Re: Cat 777D Mining Truck
 

looks great!!!!!!!!!!!!

Re: Cat 777D Mining Truck
 

Thanks fellas-lot's of finish work to be done but as you all know that's part of it.

Re: Cat 777D Mining Truck
 

I built the fuel tanks and attached them. I am not going for a highly detailed truck but as I look at pictures of these trucks a few things jump out at me such as big tires, dump box, fuel tanks and such. These are the things I am trying to add. The hand rails and front steps are probably the only things left that I will attempt-
http://i305.photobucket.com/albums/n...k/100_1347.jpg
Papy is checking the size of the hand rails on the 1:1 trucks so I should know something on this in a couple of days.

Re: Cat 777D Mining Truck
 

Looking great

Re: Cat 777D Mining Truck
 

Very nice job on the mining truck ,great work modelman:D

Re: Cat 777D Mining Truck
 

Very Good!!!

Congratulations

Re: Cat 777D Mining Truck
 

You gotta have the hand rails and steps Tom. That will set any model off. Have you tried the perforated metal on the grill yet?

Re: Cat 777D Mining Truck
 

Thanks a lot everyone-steve you are right. The hand rails are important to the look of these trucks. And the steps make the front end complete. After I find out the size of the rails I am ordering some brass wire. I have built a couple of sets of steps out of .060" music wire just for practice and they are a complete disaster. The music wire will not bend without heating it up and I can't heat it and get it on my bending jig before it cools down so it's impossible for me to make 2 pcs. alike. I hope the brass will bend easy but making steps that small is going to be a huge challenge for me. I am going to use the wire mesh from McMaster-Carr for the grille but I haven't ordered it yet.

Re: Cat 777D Mining Truck
 

Re: Cat 777D Mining Truck
 

Exelent work Tom..Looks really good.Amazing outcome on those tires too..Really looking forward to seeing some paint on this brute...Can you post a few picks on size comparison next to you shovel...Cheers lou

Re: Cat 777D Mining Truck
 

Really nice work Tom. Did you already weight it?

For your handrails just a thought. Take a brass or cooper wire in the desired size, put one side in the vice and the other in the drill and twist it a few times. Now it will be smoothened and stiff enough to stay in the shape you bend it.

Just like this:

http://i28.photobucket.com/albums/c2...versteifen.jpg

Re: Cat 777D Mining Truck
 

Tamiya cowboy-thanks a lot. The box holds 3-1/2-4lbs. of dirt. TnTlou-thanks for the nice words-I have the shovel stored away while I am building the truck but I will have it out soon and I will get some pics. Lorenzo-thanks to you also.Now that I know the size of the hand rails I will get solid brass rods for that. I don't have a weight on it yet but it is heavier than I thought it would be and there is more weight to be added.

Re: Cat 777D Mining Truck
 

While I am waiting on parts,(seems like that is a constant problem), I got the steering worked out. Very tight place to work but that has been the theme for this entire build. I had to make various parts to get it to work without binding but I finally got it right-
http://i305.photobucket.com/albums/n...k/100_1351.jpg
The servo is hanging below the truck but I had no choice. Space is a big problem-
http://i305.photobucket.com/albums/n...k/100_1348.jpg

http://i305.photobucket.com/albums/n...k/100_1353.jpg
I still have a lot of parts to go into the small radio compartment but-1-step at a time and hopefully it will all work out.

Re: Cat 777D Mining Truck
 

Nice work, looks like the servo was made to fit there

Re: Cat 777D Mining Truck
 

Tom, would one of those micro sized servos work? I'm not an expert on them but can somebody recommend one?

Re: Cat 777D Mining Truck
 

9W Monigham, you are making some great progress! I love how the 777D is coming along!

As for micro servos, I would stick to Hitec brand micro servos. They are the best bang for the buck, and the some of the strongest.

I'd say take a look at the Hitec HS-82MG, HS-5085MG, or HS-85MG. I believe they all have metal gears, hence the MG designation. They are around the 39 ounce to 59 ounce torque rating. I'm not sure how much power your truck will need, but these mirco servos put out the same power as the standard sized cheap servos.

Re: Cat 777D Mining Truck
 

Pugs-thanks it worked out good I felt. Steve-the micro servos don't have much torque in my experience with them. I felt I needed good power to turn the wheels with the truck loaded. The servo I used has 110 in. oz. of torque @ 6V. That may be overkill but better over powered than under powered I think. Espeefan-thanks for the comments but I don't agree with you on the hi-tec servos. They are very short lived in my opinion. I believe in Airtronics, but everyone has their own opinion. I ran Airtronics in my race boats for 10+ years and never had a problem with servos, recs. or transmitters and boats are killers on radio equipment.

Re: Cat 777D Mining Truck
 

I got the hand rails and ladders made.These pcs. did not turn out as good as I wanted but I knew this was going to be a problem for me. Some things I cannot do with bad eyesight. In my mind I am a perfectionist but with bad vision perfect is only a dream.:(.
http://i305.photobucket.com/albums/n...k/100_1360.jpg
I scaled from the Norscot model to get the height of the hand rails so I don't know if this is correct or not-
http://i305.photobucket.com/albums/n...k/100_1362.jpg
These ladders are only 2" tall X 3/4" wide.
http://i305.photobucket.com/albums/n...k/100_1363.jpg
These parts will not be attached until all the body work is done since they would be too hard to work around. I will try to build the screw drive next so we will see how that goes.

Re: Cat 777D Mining Truck
 

I'm having trouble seeing too Tom. I get really frustrated trying to see up close juggling between reading glasses and open eyes. I think part of the problem is the fluorescent lighting in my shop and the walls not painted white. I want to go to the eye doctor soon after taxes and some insurance payments.

Re: Cat 777D Mining Truck
 

The truck is lookin' great. And, yes, the handrails and ladders add hughely to the overall look. This is really a cool build and looking forward to seeing how the screwdrive comes out. Are you going to put fake hydraulic cylinders on the truck or just go without any?

Ken

Re: Cat 777D Mining Truck
 

The handrails look great to me. I don't know the 1:1 777D inside or out, but from what I can tell, things look really good!

Re: Cat 777D Mining Truck
 

Steve-I know about frustration when it comes to eyesight. If I could go back 25 years when I had perfect vision and hands that didn't work like lobster claws I could build these parts easily, but it's a different deal now. I'm not complaining though, I just use what I have and go on. This stuff doesn't affect how the truck works and that is what matters to me. Sparkycuda-actually I haven't thought about cylinders until you mentioned it but they probably would look good. When I finish with everything else I will make that call. It all depends on the space I have. Espeefan-thanks a lot!

Re: Cat 777D Mining Truck
 

Tom, the truck looks good. It's going to be great watching it get loaded by your shovel.

Re: Cat 777D Mining Truck
 

Thanks joe-haven't heard from you in a while-how have you been doing? No work done on the truck.WHY? 2-weeks ago today-5 tornadoes ripped thru AL..At 6:00a.m. one took a N.E.path across Cullman Co. about 1-mile so. of my house destroying lots of homes and about 25% of the golf course. At 3:00p.m. another one went ripping thru downtown Cullman which is about 1-1/2 miles north of my house and it destroyed 6-churches,1-school, hundreds of houses,restuarants,factories,and everything in it's path. About the same time another one went thru about 45 miles north of Cullman and hit the Browns Ferry Nuclear plant which generates electricity for approx. half of Al. 39 towers that carry the high voltage power lines were destroyed and 50% of Al.was out of power. The city of Cullman was shut down completely for a week. People could not get gas for generators or there vehicles.No one could buy food,clothing or anything. It looked like a war zone with 25% of the city destroyed and will take years to recover. It is a miracle that no one was killed but there were a few serious injuries.Things are slowly getting back to normal but some peoples lives have changed forever. Seems these storms are getting more frequent across our great nation and it's amazing how much damage can be done in a couple of minutes. All our communication tools,(power,phones,internet) just came back on yesterday afternoon.

Re: Cat 777D Mining Truck
 

dang Tom , I almost forgot you were in that area :o I've seen pics of the damage :eek: never thought wind could pickup a steel train bridge and throw it a good couple yards down stream . It's good to hear your alright and most the folks in your area .

Re: Cat 777D Mining Truck
 

Yes steve-that was a scary day for a lot of us!! Several other cities were hit hard also. Maybe things can get back to normal soon.:)

Re: Cat 777D Mining Truck
 

I have been working on the screw drive mechanism for the truck for awhile now and I must say it has been "kicking my butt". I cut and hacked and re-made parts until I thought there was no way this was going to work but I finally got it right. This may be the shortest screw drive ever! I only had-2-"of travel on the shaft to make it work and something was in the way with every move I made. Oh well nobody said it was easy. Here are the pieces it took to make it work-
http://i305.photobucket.com/albums/n...k/100_1383.jpg
I had some alignment problems with all the parts fiting with the gearmotor so a friend told my how to make this self-aligning coupler. It's really simple but works great-
http://i305.photobucket.com/albums/n...k/100_1388.jpg
Here is everything put together in the frame-
http://i305.photobucket.com/albums/n...k/100_1389.jpg
Here is a short video of it dumping-
http://i305.photobucket.com/albums/n...h_100_1394.jpg
I need to get some shoulder bolts for all the hinge points and this part will be finished. That's all for now.

Re: Cat 777D Mining Truck
 

Tom. The screw drive turned out fantastic. You showed some real patience there, for it to fit in such a small space. Have you tried it yet, to see how much it will lift?
Rob

Re: Cat 777D Mining Truck
 

I wondered where you've been hiding out. Hopefully your shop has some AC. That looks like it should do the job Tom. How much weight can it handle? I want to make one of those when I get to it on a Tonka like Scott's .

Re: Cat 777D Mining Truck
 

steamer-thanks a lot. It had me talking to myself for awhile but it all worked out. And yes,I tried it, it will dump a full load. Steve, no I do not have AC, I wish. I have been getting up at 6;00 every morning and working a few hours before the heat gets me. I spent a few sleepless nights wondering if I had enough power to dump a load since the lift points are so close to the hinge but it dumped a full load with a half-charged battery pack and only drew less than 1-amp. The motor is rated for 2-amps so I think I am okay. I didn,t weigh it but it is a huge pile of dirt. Later I will weigh the load and let you know.

Re: Cat 777D Mining Truck
 

Modelman, that is fantastic engineering there!

Re: Cat 777D Mining Truck
 

Tom, that is some nice machine work and engineering on the lift. This will be another incredible model when you finish.

Re: Cat 777D Mining Truck
 

nice! How much weight can you put in the box and still be able to dump?

Re: Cat 777D Mining Truck
 

Very ingenious screwdrive! This model is quite mechanically innovative and your workmanship is excellent. Will be a real eye-catcher when in paint. Great work.

Ken

Re: Cat 777D Mining Truck
 

Thanks everyone-the main topic seems to be weight capacity so I decided to check it out. The dump box in this video contains 6-1/2 lbs. of dry dirt. It struggles just a bit at lift-off but handled it just fine-
http://i305.photobucket.com/albums/n...h_100_1398.jpg
A normal load seems to be about 5-1/2 lbs. but I can heap it full and carry the 6-1/2 lb. load. The hinges just have 4-40 screws thru them now and are binding just a little. I think when I get pins installed in all the hinge points it will work better. I will know more later. Also everything is dry. I don't want to grease anything until it's painted.

Re: Cat 777D Mining Truck
 

Tom. she handles the load just fine. That's a good lift for such a short throw. After I painted mine I covered the screw with anti seize and it sure helped ease the drag on the thread.
Rob

Re: Cat 777D Mining Truck
 

Can't wait to see this in paint!!

Re: Cat 777D Mining Truck
 

It looks great, I can't wait to see it finished.

Re: Cat 777D Mining Truck
 

Your mining truck is looking good Tom. It will be cool to see it all painted up.

Re: Cat 777D Mining Truck
 

any updates