Nice video Mikael,

Simba, our cat, loved it !

Very nice Video Mikael.

Nice Cat too! (brave cat).

Timaximus

Well, thank you everyone. I had no idea that this video would stir up this much response. I guess you liked it then

I want mine too ..
Went by my dealer a few days ago, he had 2 of them, but they were reserved for someone who ordered before me, but saw it in action ..
Looks nice.

Michael

Mine has apparently been dispatched from Amazon. Not sure how long it'll take though - our post is currently jammed solid. It's not as if this Christmas thing happens every year...

cats.. I love em too BUT they are not allowed to set foot on my layout.... its too late for you as you have already condoned it but I warn anyone just starting a layout to make it clear to the cats that it is not for them if you ever plan on doing detailed landscaping, people, catenary etc... out 2 cats are seen watching trains here...
http://layout.mixmox.com/1/20001224Alphatrain

Crane received on Friday.
Intellibox SOs set accordingly, crane works ok.
Warranty expired on Saturday: hook doesn´t go down any longer.
A buzz is heard but no motion at all.
All other functions, including "hook up" work ok.
New Quality Standards in place, try another brand please.
Best regards,

Funny - since I never experienced this problem with mine so far. It's probably best to take a pic next time it happens and send it to Märklin (and don't forget to post it here too!)

Ok - the instructions clearly indicate that it isn't a toy for kids to play with, but sometimes ...

Hi, after reading much in your forums and learning much, a contribution from our experience with the crane.
Received our crane 2 weeks ago (dealer got 3 of 9 ordered, we were amongst the first to order so we were among the lucky ones to get one).
Crane worked well at first. Yesterday night it went terribly wrong. Here's what happened, how much sweat it costed and how it after all ended (good).
After some operations it became unclear in which direction the crane arm and the hook were supposed to move. Whatever commands were given with the MS, the arm or hook would not move anymore. At last resort I openend the crane housing and found out both mechanisms were jammed. The wires were jammed around the axles of the motor-wheels/drums on both sides.
Anyway it is an amazing simple mechanism which operates this crane! Beautiful in its simplicity. The motor-wheels are only held in place by the piezo-arms under spring pressure. With the help of a wooden sateh-pen I got the motor wheels out (first the left one, then the right one). Then I could disentangle the wires from the motorwheel-axles and rewind them on the drums (however small). This was not an easy job especially on a new asset.
Starting with the right wheel and then the left one, I assembled the wheels again under the pressure of the piezomotors/springs (lifting the piezomotors a little and sliding the wheels under form behind). And after all, the crane is operating again so I'm very happy.

Some observations:
- NEVER operate the crane when there is slack in the wires and/or you don't know in which direction is is going to work; you cannot push the wires out of course; if you work it in the wrong direction, the whole mechanism gets jammed because the motorwheel will continue to rotate without the wire going anywhere. Eventually it gets stuck around the axle.
- the wires on the crane are way to long. The hook can be lowered some 10-15 cm under the level the crane is sitting on; the crane arm has enough wire to be turned around x-times while it can only move from 0 degrees to say 75 degrees. I would limit the lenght of the wires to say 3-5 cm for the arm movement (or less) and 5 cm for the hook. Then it does not get entangled so soon. If I have to repair the crane again I will do that.
Hope to help those who dare to operate on their crane if it doesn't work. The risk of course is to loose the warranty. Don't know if M* will put the problem on improper use. I think it is poor fail-safe design and too long wires.
Greetz, Henk

Welcome to the forum Henk.