LEGO Technic Excavator Construction Toy 42055

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That's the theory anyway... It's a neat mechanism and it almost works. Generally, the 2x2s always exit the machine correctly but the 1x1s often don't. Die-hard Technic fans will want it regardless but if you are on the fence or have limited funds, there are much better Technic sets released this year that I would buy before this one. Nevertheless it's a very interesting machine to construct and operate and if you have the opportunity to build it for yourself I encourage you to so do. Perhaps you'll come up with some fixes for the other issues... Occasionally, 1x1s will exit with the 2x2s. It seems to happen if they are carried along inside on top of multiple 2x2s or land sideways on the three axles. If that happens they invariably drop into the depths of the mechanism rather than travel along the belt because it's not been designed to stop them doing so.

After experimenting this morning, I found a simple fix for the latter problem which doesn't solve it fully but does improve things considerably: You can also see in this picture the three axles that transfer power from the upper part of the machine to the lower part. They are connected using 'slip axles' which means it is easy to disconnect them for testing purposes. Relatively cheap (yes, I’m dutch). In this set the parts are about € 0.06 cent per part. In for example the Porsche this is € 0.12. Light Bluish Gray Electric 9V Battery Box 4 x 11 x 7 PF with Orange Switch and Dark Bluish Gray Covers Having now built it, I can confirm that it is indeed an impressive machine, but it's really pushing the limits of what is possible with the Technic system and one motor...Fill out an Inventory Change Request ( ?) [ Show Inv Item IDs ] if you found an error in this inventory. Upload an Image in the specific color if you have one and the one in the above listing is not available. This is definitely a model that benefits from a video review but they are thin on the ground on YouTube at the moment. If I wasn't hopeless with a video camera I would have had a go myself. Step 2 builds the bottom part of the frame, on top of which the rest can rotate. I found this part a bit boring. Everything is double symmetrical, so often you have to build the same thing twice or four times.

Unlike the other three large Technic sets released this summer, this one is not based on a real-life machine. Its design is certainly influenced by real BWEs but it looks nothing like any that I have been able to find pictures of. Take a look at some images yourself and see if you can fine one.

The build – Step 3

The box is the biggest I’ve ever had (42009 and 42030 being the largest yet for me). It measures 57.8 x 47.8 x 16.8 cm and weighs 5970 gram. On the front the main model. The left-hand output conveyer in the image below can be raised and lowered using gears on the side, while the one on the right can be rotated about 180 degrees. The first thing to bear in mind is that you will need nearly all of the parts to hand to build it because, unlike the main model that's built from numbered bags, to build this you need to open all of bags #2 - #8 and sort the parts before you start. Consequently you'll need a very large area to work on. The 1x1s often just sit on the agitating plate and sometimes never exit. This is because (a) they are not spherical and (b) the plate is not completely smooth, so depending on how they land, they don't always roll down it. The plate's up and down movement is not sufficient to encourage them to move! Bags numbered six builds the business end of the machine and this is the most time consuming of the eight bags, taking around 1.5 hours.

I am therefore not able to wholeheartedly recommend this set: Personally I think it's pushing the boundaries of what's possible with Technic, particularly the Power Functions system, a bit too far and the model has suffered as a result. The driveline for driving, turning and the small conveyer belt are also connected with these parts. Here it’s more obvious. The parts don’t hold tight to the axle but can slide. This allowing some wiggleroom when lowering and raising the big arm. The model uses something like 75% of the parts and, crucially, the new parts in it are used only for cosmetic purposes so if you have enough Technic laying around you might be able build the actual mechanism without resorting to dismantling the BWE or buying another set. Now, by this point the model has become so big that it no longer fits on my regular photography table so I was unable to take more photos until I had something bigger. The following pictures are therefore taken with different lighting in a different 'studio' and to be honest I am not that happy with them but hopefully they will serve to illustrate the finished model.This is definitely a set that benefits from a video review so I encourage you to watch Sariel's. You can skip past the unboxing and construction to 17m 30s to see the machine in operation. So, how does it work? Quite cleverly as it happens, but unfortunately the mechanism is buried deep inside the machine so is impossible to photograph without a major dismantling. (Yes, I should have photo'd it before finishing it, I know...) It's entirely possible that I was not careful enough during construction and mounted gears or connectors too tightly thus causing too much friction but if I -- a Technic veteran with 20+ years experience -- can do that, what hope do kids have of building it any better? A third conveyer sits at the bottom of the input chute. It moves much slower than the output belts. However, we still have not finished construction... At the end of bags #7 the model is functionally complete and can be tested and I urge you to do so because if there is any debugging to be done it will be more easily achieved now.