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 Technic / 1985
1984  |  1986
Subject: 
Re: Experience with Tow Truck 8462?
Newsgroups: 
lugnet.technic
Date: 
Mon, 14 Aug 2000 12:19:51 GMT
Viewed: 
1740 times
  
Ian Castle wrote:

Well, having only recently bought & built the truck the pneumatics are quite
well designed. The finished model is let down a little by the crane arm which
is quite crude compared to other parts of the truck design. Having said that
the set only cost me £ 69.00 (Toys 'R' Us) here in the UK so I suppose it was
a bit of a bargin!

I've still not built the 8462 I have yet (it is a personal bribe for getting to
the halfway point in writing my thesis) but I think it looks pretty good,
although perhaps a little on the large side for Technic figures. It cost 50 UKP
from Busy Bee, although I have no idea if they have any left as I bought it some
time ago.

I have (a little guiltily) taken the pneumatic elements from the box and applied
them in other models, which was interesting. Someone commented in another thread
about using the air tanks, and how the can badly affect a model. In some ways
I would agree with this, although the jury seems to be out on an opinion poll of
my friends of no air tank vs. air tank. The model used a compressor with a
pressure detecting valve which switched off the motor when the pressure reached
a certain point. Basically, the air tank seems to:

1) Reduce response latency of the pneumatics, especially when heavy loads are
involved.
2) Introduce a "lead time" before the pneumatics work properly while the
pressure builds up in the air tank.
3) Confuse people. With no air tank, the compressor starts when something is
moved and stops when the something stops moving. With the air tank, it will of
course come on when the pressure drops low enough in the tank, which does not
always correspond to any direct user input.
4) Allow heavier loads to be lifted in "burst" mode, once the tank is fully
charged;
5) Reduce the amount the model can lift when the tank is empty.

Without the air tank, the operation of the model is conceptually far more simple
- the maximum load it can cope with is reduced, but the operation is far more
"linear", if you know what I mean. In general, people with a good understanding
of mechanical principles seem to like the tanks; people with little mechanical
knowledge seem to prefer no air tanks. I prefer it without the tanks...

Any comments greatly appreciated. By the way, C S Soh, I think your web page is
excellent. I love the Rocket model!

Jennifer Clark



Message has 3 Replies:
  Re: Experience with Tow Truck 8462?
 
Jennifer, (...) So many adult Lego fanatics have done, or are doing PhDs! I'm at the same stage as you, writing up :-( Just a shame that I haven't got a Lego bribe to spur me on like you! And what IS the connection between doing a PhD and being (...) (24 years ago, 14-Aug-00, to lugnet.technic)
  Re: Experience with Tow Truck 8462?
 
(...) Guess it was my tirade against the tanks you spotted:) I would absolutely love an airtank with reduction valves, btu as they are now, the tanks are little more than wide pieces of tubing, there will be no proper tank capacity without a (...) (24 years ago, 15-Aug-00, to lugnet.technic)
  Re: Experience with Tow Truck 8462?
 
(...) Gotta learn to handle this tool one day:) Just had to add this: Using airtanks is not always a bad idea with compressors, when you only need a single or few pneumatics actions once in a while, the air tanks can be nice to have (ofcourse with (...) (24 years ago, 15-Aug-00, to lugnet.technic)

Message is in Reply To:
  Re: Experience with Tow Truck 8462?
 
(...) Well, having only recently bought & built the truck the pneumatics are quite well designed. The finished model is let down a little by the crane arm which is quite crude compared to other parts of the truck design. Having said that the set (...) (24 years ago, 9-Aug-00, to lugnet.technic)

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