LEGO Combine--'98 Spectrum First Place Winner

LEG0 combine--Spectrum '98 first place winner

Tyler Mierau
What's Tyler doing now?

About the LEG0^® Combine

In November I was interviewed by CBC television for the Canadian TV show "On The Road Again". My segment was broadcast nationally October 18, 1999.

Click here to read the full article from Western Producer magazine.

The LEG0^® Combine consists of approximately 3000 pieces and has six different motors that run off of four 9V controllers. The Combine weighs approximately 25 pounds (9K), and is about 2 feet(61 cm) long, 1 foot 9 inches wide(23 cm), and 10 inches(26 cm) high. There are many added features that are more for visual effects and work best only if you see the Combine in action. Some features are added more for visual effects than mechanical necessity.

The LEG0^® Combine runs just like a real Combine. It is not a model of a real combine (because it is my own design). I used my knowledge of what a real Combine does and applied that to making a real working combine out of LEG0^®.

Most of the Technic LEG0^® in the Combine comes from sets #8858, #8720,#8838,#8222,#8250 as well as some extra gears and axles bought separately.

LEG0^® screen shots

How the LEG0^® combine Works

Click on photo to enlarge

I set up a field of LEG0^® grain on a big plate. Then I set up the Combine to slowly come along and knock down the LEG0^®pieces and bring them up into the combine in one piece. Once inside, the LEG0^® pieces that are stuck together get forced to break apart by many strategically placed rollers. I have set up many rollers in such a way that the separate pieces break apart.

The stalk of grain consists of one bigger piece and 4 smaller pieces of LEG0^®. The different sizes are then separated with a sieve that shakes the pieces and allows the smaller pieces to fall through and go out the back end of the combine. These small pieces represent the waste of the grain. The bigger pieces stay on the sieve and shake to the end. Then they get forced over onto a conveyer belt that then lifts up the pieces into the hopper for storage.

There is a four speed transmission, that I designed, that can be used to change speeds to work at different rates. A four speed transmission, that I designed, can be used to change operating speeds.

The LEG0^® Combine has a table cylinder(pneumatic system) that lifts and lowers the whole front table for height adjustment.

Another cylinder with an air tank controls the steering of the the direction the LEG0^® Combine turns.

My Combine is just one of my many projects that I have designed out of LEG0^®.

Some projects include:

two different types of working rock pickers that pick up LEG0^® blocks
a walking dinosaurs on two legs with numerous features of special effects
a weigh scale design for measuring how many LEG0^® pieces are in a small project
several different types of working tractors and many other designs of my own.

LEG0^® Sponsors

About Tyler Mierau

Thanks to all my sponsors for their generous contributions which made this project possible:

Westby Tractor
Henry Kelly Tractor
Watrous Salvage
A&S Equipment

E-mail Tyler

Tyler Mierau <tyler_mierau@yahoo.com>

I am a twenty year old living in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada.

Currently I am enrolled in second year at the College of Engineering at University of Saskatchewan.

I started building the LEG0^® Combine at the beginning of December of 1997. It was finished by early January 1998.

On January 15-18 1998, I displayed my LEG0^® Combine at Spectrum 98 Engineering Show (a highschool competition) at the University of Saskatchewan, Saskatoon, Canada. I won first place.!!

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