So I got to work on the driveshafts and the dump drive....I found some WPL driveshafts that fit perfectly into a piece of 5/16 precision aluminum tubing.
[img]https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/51893463204_1732b44268_z.jpg[/img
First I cut a little off the female end and took that piece and moved it to the other end of the tube... then I trimmed the male end so I have about an 1/8 of an inch or so to drill into and not have it bottom out...
Then I JB welded both ends in and then drilled a hole for a 2mm bolt incase the JB weld didn't hold
[img]https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/51893777895_aa05d021d4_z.jpg]
Then I tackled the dump bed actuator This is the orginal one, it worked but I wanted something a little better looking. The aluminum butted up to the shoulder on the motor so it couldn't push back and the ziptie kept it from falling out. I used a masonry bit I cut down as a screw with set screws as "teeth" to ride up and down the bit...it worked pretty well but was really sloppy...
So I got a screw assembly from a Huina 580 excavator these had a lot less slop in them and were relatively cheap
Again I cut them down because the screw only needs to push the bed about an inch. I 3D printed a coupler to see how log it would last...I have a regular metal coupler 3mm x 6mm as a fall back when this one gives up.
This is what it looks like before I put it all together...it's a 33rpm gear motor with a 3D printed collar to hold it in the 25mm tube.
And mounted in place... I tried a couple printed mounts and the last one worked but looked odd to me so I went with the tube
I had to cut a groove in the tubing to clear the drive shaft....but you can barely see it.
So the whole thing can tip 8lbs to full height in about 8 seconds which looks "scale" to me
So I'm getting pretty close to wiring this all up hope to finish it in the next week or so....