Reach Stacker - Lego Technic 8443 (B model) review
#lego #legotechnic #8443
Today we will take a look at a pneumatic container handler - and this is an alternative model from the 1996 set number 8443.
According to the Bricklink website, the set should have 335 parts, from which you can easily build anything. There are various beams and bricks, a turntable, 6 wheels, gears, steering parts, pins, bushes and axles. And of course, the pneumatic system - a pump, a pair of cylinders, switches, a T-connector and hoses.
The assembly begins in the standard way - with beams, which begin to grow other beams, forming a recognizable shape of the future loader. And here you can see my first jamb - I installed a pump instead of a cylinder! The steering system is very simple, and consists of a mechanism popular in those years. Then we will attach the resulting steering mechanism to our frame.
And at this step you can already see the location of the axles of this loader. Continuing the assembly, I installed the pump in its place, having previously replaced it with a large cylinder. All the pneumatic elements will be connected by hoses laid along and across the frame.
Despite the clumsiness of my hands, the model was not damaged after the fall and I got to work on the cabin. Let's make sure that the steering works when we rotate the axle on the roof of the loader.
And this element will act as an arrow, which must be fixed to the roof with the help of an axle. Hoses and tubes will be laid on the boom, and it will rise upward. By the way, there will be a seat in the cabin, which can be slightly adjusted.
And this is the grip element, which uses a small cylinder. And naturally, the grip is located at the end of the boom on a very flexible mechanism. Well, that's it! The container loader is ready! Lego Technic 8443 B Review.
It can raise and lower the boom, the rear axle has steering, and there are dual wheels in the front. Oddly enough, I really like the appearance. Although the model is much inferior in functionality to the main one.
It seemed to me that the parts from the set were used to the maximum when building this loader - there are very few of them left! As I showed earlier, there is a seat in the cabin, and I really wanted to shove the Technic man there - but he was stubborn and did not want to fit there.
And now let's look at those few functions and actually play a little in the resulting container loader, which, as I read on the Internet, is called Reachstacker;
The first function of this loader is steering, using a transparent flashing beacon on the roof; Everything is extremely simple here and the steering function speaks for itself!
Of the disadvantages, I would highlight the fact that the black pump head is located too close, and interferes with my fingers turning the steering beacon. In addition, since both heads are similar, you may mistakenly want to grab and twist the pump head instead of the beacon.
The second function is actually pneumatics! Here we have two pneumatic switches available - the upper one is designed to control the grip of the claws.
From the Internet, I learned that this claw is called a spreader.
So, a small pneumatic cylinder is used to open and close the spreader. In the closed position, the distance between the spreader claws is 12 cm, and in the open position, 14. It seems to me that 2 cm of travel is quite small, although it all depends on the container that needs to be lifted.
The lower lever on the lower switch is used to control the operation of the large cylinder, which is responsible for raising and lowering the boom;
The boom rises to a fairly high height, and the lower point is limited by the height of the cabin roof, on which the boom rests.
Despite the modesty of the functions in this alternative model, I nevertheless liked its appearance and pneumatic functions. Pneumatics allow you to operate various elements of the structure using air, which is undoubtedly an advantage compared to motorized models, where we need to worry about charging their batteries. In short, I strongly recommend that you have a couple of pneumatic sets in your collection, any year of manufacture!
Now let's see how our loader will grab a container. For these purposes, I assembled something similar to a container. Initially, I made a container with walls, but it turned out to be heavy and the loader constantly tips forward.
And in order to comfortably lift the container, you need to either reduce its weight or add a counterweight in the area of the rear of the loader. I decided not to modify the loader and reduced the weight of the container. As a result, the function works great, although I was not delighted with the claw itself.
Since I did not really like the container grabbing function, I decided to replace it with a claw for grabbing logs, which was used in the main model. It turned out well, but I did not take into account the fact that the boom cannot go below the level of the cabin roof. Therefore, there can be ...