please tell me....

Yeah, an off road aerial bucket truck: http://paulstechnic.blogspot.com.au/2014/06/moc-off-road-aerial-bucket-truck-unimog.html

After the great response to my first post ;) how could I not want to put up another photo :) Play nice this time :)

Another photo of me / my building space:

Wow, that is a very serious mod to the Unimog, it works even in water

The key is good lighting and a clear background (nothing to distract away from your MOC) For my photos I prefer to have them taken on my building desk, where they are built.

In Australia we have a heap of these, mostly in the cities and larger towns.

Well done to both of you with this, it really is a stand out MOC :)

Well done, that has improved the looks heaps :)

Made a video of my doing a demo of my latest Unimog attachment :)

I have just uploaded to my blog a short video of myself demonstrating my latest Unimog attachment - this is a lift and carry crane attachment. This is my first time doing a video such as this, I hope to do more of these in the future. http://paulstechnic.blogspot.com.au/2014/08/moc-unimog-lift-and-carry-crane.html