4 Hour Bruder Dozer

[chaseracer]

I like what I'm seeing .. Maybe dozer for me too lol

[RCP57]

Hahaha, your the only person that I didn't want to see this Jason. I guess I should have cut another set of sprockets hey? I hope this works but we'll have to wait and see.

[RCP57]

Well, this thread should not be called "4 Hour Bruder Dozer" anymore. I spent at least 5 hours working on it just today alone!lol

I finished up the sprockets and made new idlers for the front and rear. I'm cheap so the plan is to TIG weld nuts to the chain again like I did on my 955K and EC300. I wish I could just use K1 links but it's not in the budget. Right now it is still running the 360 servos that I put in it to begin with. They are only 50-60oz/in so they need to be upgraded. In the video it is only running off of 4, AA batteries. After filming the video, I wired in a BEC switched to 6v and ran everything off of a 7.2v battery. It was a definite improvement but still not enough for metal tracks. I made the hubs so that they can be drilled out to fit on gear motors should I ditch the servo idea. I may just go that route instead of using high torque servos but I will have to see what fits best in the model and my budget.

Here's how things are turning out so far. Kinda like putting lipstick on a pig I suppose....

http://youtu.be/jGtNWZWy_1s






Thanks for looking.

[RCP57]

After finishing up my work day in the shop I spent a couple of hours tonight working on my dozer again. I have to pick up some things before I can make any more progress on the tracks so I decided to get started on the blade. I made it slightly wider than the plastic blade and angled out the corner bits. I am looking at this project as practice for my next scratch build so hopefully I can learn a thing or two along the way.

[justin]

Hey reg
Nice looking tipper. Great job on the dozer

[chet]

looking good! How hard were those servos to convert to 360 rotation? I'm looking at the hs85mg's but they are quite a bit more

[RCP57]

Originally Posted by justin

Hey reg
Nice looking tipper. Great job on the dozer

Thanks Justin. I guess we will see what you think of the tipper in about a week and a half hey?lol

Originally Posted by chet

looking good! How hard were those servos to convert to 360 rotation? I'm looking at the hs85mg's but they are quite a bit more

Thanks. These servos are already 360 rotation. I ordered some new ones this morning that are 13KG. Hopefully they will be strong enough to push a little dirt.

A little update. I spent a few hours today finishing up the tracks. I TIG welded 112, 4-40 nuts onto the chain. This took approximately an hour and a half. Then I proceeded to cut, drill and slot 56 pads. After that I bolted it all together and took some pictures. I took a test drive too but will make a video of that after I finish up the rollers under the track frames. Next up will be a new C frame for the blade!

I would also like to add that this is all Mario's fault!

[chaseracer]

Hope you made 2 sets ....looking great wow

[RCP57]

Sorry Jason. So far I have only done one set. Money talks though so if you or anyone else wanted a "KIT" I would happily build another.

[modelman]

RCP57-nice work on the conversion. How did you possibly weld those 4-40 nuts? Did you have a jig? Did you consider using button head screws on the pads? Guess it really doesn"t matter though but it might look better. Nice work anyhow.

[RCP57]

Originally Posted by modelman

RCP57-nice work on the conversion. How did you possibly weld those 4-40 nuts? Did you have a jig? Did you consider using button head screws on the pads? Guess it really doesn"t matter though but it might look better. Nice work anyhow.

Thanks! Yes I made a jig a couple years back when I did my 955K. It is a pain in the AZZ welding the nuts to the chain but with a little care it goes OK. I didn't ruin any nuts so it can't be that bad. The worst part is the smoke off of the chain as the oil burns out. Man that's toxic! I agree that the socket heads look out of place and I ordered up something else but this is all I had enough of in my drawers.

Today's update!!!! After playing "dump box builder" I shut down the business side of the shop to finish up the undercarriage on my Lil Dozer. I made up a pair of sliders for the chain to run in where the rollers should be. It seems to work pretty well and I know other people us a similar setup so I think it will be fine. Once the new servos arrive I will beef up their mount and the underside will be complete! The amount of time I have in this has added up quickly. If I had given it more thought before I started I would have probably started building my D8K instead but this will be cheaper and that was the main reason for doing it.

Anyway, I'm pretty stoked to be half way toward having a dozer!

http://youtu.be/bD40EylUQ-Q

[Trackerman]

Reg,
Are you using gas or gas less tig welder? Nice build really enjoying the innovation in the build.

Cheers

Paul

[RCP57]

Thanks Paul! I'm using straight Argon. I didn't know you could TIG weld without gas? I've never heard of that but I'm not saying it's impossible. I think it would be possible to MIG weld the nuts on too but my MIG welder is a bit large and I only have .035 wire in it. I would end up with the chain welded into a blob by the time I was finished!haha

Might get some work done on the blade later but we'll see. Customer projects need attention first!

[Trucker_Jo]

Woah your cheap tracks are awesome! Did I read somewhere that those pads are the rails that are for carpeting of some sort? I may have to steal that idea of welding nuts to the chain although I only can MIG and might end up with a solid chain with welded links by the time i'm done

[Trackerman]

Reg,
I am not sure about the gassless myself. Any pictures of your jig for holding the track and nuts please.

Cheers

Paul

[K-Man]

Great work on the dozer. I you decide to skip the servos (and if you have the space) this geared motor could be worth a shot. They're about the price of a regular 360 rotation servos (minus the speed controller, of course) and much more powerful and longer lasting. The site has plenty of gear that could be of use for RC conversion projects, and free shipping to boot.

[K-Man]

OF course it would help if I actually include the link!!!

http://www.dx.com/p/hzdz-370-worm-ge...5#.VFWRhVc0-So

[doodlebug]

Hey Reg, It's ready for a scraper can now! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k7HrKvlg19I

Cheers, Neil.

[RCP57]

Thanks for the links guys. I received some parts today in the mail. Somewhere along the way my "do not safe drop" package got ran over by the looks of it! Some stuff inside was crushed to but by the looks of things none of the actual parts were damaged just their packaging.





I am already regretting the choice to use servos for the drives. I ordered some 360 tower pro servos and one glitched and fried within 30 seconds of plugging it into the receiver! This on the bench long before it had even seen the model....Not happy! Anyway I ended up ripping the guts out of both and turning them into gear motors. This defeats the purpose as to why I chose to run them in the first place so I am kinda pissed. Now they are in there and wired up to a Sabertooth ESC so at least that part works. Now I can push into a pile of dirt and strip the gears.lol I did a pretty hill billy job of installing them because I don't think they will last long. That link to those gear motors will come in handy yet, trust me!

I picked up some actuators from Ian at Firgelli on Sunday for the blade movement. I haven't made much progress but I have done a bit toward the C frame and actuator mounts.



Here's a picture of my jig when I did the Volvo's tracks. It's nothing special that's for sure...

[Trackerman]

Reg,
Thanks for the jig photo, explained a lot.

Cheers

Paul