The Dual-Crane Pipe Transporter

First article of 2018, yay!
wishes copie.jpg

Today I present you the Dual-crane Pipe Transporter, a vehicle that came directly out of my mind. I mean, in my remain, I never seen a +real+ vehicle like this one.

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The Full album is available on FlickR.

The design:

Few weeks ago after the Cossack has been completed I was planning to make a pipe layer. But a pipe layer in fact just lift and drop a pipe, it can’t transport it from a site to another. So I needed a sort of flatbed equipped with one or more crane and capable of loading/offloading a pipe or another long load and move with it.

I based the design of the Transporter on two vehicles from my Idea collection.
The lateral reach stacker Meclift ML5016SR (on my to-do list for 2018) and a classical side loading container trainer similar to what has been released in the Mack Anthem 42078 set.

meclift-latteral-reachstacker

The Dual Crane Pipe Transporter is a tracked vehicle equipped with a large flatbed to transport pipe of long loads, a dual articulated crane, 4 outriggers, a sliding cabin for improved view and a counterweight.

This kind of vehicle could actually been used on construction site of oilfield for the transport, the tracks allow a low ground pressure and good traction so it is suitable for every environment.

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What’s inside?

All the Power functions elements are located in the main body between the two cranes and the two tracks. Are used in this MOC:

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  • 2 PF-L for propulsion (1 per track)
  • 1 PF-M for the crane main structure w/ linear actuator
  • 1 PF-M for crane articulation w/ mini linear actuator
  • 1 PF-M for outriggers w/ 1 mini-LA per outrigger
  • 1 PF-M for winches
  • 1 battery box used as counterweight
See also  Aircraft Cargo Loading Platform

Plus 2 SBricks Bluetooth controllers.

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Pros/cons:

Pros: This vehicle can be used as a lateral pick&carry crane, it is very usefull for long pipe (see videos) or a heavy load between two sites. The outriggers, counterweight and articulation allow a large range of operation without any risk of tilting.

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Cons: Due to the design of the dual crane only one pipe/load can be transport at a time: the bed is no longer flat when crane are in movement. The only method to keep a flat bed with dual crane is to use ship-like crane (see image below). If I’m not too lazy this year I may built something like this.

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A video to conclude:

Thank you for reading.