Skid Excavator

Another little contest build, complete with Free Instructions.

I participate in a number of LEGO Technic contests, and Eurobricks hosts a number of them. The requirements for the TC22 Contest was to build a Technic construction vehicle that could fit in a 10,000 stud bounding box. It had been a while since I built an excavator, and they allow for a lot of functions in a little bit of space. I have always been intrigued with the machines built by the French company Mecalac, and after looking at their cute little Skid Steer Excavators, I had my subject. Setting the scale was important as I only had so much space. I decided on the large tracks as I think they look a little better. Setting the width with the tracks at 17 studs, would give the stability needed, and would give me some working space. Calculating the rest of the excavator would allow for 28 studs in length, and 21 studs in height for a total of 9,996 total cubic studs.

I stared with the boom, which is a little complicated. The boom is a 3 section design, and should reach far, and tuck in close to the front plow, and be able to dig deep. I planned the movements with mini linear actuators, and wanted to keep the controls easily accessible. This resulted in a design where two actuators had controls on the boom, and two actuators had controls on the back of the superstructure.

I thought I had the hardest part done one the arm was finalized, but I quickly discovered that the rest of the superstructure was going to cause some problems. First, I was not sure on the shape I wanted. It took a couple of drafts to get the rear shape right. Once I did I realized I had some space for a little engine, so I added this, and connected it to one of the boom lifts. Now a little engine turns when the arm moves. Once these features were done, it took another four drafts to make sure the tractor would not fall apart.

Then off to the cab and the attachments. The can was simple enough, with a simple chair and the HOG mounted to turn the superstructure. I created four different attachments, including two excavator buckets, a skid bucket, and a set of forks. In what is becoming a standard feature of my builds, each can be changed over by pulling a couple of axles on the boom.

I was pleased with how this build turned out, and it was good enough for a third place in the Eurobricks contests. All the attachment options made for a fun, playable model, and the movement of the boom was perfect. Feel free to build one of your own.

Happy building.