Re: Volvo EC300D
 

Great build you go got going and the craftsmanship is awesome!

Chris

Re: Volvo EC300D
 

Hi ....

Fantastic build so far... have you thought about the hydraulics yet?

Frank aka Vario supply everything from complete rams to kit versions, plus pumps. Worth dropping him an email with your requirements and seeing what he can do for you!

Good luck with the rest of it.

This is the price list from his website, scroll down for pumps etc

http://translate.googleusercontent.c...1HBm1FY8Lqmo-A

Re: Volvo EC300D
 

Thanks very much for the compliments and the link!

The hydros are in the works and will hopefully be all custom made. The cylinders should be finished very soon!:D

I took a couple days off from the Volvo but I got back at it a little today.


http://youtu.be/-UCvGKvOdXA

Re: Volvo EC300D
 

Blue is my favorite color. Reg it sounds more like a Harley than a Honda. Great work on the swing drive. Having all those boxes of spare parts sure comes in handy. And you know what the ladies say, If they can't find you handsome, maybe they can find you handy.
Rob

Re: Volvo EC300D
 

Thanks Rob! HAHA! Having some "bits and pieces" stocked up never hurt anyone! I'm not sure if my lady finds me handsome OR handy though really? I guess there must be a reason and it's definately not for my money because I never seem to have any of that!

I'm really happy with the way the swing drive turned out. I was worried it would be too slow but it turns around 7rpm so it's close to what it should be and seems like it will be smooth with a little practice.

Oh ya, Blue sounds good, I would have bought more of it for my shop had I not found the red one for a really good price.

A couple pics from today...

Reg

Re: Volvo EC300D
 

Just watched the vid of her swinging around,looks awesome,keep up the great work:D

Re: Volvo EC300D
 

Thanks very much! I've been working this week so I haven't made much progress on the excavator. My prototype pump is done now and some other pieces are in the works. The pump puts out around 1200ml per minute with no load so now I'm hoping it will pump enough pressure!

Reg

Re: Volvo EC300D
 

I finally got to spend most of a day in the shop today:D It doesn't really seem like I accomplished much but everything I did today was tedious.

Hopefully I can finish the undercarriage tomorrow and then get back to working on the body.

Reg

Re: Volvo EC300D
 

Your work is very good. I like your creation and I have it. :)

Re: Volvo EC300D
 

Wow Reg. You work fast. It looks great so far. I can't remember if you asked to see a valve in another thread or not but I have some Leimbach valves if you wanted to look at one.

Richard

Re: Volvo EC300D
 

looking great, amazing work. wow there are some great builders and machines here on the island. keep it comming I and watching

Re: Volvo EC300D
 

Hey Richard, Yes I did ask if anyone had any pics or whatever of the valves apart. I was hoping to be able to see what they look like inside so that we could build something similar knowing it would work right the first time. We have a pump built that I hope will work, the cylinders are drawn up, relief valve is built and working but we haven't attemped the valves yet so any info would be appreciated for sure!

Thanks for the compliments guys, I'm headed out to the shop!

Reg

Re: Volvo EC300D
 

I finally got both tracks done....

Re: Volvo EC300D
 

For those who are interested... http://youtu.be/nPCMwuudq1o

Re: Volvo EC300D
 

Right on Reg
Its always cool to have a new build move for the first time... Did you end up using a Sabertooth ? Also, what did you do for a slip-ring or did you build one ?

greg

Re: Volvo EC300D
 

Yes and yes. I used a sabertooth on the tracks as well as the swing. I'm hoping to use the spare channel on the second sabertooth to run the pump but I don't know how that will go yet. You probably would guess that I built my own slip-ring and you would be correct. It needs a little fine tuning as it has a couple dead spots where it breaks contact at the moment but I think it will work fine once I do that. Have you decided what your doing on your slip-ring yet?

Reg

Re: Volvo EC300D
 

Awesome work! I am always amazed how fast this build is going every time i check it. Just wondering on the Sabertooth can you program it to run both motors off one channel? So that it becomes a dual motor single channel esc?

Thanks,
Chris

Re: Volvo EC300D
 

I'm not sure exactly what your looking for but you can set the mixing so that each channel is completely independent from the other. That's how I've set it up on my swing motor. I'm sure you could power two motors off of the same side of the speed control without issues and still have the other channel for????

Hope this helps?

Re: Volvo EC300D
 

Reg, I'm amazed at your skill and speed that you can utilize those skills, In my case the faster I go the worse the outcome, that dosn't apply in your case. Cool build!!! Fred

Re: Volvo EC300D
 

Very nice work! Would you show a picture of the slip ring?

Re: Volvo EC300D
 

The slip-ring isn't pretty(neither are the photos). I put 4 grooves in some nylon on the lathe and then wrapped each wire around agroove and soldered it. The wire coming out of the bus bar is stainless filler rod(very stiff) so I made a plexi block to isolate the wires and attached 2 springs to the block for tension. I'm sure there is an easier more effective way to do it but I had all these things in my junk so...

Reg

Re: Volvo EC300D
 

I was able to put in a couple hours of fab work on the house yesterday afternoon. I may have driven it around the shop floor again too... it's just testing at this point though right?:D

Re: Volvo EC300D
 

That shop must be unheated Reg to make you work so fast. Your welding skills are fantastic. How are you fastening all the sub assemblies together? Can hardly keep up with pictures and vids, but keep them coming. Good show!!!!!
Rob

Re: Volvo EC300D
 

Great build! You got some mad welding skills!

Brian

Re: Volvo EC300D
 

I like your slip ring Reg , I never throw scrap away till I can't extract anything else out of it . then scrapy gets to haul it at the meets

Re: Volvo EC300D
 

Coming along great! Keep up the great work! Are you TIG welding it together or using a durafix rod?

Chris

Re: Volvo EC300D
 

Thanks for the compliments guys,

The sub assemblies will be pinned or just a tight fit. The swing bearing will be glued into the house once the metal work is finished as a c-clip holds it to the gear assembly on the track frame. Most of the body will just lift off to access the guts when needed and I plan to hinge the engine cover for battery changes. I will leave enough space near the side cut outs to run a cooling fan if needed as well.

Everything is TIG welded Chris.

Thanks for checking out my progress!

Oh yeah, The shop is nice and warm Rob, I'm just non-union;)

Reg

Re: Volvo EC300D
 

I was able to put in another couple hours today and finally got to weld the cab together. I haven't decided whether I will cut out the windows or just paint them black. There is a lot of small cut outs to make so I'm leaning toward painting them on.

Re: Volvo EC300D
 

Man I wish I could build like that.

Re: Volvo EC300D
 

You've got to be joking right? Have you seen the stuff you build? I would say that if you built like me you would be stepping backwards from where you are already. The only thing I have going for me is lots of time to devote to my projects.

Reg

Re: Volvo EC300D
 

I went to build the air cleaner today and discovered that I had set the engine cover too far back. I made a little strip and welded it to the engine cover, the bonus from my mistake is that I now have more room to access the insides without removing the whole body. After all that and talkin to Rob(steamer) for half the afternoon:p I was only able to build and mount the aircleaner and exhaust today:( oh and glue in my swing bearing.

Re: Volvo EC300D
 

looks great. wow :eek:

Re: Volvo EC300D
 

X 2 on dirtpushers9 comment!
Awesome build skills,Looking forward to seeing her digging:):D

Re: Volvo EC300D
 

Thanks very much for the compliments guys! It really means a lot to hear positive feedback from people who have fantastic builds of their own.

I played a little this morning and got the windows cut out. I decided that I would never be satisfied if I painted them on. I may end up tinting them very dark though and not doing the interior but we'll see. Hopefully I'll be able to sneek out to the shop on boxing day and continue plugging along!

Merry Christmas to everyone!

Reg

Re: Volvo EC300D
 

Well done Reg
Looks like it will be done by the NEW YEAR !

Merry Christmas

Re: Volvo EC300D
 

No new progress for the last two days but I did pick up an RC4WD 1/10 racing seat today at the hobby shop. It's not perfect but I think it will do the job! I also picked up some new pinion gears that I hope will work for a new hydraulic pump. The old pump moved too much oil and was too hard to turn at 20 bar so back to the drawing board.:(

Re: Volvo EC300D
 

Hey Reg, have you considered belt or gear reduction on your old pump?
Look's great so far!
Cheer's, Neil.

Re: Volvo EC300D
 

The pump seems to work really well(turns easy very quiet and puts out over a 1l per min) up until about 10-12 bar and then after that it's flow drops off quite a bit. At 2500 rpm it will make 20 bar and around 600ml per minute but is very hard to turn. If you slow it down anymore at that pressure it hardly pumps at all so I think we need to try a more conventional setup. We may play around with this pump a bit more but I think switching to a external gear pump might be better at this point.

Thanks

Re: Volvo EC300D
 

Hey Reg, sound's like you're on top of it. I'm guessing at lower rpm, internal leakage or slippage is killing efficiency?
Keep up the good work!
Cheer's, Neil

Re: Volvo EC300D
 

Really nice work you are doing! I like the details you are adding!