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Catbuster

December 11th, 2015 Leave a comment Go to comments

Wacky hamster-like mecha. Features drive, legs that allow sitting down or standing up, moving nose, whiskers and ears and remotely-fired anti-cat cannon.

Datasheet:

Completion date: 11/12/2015
Power: electric (Power Functions)
Dimensions: length 31 studs / width 27 studs / height 34 studs (when standing upright)
Weight: 0.995 kg
Suspension: none
Propulsion: 2 x PF L motor geared 5:1
Motors: 3 x PF L motor, 2 x PF M motor, 2 x Micromotor

This creation was intended do celebrate my YouTube channel reaching 75,000 subscribers milestone, but due to variety of reasons, including the reviews of the 1H 2016 LEGO Technic sets, it was long overdue. It was pretty simple technically and crude aesthetically, intended to be wacky and mostly evoke laughter.

The mecha was built on two legs that used double parallel linkages to allow knee-like movement. This way, it was possible to sit down or stand up by just rotating the upper part of the legs. The propulsion system, which consisted of one PF L motor enclosed inside each foot, driving a track wrapped around it, remained functional at all times. Due to the rear-heavy mecha’s upper body, small wheels were added at the back of the feet to prevent falling backwards while standing up. Thanks to these wheels, the mecha was pretty stable despite being top-heavy – I wasn’t able to come even close to knocking it over, no matter what I drove it on. The legs raising mechanism, however, was pretty close to its capacity limit, struggling to make the mecha stand up – and in fact it was my second version of it, as the first one, using a single PF XL motor and worm gears, proved too weak to handle mecha’s weight.

The simple body included a single PF M motor driving cams that moved the two sets of whiskers and a nose in front, as well as two Micromotors rotating one ear each. The Micromotors weren’t synchronized because it amused me that one was going slightly faster than the other, adding to the wackiness factor of the whole creation. The mecha was equipped with two guns in front, which were static and added mostly to balance it to be more front-heavy, as well as with a single remotely-fired LEGO spring cannon hidden under a plate on top of the hull. A single PF M motor would raise the plate and fire the cannon, then close it back. The cannon was named “Curiosity”, as it was specifically intended against cats 😉

I was expecting this creation to be a major disappointment, but it has received a surprisingly warm reception. Apparently it made up for its many shortcomings by its general wackiness. It had several solutions that could be interesting on the technical side, such as linkage in the legs and cams in the nose/whiskers mechanism, but mostly proved to be source of amusement, as intended.

Photos:

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Video:

Categories: Misc. Tags: , ,
  1. ArdiTechnicfans
    January 20th, 2016 at 08:09 | #1

    I think you should dedicate it for all your passed away hamster

  2. Sariel
    January 2nd, 2016 at 18:06 | #2

    @TechnoFan
    In both cases: whatever works best for you. It’s you who is building and you who is filming, so I don’t know.

  3. TechnoFan
    January 2nd, 2016 at 17:40 | #3

    Hi I have completed the base of my mecha hamster Tell me will normal Lego Tracks look good or should i put your custom built tracks for it. Also as for making a video should I use After Effects or Pinnacle Studio.
    (Sorry in advance for asking such silly questions)
    🙁 🙁

  4. Sariel
    December 27th, 2015 at 00:17 | #4

    @William
    Inside the feet.

  5. William
    December 23rd, 2015 at 17:28 | #5

    Hi,
    Where did you place the motor powering the tracks?

    Thanks,
    W

  6. Foster
    December 17th, 2015 at 03:13 | #6

    @Sariel
    Ok, didn’t know it had that motion… Thanks!

  7. Sariel
    December 15th, 2015 at 16:54 | #7

    @Foster
    Lego has already made a functional walking AT-AT: the 10178. The instructions should be available online, did you try looking there for inspiration?

  8. Foster
    December 15th, 2015 at 15:26 | #8

    Sariel, I want to build a Lego Technic At-At and I was wondering for some tips. I am having a tiny bit of trouble with the bending knee motion. I want to try to have it in a small area, not to big. Have you built a walker like this before? I will probably find it out by my own, but I was just wondering if you knew a few tips for the walkers.

  9. Sariel
    December 13th, 2015 at 00:36 | #9

    @TechnoFan
    By all means, yes, I want to see it 🙂

  10. TechnoFan
    December 12th, 2015 at 16:47 | #10

    Well Done this thing is awesome and quite funky I guess it would be a little better without the rotating ears.Anyway can i copy this idea of yours and make my long ago planned “Ultra Deluxe Super Mecha hamster” its gonna be made with mindstorms ev3 and a bit bigger then yours. Can i make it.

  11. EV3fan
    December 12th, 2015 at 12:41 | #11

    More things like this pls!! 😀

  12. December 12th, 2015 at 01:56 | #12

    Ha. Ha. This is a great funny build. I love when there is something a bit different. Not just trucks/tanks

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