TSATS: LEGO Oil Rig

Crtlego · April 1, 2012

This is my motorized oil platform. After having built the oil rig with the intention of motorizing the linear actuator within each leg, it was extremely hard to convert to pnuematics (the gearing required to motorize each leg would have been too heavy, bulky, and would not have been able to support the weight of the frame I had built). Hence, the last day was dedicated to this major revamp. I think it performs much better and although that aspect is no long motorized, I feel that there are plenty of other functions to make up for it. For one, I wasn't planning on motorizing the turning of each leg originally but after removing all the gearing required for the linear actuators, there was enough room to add in two XL motors for the purpose of steering each of the legs in unison. This can be thought of as being a sort of "stability control." Each leg is lowered and raised by one piston and has an "air shock absorber" to cushion any rough waves. The spacing underneath is REALLY tight so it more of a miracle that everything fit without previous planning (more pictures will show just how miraculous this build really was.. It was actually crazy!) The main drill arm can lower via one M motor and a second M motor powers the spinning drill head. On the side of the battery box, there is a small crane with a seat and a winch. This is for loading and unloading materials (or visitors) from below.