EC750E proof of concept

The Lego set 42030 Volvo L350F is one of my favorite sets. So much so that I bought a second set to facilitate the creation of a Volvo A40E dump truck to accompany it. This leaves a large bucket lying around begging to have something made with it.

In comes the idea that maybe suck a large earth moving bucket could be used in an excavator such as the Volvo EC750E.

The first check is the bucket size. The L350F bucket is a spade nose rock bucket with teeth and segments. In real life this bucket is 13 feet wide and holds about 9 to 10 cubic yards. The EC750E's largest bucket is a general purpose earth moving bucket with a capacity of 9.34 cubic yards. It's width is unspecified, and while it will not be a spade nose bucket, the volume is close enough that maybe this could work.

Next is checking to see if and/or how it can be fitted to be used as an excavator bucket since it has the mounting points of a loading bucket. At the same time it would be good to see if the standard Lego linear actuator has enough length to it to rotate the bucket 180 degrees around a pivot. While I was at it I decided to start with a scale of 1 stud = 6 inches (roughly 1:30 scale). This makes the arm 28 studs long(9'6" arm) and the boom 53 studs long(25'3" boom).

Here is the initial proof of concept boom and arm plus bucket:

Here it is in comparison to the Lego set 42053 Volvo EW160E:

Since this seems to be feasible I'll continue the build. There will certainly be many problems to be solved along the way.