Big Cable Shovel

• 44 tons of iron.
• 130 Diesel horsepowers.
• 1,7 cubic meters digger bucket capacity.

Here comes the ground-shaking, Diesel-powered cable shovel! Fully remote-controlled with 8 power functions, this machine is a kid's dream come true.

And aren't we our kids' toy designers?

Cable shovels with upwards-facing buckets were used for quarry work, mining, and moving earth. Usually, different equipment could be installed for other purposes, like dredging or crane duties. My machine is inspired by the Menck M152, which was built between 1949 - 1961. I'm currently running eight channels of remote-control. Four LEGO IR receivers are suitable, but I'm really looking forward to the upcoming Bluetooth-controlled new Powered Up system. The controlled functions are:

1. left and right crawler drive
2. raising/lowering boom
3. swivelling of upper-carriage
4. raising/lowering bucket
5. crowd
6. bucket door release (servo motor)
7. lights

The number of RC functions could be brought down to four, quite grudgingly, before it stops making sense. That would be L/R crawler drive, raising/lowering bucket, and crowd. As it is, the set includes about 1200 parts, 6 motors, one light, and a servo motor.

My personal challenge in the design was to fully understand how cable shovels work, considering you can only pull on a cable, never push. The crowd mechanism gave me a peculiar headache before it all fell into place. Let me tell you, hydraulics really improved things for digger engineering!

The model is fully functional, down to the original bucket door release system.

Are you ready to see it in your personal quarry? Then please don't forget to support and share!

Mr_Kleinstein