42055 - Bucket Wheel Excavator - MODs and Improvements

[Tom Van den Heuvel]

My new set up. all lego this time

 

[teos]

On 8/4/2016 at 0:22 PM, Imanol BB said:

 

These 3 L-Motors control:

- Superstructure rotation

- Conveyor belts moving

- LA´s movement (still WIP, it is finished)

LA´s movement:

 

I have a question about this setup.  Is there any reason why I shouldn't use M-motors in the position above where the 3 L-motors are positioned?  Unfortunately, I only have 1 spare L-motor, so I'm limited at the moment to 3 M or 3 XL.  If it will ruin the M-motors or be problematic in some other way, then I'd rather order some L's.  Thanks!

[Imanol BB]

2 hours ago, teos said:

I have a question about this setup.  Is there any reason why I shouldn't use M-motors in the position above where the 3 L-motors are positioned?  Unfortunately, I only have 1 spare L-motor, so I'm limited at the moment to 3 M or 3 XL.  If it will ruin the M-motors or be problematic in some other way, then I'd rather order some L's.  Thanks!

Hi Teos, I actually placed L-Motors as they were of the more comfortable dimensions, but dont worry, i am sure you could place almost any motor instead of the L's, actually, this hasnt been tested in real life, so i am not sure if the gear selection is right, but i am sure that you could use almost any kind of motor if you put the right selection of gears, M-Motors may need more reduction than XL's, and if you build this in real life, i will be very happy if you share any pictures and/or videos of it )to see if it works as it should), and feel free to give any suggestion for improvements or ask anything if you need help.

[teos]

Thanks for responding.  I noticed how the L-Motors fit nicely in your model, but I didn't realize until just now that they have 2 pin holes on the corded end.  That way they fit securely where you placed them.  The lack of connections is one of my disappointments with M-motors, so I might just splurge for a couple more L-motors.

[robert708]

Hello everyone 

Download link died 

If someone have LDD files of BWE design by Gabi_BC  -please upload again.Thanks A LOT!

[Gabi_BC]

Here's a link to the entire folder (pretty chaotic but if you sort by date you'll find the latest versions)

https://www.dropbox.com/sh/dyrthxpdjs40oow/AAC-gncNpfxql796owr2uKTPa?dl=0

[degenerate]

Started building this beast yesterday and halfway through I've already decided I want to RC mod it later on.
As of now I'm thinking of adding 4L motors and 1M motor, most likely I'll go down the SBrick route.
Read somewhere that the SBrick can overheat if it's running too many motors at once, can it handle 3L motors at once?
With proper gearing I could probably get away with adding 2L motors and 3M motors instead which would mean lower load on the SBricks.
Don't have any fancy LDD sketches yet, just thought I'd wing it until I've played around with LDD a bit and fully understand it 

Cheers

[robert708]

Excellent.Thank you Gabi_BC 

[schraubedrin]

Today i finally finished my necessary mods:

The first thing was to separate the drive-axle and attachment of the lower conveyor.
In the original construction there's so much force on the driven axle that it needs far more torque than necessary.
At the same time i made the conveyor more horizontal and therefore needed to lower the ladder acces.

I'm not very versed in advanced LEGO Geometry so the new gear train doesn't look very pretty:

The second mod was a simple idea with a challenging execution:
Change the Gearbox from high torque to high rpm by changing the motor gear ratio from 1:3 to 1:1:

This way i could move the high torque ratios further down the powertrain to take some load of the bevel gears to prevent slippage.
The simplest ratio addition was in the drivetrain and while i was at it i improved the bracing of the gears a bit. (I'm no fan of the single 3L Beam. While it prevents slippage, it may add resistance because it can flex between those axles.)

The packaging for the main conveyor was so tight, i had to power it from the outside to get enough room for the additional gears.
In the end i couldn't find room in the chassis for the slewing, so i had to add the reduction right after the gearbox (the grey and white 24t gears are visible in the background)

All those changes had the desired effect: no more jerkiness in any movement, no slipping gears, a faster output-conveyor and even with my depleted batteries it now (barely) manages to climb 1 stud high obstacles

 

 

 

[Brickgate]

Hello,

Does any of you have a cool finished background graphic for the Sbrick interface?

 

[Imanol BB]

Hello, here is the folder with my modifications made to the BWE (including the LDD files for A and B models), I don't remember if i uploaded it before, but anyways, here it is, hope you enjoy it: https://bricksafe.com/pages/imanol/bwe

 

[suffocation]

This is a basic mod to the undercarriage. Features 2 L motors per track (1:25), 1 L motor for superstructure rotation (1:36) and 1 coaxially mounted auxiliary XL motor, all powered by a V1 BuWizz unit. Everything runs pretty smoothly with up to 4 kg of ballast, so that leaves a LOT of doors open for the superstructure.

 

[doug72]

Looks good, slewing using the Z60 turntable gear ring instead of the gear quadrant gears should be a lot smoother.
What does the co-axial XL motor drive ?

Doug

[suffocation]

Hi Doug,

the coaxial XL is free to power any function in the superstructure. I only modded the carrier since I wanted it for another project of mine and thought it was a pity to leave one of the BuWizz's four channels unused, hence the extra motor.

[schraubedrin]

This seems to be a powerful mod.

unfortunately worm gears have a tendency to become really inefficient when they transmit a lot of torque. generating the same ratio with straight or bevel gears would actually be more efficient i.e. more powerful.

I'm really interested to see the slewing. You're losing quite a lot of leverage by not using the outer gear teeth.

 

I'll be watching with interest

[suffocation]

I was modifying the carrier of my telescopic crawler crane and came up with this (in turn a mod of the undercarriage from a few posts earlier), which should work pretty well with the BWE. Gear reduction is about 1:5 (8 -> 24 -> 40).

 

[pleegwat]

The BWE has one roller running below the yellow gear ring on the 'back' side, which is 3 studs high normally. I don't think you're leaving that much space, and I don't think you can safely leave it out entirely. Though I myself did mod it into a 1-high roller when I motorized mine.

[suffocation]

I was thinking more about the motor placement and the double crawler tracks. The rest of the superstructure is designed for something entirely different but it can definitely be modified to accommodate the extra roller (which, by the way, isn't strictly necessary - the original BWE has it as a safety feature for clumsy or distracted users).

[Carefree_Dude]

I just got this set, and am going to build it soon. Are there any good changes that should be made during the construction of it? Kind of like how on the new mobile crane set you should switch the position of a gear that helps raise the boom 

[Bartybum]

3 hours ago, Goldenmasamune said:

I just got this set, and am going to build it soon. Are there any good changes that should be made during the construction of it? Kind of like how on the new mobile crane set you should switch the position of a gear that helps raise the boom 

To make it run smoother use 4 inline clutch gears instead of 2 at the motor.

[CalvinFold]

Has anyone put together an "Ultimate" version of the 42055 that adds motors, remote control, and other such tweaks (ala Jurgen's builds, of which I've done two)?

I'm not talented enough to integrate the ideas in the thread myself, but bought and built the 42055 in the hopes someone would eventually improve upon it. :(

[jb70]

On 3/31/2017 at 11:48 AM, Ngoc Nguyen said:

Sometimes you'll get the situation in the the upper pic. Both of my normal 24z gears broke because of this. That's why I choose to keep the clutch gear. 

I found a solution to avoid blocking of the belt as @Ngoc Nguyen showed in the upper picture:

More details and building instructions are available on https://rebrickable.com/mocs/MOC-24566/jb70/42055-smooth-bucket-wheel-excavator.

 

[iLego]

Thank you @jb70. Simple changes, but should make a big difference !

[PDK151]

On 8/4/2016 at 11:09 PM, Imanol BB said:

Well, here are my last mods so far, i was working on the improvement of the lower conveyor belt rotation system, and when i was finishing it, i had another idea for the lower conveyor belt, and i have added 2 small LA´s for its lifting and lowering, here it is:

Now, for the rotation system i made (maybe) the ugliest and most rudimentary solution, but i think it might work, it consist on a beam with 2 12T double bevel gears that can be pushed or pulled to connect and disconnect the system:

Neutral position:

Engaged position:

And i also made an (still ugly and rudimentary) locking system which should be enough strong to hold the conveyor belt in place, but slip if it is locked for mistake and so, let the conveyor belt turn when it reaches the maximum rotation and the whole excavator is still rotating without jamming the whole excavator movement; and if you pull the 20T bevel gear (like in the unlocked position) it unlocks and you can use that same gear for manual rotation:

Locked: Unlocked:

These systems are very basic, but they should work fine, and if you have any suggestion it is well received.

 

On 8/4/2016 at 5:22 PM, Imanol BB said:

Here are some "small" mods i have made so far:

First, i have made the chassis RC, it is something similar to what carver did, but it is driven by 2 L-Motors, and both them are placed one stud higher, so they don´t affect chassis clearance:

Second, i have lowered the lower conveyor belt and extended it by 13 studs:

And third, i have made some of the superstructure functions completely RC:

These 3 L-Motors control:

- Superstructure rotation

- Conveyor belts moving

- LA´s movement (still WIP, it is finished)

LA´s movement:

Bucket wheel with L-Motor and separated from the conveyor belts system (i am not sure about the speed of the bucket wheel, it might need some more reduction of the gears):

Now the remaining mods i would like to finish are:

- Finish LA´s RC movement (using the same transmission of the chassis driving system) (Finished)

- Put an L-Motor on the bucket wheel (Finished)

- Separate bucket wheel rotation from conveyor belts system (Finished)

- Improve the lower belt automatic rotation system (reduce the backlash (Finished)

I am wondering how you did your chase and the modification to raise the output conveyer.

 

[Imanol BB]

On 8/14/2019 at 11:08 AM, PDK151 said:

 

I am wondering how you did your chase and the modification to raise the output conveyer.

 

Hi, do you need the digital file?