Lego Technic Crawler Crane: The Oppo Review

"RWS Motorsport" (rwsmotorsport)
07/28/2015 at 16:33 • Filed to: LEGO!

Because I am essentially a giant manchild, when the opportunity to purchase a couple of Lego technic models at a fairly large discount presented itself to me, I embraced the #YOLO attitude so prevalent in my generation, and did the deed. Now I am reaping the rewards:

The build itself is in 4 stages, starting with the tracks and base as stage 1. This was maybe an hour or so of making. It would likely have been less but as is always the way, you put a peg in the wrong hole and then spend 20 minutes working out why the final stage doesn’t fit together.

Stage 2 is the gearbox, which is a feat of engineering in itself. The Crane has 4 different gear settings which drive the crane forwards/backwards, rotate the unit, raise and lower the arm and raise and lower the claw. The person/people responsible for this at Lego could are nothing short of incredible.

Stage 3 is when you mount the gearbox and start to make the crane whole.

I am blown away by how perfect this universal joint it. It functions so well you wouldn’t think it probably costs less than 1p to produce, and can be made in its millions without any issues.

The little control thingys (technical terms) are brilliant, and let you choose what function you want to drive with the on board motor and battery pack.

The pulleys which control the arms raising and lowering are pretty special.

After stage 3 you are left with the bare bones of a base, but with no arms, no power and no claw.

Sadly I got carried away, so there are no progress pics between stage 3 and the end of stage 4. However the finished product is AWESOME!

The cab is articulated like a proper crawler crane, to allow the operator to view the boom at all times. Lego attention to detail is ridiculous!

THE CLAW

The pulley system to raise and lower the arm is pretty clever, as it allows the little low torque motor to raise and lower really quite a lot of weight without many issues.