Made a quick mod to my 8043 this evening. It now has a pair of XL motors in the base, an additional IR receiver and battery pack! And goes like the clappers as a result! Very simple mod to do, though it does have a limitation in terms of the IR receiver has to be under the arm end of the body, otherwise the battery case and motors cover the IR receiver. I’m considering scrapping my smaller excavator and rebuilding the base on the 8043 to be a bit bigger, as the motors, while fitting nicely, are a bit exposed and therefore potentially reducing the approach angle. I’d also like to work on the CoG of the model, adding weight in the base has helped, but the battery case & motors need to slide forwards I think to properly balance the unit.
Lego 8043XL Upgrade (Base View)
Lego 8043XL Upgrade (Front View)
And for the curious, here’s a video of it in action!
My new Drobo arrived on today! Loaded up with 2 1 TB drives, I now have 1TB of disk available, with the ability to pop another couple of terrabytes in as and when I need it.
Hooked up to the Drobo Share, it allows access across the network which is cool. And it’s now about half full, after I dumped a lot of the stuff off the 1TB RAID1 on my main PC as well! Some stuff I shall now keep two copies of, the rest can reside in just the one location as it’s better located than before.
The new 2010 Summer models were made available on the Lego@Home store a little while ago, I got the flyer in the mail last week and placed my order! £143ish plus shipping makes this one of the most expensive models I’ve bought to date, but it has a lot to offer.
8043 Excavator
Here it is in all it’s glory. You get a lot for your money, two remotes, 4 motors, and two IR blocks. 4 Linear Actuators are supplied, and the excavator is capable of doing a full 360, round and round and round! This is achieved by a single centered shaft, and using the gear changing cogs to stack up round a central shaft, allowing the central shaft to move independantly of the gear changing cogs. One runs the left track, the other the right. The downside to this however, is that there is a degree of takeup, and the excavator does “creep” when spinning round & round. The remote controls need you to flick round the motor polarity on one channel when using the boom, and annoyingly the driving control needs a different motor polarity when you’re playing with your bulldozer!
I did a time lapse set of pictures when building it this time, 102 images taken at 2.5minute intervals which is about 4 and a half hours for the build, all done in one hit this evening. Has to be the fastest I’ve built a model of this complexity. Watch it on YouTube by clicking below:
Comments on Useability after the initial build:
Whilst this is the best RC unit since the bulldozer, I have had some thoughts on it’s limitations since building it.
1) The main dual actuator boom has the ability to lift a bit over 400G in weight, but much more than that causes issues.
2) The speed at which the unit moves is very slow.
3) Takeup in the right hand track is delayed by about 1-2 secs due to the drive arrangements through the turntable.
4) When slewing, the excavator creeps (as the gears lock up on the motors, and thus when you spin, you drive the tracks).
I’ve played with it a bit since building, and my thoughts on a possible rebuild are thus:
1) Buy 2x XL Motors and rebuild the base to house it’s own battery case and IR brick. The XL motors can then directly drive the tracks as they do on the bulldozer.
2) Rebuild the 4-motor drive to remove the switching mechanism, as you can then use the 2 IR bricks and 4 M Motors to perform all the upper body tasks, including the 360 Slew.
In my opinion, this should be a fairly minimal build, as you can drop a lot of the gearing that goes into driving through the turntable out, and instead concentrate on the arm and turntable slew.
Finally fitted the matching Steering Guard this afternoon – and it looks really good! Right swivelpin to fit, (had some stuff in the way on one side) but all pulled into place in the end. Don’t think anything is going to dent it!
Cut 8mm off the left hand mount on the main bumper also and beat that back into place now, so it’s all anchored properly!
The steering guard mounts to the inside of the chassis rail at the bumper, and the ouside of the rail in line with the steering pump (you use the bolts to hold it in).
Is still under way, it’s amazing how much junk you accumulate over 10 years of geeking with a serious ebay habbit! One trip down the tip has yielded some space down there, which was then quickly filled in when the stuff fell down where it had been piled up! Looks like another trip or two will be needed!
16 Large Dell server boxes now occupy the dining room. With the landie empty, I was also able to fit the security screens and have now ordered the dog guard too
I’m a IT Consultant from Bristol, and I’m into Off-Roading, Photography, Law, and lots of other things.
In the summer months I spend my time doing Event Power for College Balls (Oxford/Cambridge), Festivals/Concerts and other events (e.g. Weddings). I occasionally assist with Pyrotechnic jobs with KJE Technical, and have taken some awesome pictures of the various events I’ve worked on. Often during the event, we have plenty of “down” time which we use, amongst other things (sleep mainly) to take photos and wander the event keeping an eye on things.
I have a fair amount of Technical knowledge, stemming from working for Production Power for several years, so I’m familiar with Generator and Distribution systems also, which has helped my mechanical knowledge. I’m a jack of all trades, and willing to jump in anywhere!
