Re: Cat 777D Mining Truck
 

I know it's just a tire, but wow, that is really cool. Something like this is so easy to look at and say, what's the big deal, but the average street going person just does not realize the machining and effort that goes into creating something like a tire. There is nothing better then the feeling of creating something from nothing, even if it is a tire. Great job. It looks perfect. I can't wait to see what's next. I can truly appreciate the work it takes to creat something from scratch. I'm not a master at maching parts, but I've made some things for my own truck that turned out well, and they were much simpler then this. :D

Re: Cat 777D Mining Truck
 

I have watched a few of vids on you tube and they all use vacuum for best results. Cheap way is to pour from a high height, 3 or 4 feet, that elongates the material and removes someof the bubbles. You have to have no air movement for this. I will try to track down vid I saw on this.

Awesome results for first attempt!!

Re: Cat 777D Mining Truck
 

Very well described! Congrate to the finished product.
Maybee there should be a seperate forum called "how stuffs made"
You should be first. Is it possible to cast different material in pattern? Do you use flexibel rubber or is tire hard on surface?
Dan

Re: Cat 777D Mining Truck
 

How much shrinkage was there?

Re: Cat 777D Mining Truck
 

Thanks everyone-here you go steve-
http://i305.photobucket.com/albums/n...k/100_1163.jpg
I lost almost 1/16" in dia. nothing in width-
http://i305.photobucket.com/albums/n...k/100_1164.jpg
Iron Art-I have a vaccum pump that was used when building boats but that was in open molds. I have no experience with closed mold vaccuming,not sure it will work but I may give it a try. Since the molds are flexible the pressure may distort the molds and of course the tire. I do have a bleeder valve and gauge on the pump so I might be able to just have a slight vaccum and not force the liquid out or distort the molds. I may pull a vaccum on the molds just to see how they react. Pugs-the rubber I am using does not have to be degassed. Espeefan-I agree with you. At first I didn't want to mess with this but since this is a scratch build there is a certain satisfaction in making my own tires for the truck.

Re: Cat 777D Mining Truck
 

Sonoranwraith-I may try the vaccum but if it doesn't work the air bubbles I have are not enough to be concerned about if the other tires turn out this good.D8R-there is many different hardness materials to use and also rigid products. Here is a link to the company I used and you can see for yourself-
http://www.smooth-on.com/index.html
I used the vyta-flex-30 urethane rubber for my tires and they are flexible. You can see the flex here. The wheel of course will stiffen it but I think it is about right-
http://i305.photobucket.com/albums/n...k/100_1165.jpg

Re: Cat 777D Mining Truck
 

Tom, that came out looking Great. If you don't watch it we'll all be asking you to build tires for us and you won't have any time for your build. Very nice work.

Re: Cat 777D Mining Truck
 

yea very very nice work i like those tires , just a lil bigger would be great lol

Re: Cat 777D Mining Truck
 

really nice!
In the past I have considered to make my own tires, but it became clear to me early on that it is quite involved. Finding the right tires is difficult, sometimes impossible and it is good to know how it can be done!

Thanks,

kerst

Re: Cat 777D Mining Truck
 

Thanks a lot joe & clyde & kerst- Joe-as slow as I am I doubt if anyone would wait for me to build anything. Clyde-If they were twice as big in dia. and twice as wide you might be calling me huh! Kerst-as the old saying goes "it aint rocket science". Anybody can do this. It just takes time & patience and take care of all the little details. Also 9W-on the dia., I did not measure the tire after I took it off the lathe. It started out 3-1/2" but I sanded it some so I might have lost some there. It may not have as much shrinkage as I thought.

Re: Cat 777D Mining Truck
 

nice work on the tire!

Re: Cat 777D Mining Truck
 

jffhrvstr-thanks-I am pleased with it.

Re: Cat 777D Mining Truck
 

wow thats impressive! im going to try this!

thanks

zach

Re: Cat 777D Mining Truck
 

That sir is quite impressive. And not just the final product, but the entire process. You have my respect.

Re: Cat 777D Mining Truck
 

Awesome job on that tire! Thanks for the mini picture tutorial on how you did it. Seeing your results makes me want to try it myself. Are the supplies very expensive?

Re: Cat 777D Mining Truck
 

Thanks Guys-BigZracingRC-you should try this. It's not that hard. The rubber comes with very good instructions. Just follow them exactly and you should get good results. Rogue-thanks a lot-I don't mind sharing what I do. Finster-thanks-the prices are not too bad. Look at the above post #47 and the link to "smooth on" and you can see prices and all kinds of good info.

Re: Cat 777D Mining Truck
 

Good work Tom Ireally like the way they turned out ..did you have to add dye as well?
Its really great that you shared all that with us ...Thanks

Re: Cat 777D Mining Truck
 

TnTLou-thanks a bunch-yes I had to add the black color to the rubber. It only takes 4-tiny drops per tire.I have all the tires made so I am going forward with the build.-
http://i305.photobucket.com/albums/n...k/100_1173.jpg
I think it is going to be a challenge to get all the components in the truck but I am giving it a try. While I am waiting for more material for the wheels and chassis I have started the front wheels. I am making the wheels in two pieces. They will be bolted together and clamp on the bead of the tire to prevent slippage-
http://i305.photobucket.com/albums/n...k/100_1174.jpg
Here they are together-
http://i305.photobucket.com/albums/n...k/100_1177.jpg
That's all for now.

Re: Cat 777D Mining Truck
 

Keep it coming Tom

Re: Cat 777D Mining Truck
 

looks great!!! keep up the awsome work

Re: Cat 777D Mining Truck
 

Great job on the tires.:cool:

Re: Cat 777D Mining Truck
 

Tom, those tires look like you just got a delivery from GoodYear. They look good on the rims also. Have you started on any of the rest of the truck yet?

Re: Cat 777D Mining Truck
 

Thanks a lot guys-joe-it is gonna be slow for awhile. I am trying to gather up a lot of the parts and pieces. I am having to use mail order for everything and it is TERRIBLE!!(slow,slow,slow). A few months ago I was ordering stuff online with a credit card and someone jacked my card info online and lightened my bank account by several hundred$$$ :eek: before I realized what was going on so I am thru with credit cards. Lesson learned. It's a sad old world we live in now but I guess the Internet and the thieves are here to stay.

Re: Cat 777D Mining Truck
 

thats sad when someone takes your info and drains your stuff there is a way to do this 2 accounts one for ordering things and make shure there is just enough to cover the charges and the other is a safe account that you don't use for purchasing items .................and i really like those tires you will have one nice truck very cool keep up the great work

Re: Cat 777D Mining Truck
 

Tom , the tires look great same with the rims . ? , Did you order from smooth on directly or a independent dealer ?

IHSteve

Re: Cat 777D Mining Truck
 

IHsteve-thanks a lot-I used this place because it was closer to me-
http://www.reynoldsam.com/

Re: Cat 777D Mining Truck
 

thanks tom , I also got 1 close to me , I was just wondering I f you dealt directly with them . but I'll check around for the best $

IHSteve

Re: Cat 777D Mining Truck
 

Well, it seems like gearmotors to fit this truck are made from the rare material
"unobtainium". I only found one that would work and is a little to fast but I think it will do. It is to long so I had to get creative with the rear wheels but I have it worked out. This is the complete set-
http://i305.photobucket.com/albums/n...k/100_1178.jpg
The gearmotor extends all the way thru the inner wheel-

http://i305.photobucket.com/albums/n...k/100_1179.jpg

http://i305.photobucket.com/albums/n...k/100_1183.jpg
Here is rear wheels assembled-
http://i305.photobucket.com/albums/n...k/100_1181.jpg
I have more holes to drill and tap and I have to make a hub cover. I am using 2-56 screws. I tried the 0-80 screws but could not tap the holes. Broken taps,stripped holes, ruined wheel-disaster! But the 2-56 size is working good.

Re: Cat 777D Mining Truck
 

Glad to see you're making some progress. What RPM are the motors?

Re: Cat 777D Mining Truck
 

For the small holes in aluminum you should be able to use forming taps, which are much stronger. Just remember that they require a slightly larger tap drill to work. I have hand tapped some 0-80's before with them and it is quite easy to get very nice threads.

Re: Cat 777D Mining Truck
 

Steve-I have had some problems working this out. Hard to get my brain in gear. The motors are rated at 65-RPM@12V so I will have to adjust voltage. I think I can use 45-50 RPM so maybe 7.2V? I haven't got that far yet. Rolling the wheel on the table works out to 50 RPM but I will have to get it actually running to tell for sure. I had-1-more picture but for some reason it will not load. Now that the width is worked out I can start the chassis.

Re: Cat 777D Mining Truck
 

Your tires turned out just great! Wheels and wheel motor assemblies should save you a lot of space in place of a diff, driveshaft and single motor. This truck will look great next to your shovel.

Ken

Re: Cat 777D Mining Truck
 

sparkycuda-thanks and you are right. The motors in the wheels save a lot of space and that is very important on this build. Pugs-I don't know what a forming tap is:confused:. I used new hss taper-bottom taps. My chart does not go smaller than 2-56. What size drill bit do you use with 0-80 taps? I used a #60.

Re: Cat 777D Mining Truck
 

A form tap has no flutes or cutting edges. It creates the threads by displacing the metal into the shape (basically makes a thread that is strong like a forging). Because it displaces it requires a slightly larger tap drill. Since it has no flutes (some have a reliefe for fluid to escape blind holes), it is a much stronger body tap which is a great thing in the really small stuff.

Balax makes some great form taps
http://metalworking.mscdirect.com/CG...PMPXNO=1907339

PM me your addy and I'll send you a small tap drill chart that goes down to 0-80 and shows form tap drills. One of the tooling places I buy from sends a chart with every order, I have a few around the shop, could spare one.

Tap drill for a cut type tap 0-80 is listed as 3/64 which is .0469", the #60 is .0400" so you're right in there. If it were a forming tap it would need to be drilled with a #54 which is .0550" And form taps a a bit more particular about using the proper size tap drill due to the way they work.

Re: Cat 777D Mining Truck
 

Tom, On my 0-80 adventures I started using a #56 (.0465") drill but broke taps occasionally but when I got the correct size: 3/64" (.0469") that did the trick the extra .0004" made a difference in steel. I also took the Dewalt drill and ran the 3/64 drill into the holes to possibly remove a tiny bit of the burr or what ever was on the holes after drilling in the mill. On your aluminum it may be tricky to not get the tap stuck. I use Cool Tool on steel and Alumatap on Aluminum for fluid. Brass I tap dry. Are those holes blind? That makes a bigger challenge to be able to get the chips out. You'll have to turn some then back out several times to keep chips from packing in the bottom.

Re: Cat 777D Mining Truck
 

Yet another advantage of form taps.....no chips.

They work good in steel too, I just don't usually have steel to tap.

Re: Cat 777D Mining Truck
 

Thanks for all your help guys. Sounds like my small drill bit is one problem. 0-80 screws are new territory for me. Steve the holes go all the way thru and I am using "Anchorlube G-771" cutting fluid and it works great for drilling. Is it wrong for tapping? Also the tap I broke did get stuck. It wouldn't turn either way so I knew I was in trouble.

Re: Cat 777D Mining Truck
 

Hey tom motors of choice look pretty good...What rpm are you going with and what kind of torqure ..Hey guys thanks for the tips on taps ...very usefull info

Re: Cat 777D Mining Truck
 

Looks Good!!!

Re: Cat 777D Mining Truck
 

be very glad they did it with your credit card
you can get every penny back when you call your bank
can't do that with checks or cash
they got my wife and i last year for almost a grand and it was back in our bank in less than a week '
and if you don't want anything just cancel the payment no fighting to get your money back