Engineering with ABS
Marion 5760 The Mountaineer
My second try at the world famous stripping shovel "The Mountaineer", originally manufactured by the Marion Power Shovel Company.
The model I am presenting here is in scale 1 to 28.5 and is fully functional, using LEGO Power Functions components and bluetooth controlled SBricks.
Stripping shovels are a kind of mining shovels that were used to uncover coal seams by removing the overburden. In the meantime, even the largest machines of their kind have turned to be too small for the ever increasing depths from where the coal has to be uncovered. So today, no stripping shovel is in operation any more.
The Mountaineer was put into operation in 1956 near Cadiz, Ohio, USA. It has been retired in 1979 and scrapped in 1988.
Over 16 years ago, I already built a model of the very same shovel in roughly the same scale. Although it was impressive for the time being, I was never really satisfied with it and so I decided to give it another try. Compared to the earlier version, the current model has improvements in nearly every aspect:
- Fast-revving 9V-motors with individual cable control replaced by geared Power Functions motors, controlled by a bluetooth device using SBricks.
- An all over studded surface smoothed out by using tiles to a very large extent.
- Much more fine details like railings, stairs and ladders using parts like bars, tubes and clips.
- LED lighting all over the machinery house and the lower works.
Remote controlled functions include:
- Hoist drum using four PF XL motors
- Crowd motion using two PF M motors
- Swing gear using four PF L motors
- Bucket door latch rope drum using one PF M motor
- Propulsion of all eight crawlers using four PF M motors
- Independent steering of the front and rear crawler pair each using one PF M motor and four large linear actuators
- Passenger elevator with three stops (lower works, machinery house, gantry) using a 9V micro motor
- 22 pairs of LED lights, totalling 44 individual lights
The estimated weight of the model is around 35 kg of which 5.5 kg are steel bits acting as counterweight.
Marion 5760 The Mountaineer
My second try at the world famous stripping shovel "The Mountaineer", originally manufactured by the Marion Power Shovel Company.
The model I am presenting here is in scale 1 to 28.5 and is fully functional, using LEGO Power Functions components and bluetooth controlled SBricks.
Stripping shovels are a kind of mining shovels that were used to uncover coal seams by removing the overburden. In the meantime, even the largest machines of their kind have turned to be too small for the ever increasing depths from where the coal has to be uncovered. So today, no stripping shovel is in operation any more.
The Mountaineer was put into operation in 1956 near Cadiz, Ohio, USA. It has been retired in 1979 and scrapped in 1988.
Over 16 years ago, I already built a model of the very same shovel in roughly the same scale. Although it was impressive for the time being, I was never really satisfied with it and so I decided to give it another try. Compared to the earlier version, the current model has improvements in nearly every aspect:
- Fast-revving 9V-motors with individual cable control replaced by geared Power Functions motors, controlled by a bluetooth device using SBricks.
- An all over studded surface smoothed out by using tiles to a very large extent.
- Much more fine details like railings, stairs and ladders using parts like bars, tubes and clips.
- LED lighting all over the machinery house and the lower works.
Remote controlled functions include:
- Hoist drum using four PF XL motors
- Crowd motion using two PF M motors
- Swing gear using four PF L motors
- Bucket door latch rope drum using one PF M motor
- Propulsion of all eight crawlers using four PF M motors
- Independent steering of the front and rear crawler pair each using one PF M motor and four large linear actuators
- Passenger elevator with three stops (lower works, machinery house, gantry) using a 9V micro motor
- 22 pairs of LED lights, totalling 44 individual lights
The estimated weight of the model is around 35 kg of which 5.5 kg are steel bits acting as counterweight.