Scaleart - assembling an Arocs 8x8 roll on roll off kipper

[tc1cat]

Looks like a great solution to loose hydraulic hoses. Hope that they will work for you. You might want to try some rubber cement to attach them to the cylinder- not sure what cement you mentioned is.

[Rakthi]

Originally Posted by tc1cat

Looks like a great solution to loose hydraulic hoses. Hope that they will work for you. You might want to try some rubber cement to attach them to the cylinder- not sure what cement you mentioned is.

The cement is a 2 component one. Once hardened takes an awful lot of force to break the bond. Brilliant stuff for glueing metal. Probably overkill for this application, but it's the only glue I have suitable for metal.

You are right though, before I glue it like that, I will first try with something less strong.

Thanks for the suggestion!

Stephan

[Rakthi]

Started on the hydraulics

Prepped the 2 main cylinders. Basically cleaned them of the hydraulic oil that had seeped out.



Added the nipples



Added some hydraulic tubing so you can see what happens if not constrained in some way.





No problem when completely extended.



Anyway had to bolt the roll on / of part to the chassis. When I tried to take it off I ran into a problem ... one of the bolts holding it in the back sheared off . A true WTF moment. Didn't figure I had tightened it that hard. When I took the bolts off on the other side, another one lost it's head . both of them were the ones at the back of the frame.

This is the part I'm talking about.



Here one of the pieces with the sheared of head. (the other bolt is temporary inserted. Is on the wrong side of the part)



Well, spend the rest of the day drilling out the rest of the screw. Stainless steel too. Took forever and broke 3 drill bits. Got both of them out, and luckily the parts are still useable.

No clue what happened. They were not cross threaded, but were jammed solid. Noticed when I removed the part that is was slightly bend where the bolts were. Should have tightened those 4 bolts evenly. Another lesson learned.

Reinstalled the roll on/off assembly on the chassis and everything goes together smoothly. So basically no harm done apart from a couple of scratches made by the drill. But you can't see those anyway.

Hopefully next session will be less stressful

[Rakthi]

Had the reason for my little mishap explained by a person way more proficient in mechanical matters. When I screwed in the bolts, the last couple of turns were not smooth. Most probably this was caused by the black stuff or contamination on the threads. I had previously installed the Roll on / off stuff but never completely tightened the bolts. I should have stopped at once tightening the bolts and taken them back out. Then chase the threads with a tap or else put some copper grease on the bolts. Oh well water under the bridge.

Before I continue here a picture of page in the manual. Makes it easier to follow this posting.



Spend yesterday evening messing with the placement of my holders and got it all kind of figured out. Glued them on last night and let them cure overnight.

This is where I glued them. top one about 1 inch (2.5cm) from the top and the bottom one about 4.5 inch (11.5 cm) from the top.



The top one should have been further out. Had to unscrew the nipple to be able to attach the hydraulic hose. Which meant I had to replace the 2 seals also. (Plenty of spare ones supplied)



Both cylinders with hoses attached. I make a bit of an error ... the one on the op the hose should point inside. Had to redo that one later in the game. The hose comes rolled up and it does pay to work with the way it is curled.

Following the manual, the small ones are 5 cm and the long ones about 17.5 cm.



Now time to fasten the cylinders to the frame and the rest of the mechanism. I had forgotten about those cir-clips.



Found a way to get them on without too much trouble. Got tweezers that fitted in the opening, and then just stuck in a flat screwdriver and slowly turned the blade opening the clip - did have a couple fly off though, but there are a spares.



Cylinders installed, and connected the short hoses. Immediately I got a knick Bugger ... replaced it and same story. Ended up with a piece of only 4cm before it behaved itself. It is a pain getting the hoses and the holder on the nipple, but it is even harder getting the bleeding thing off again. Do hope I never have a hose failure.



Here a view from the other side after finally (4 tries!) getting the bit of hose to stay in shape.



The longer hoses have to cross over to fit. Here is where the natural curve of the hose comes into play. By having one of the hoses bending the "wrong" way the whole thing got skewed.



Connector towards the valves of the short hoses and the longer one after replacement now giving a better curve and not trying to twist away when the cylinders go up.



and the long ones joined to the line for the valves.



The rear ones just cross over and run through the holes in the cross members of the frame towards the valves



Gets a bit busy at the transfer box. The hoses are far enough from the shaft. Only look close in the picture. Might run the 2 hoses coming from the main cylinder over the ones coming from the back though. (noticed I already have surface rust ... sub tropical climate and sea air takes it's toll!)



All end up here labelled and waiting to be hooked up to the valve body. Sill have to do the lines coming from the tank.





ScaleART delivers the truck with 2.5 meter of hydraulic hose. I had ordered an extra meter just for safety sake. That meter turned out to be 1.25 meter. After finishing this part I measured the left over hose and have about 1.30 meter left. I made some extra pieces so there is enough hose with the kit.

Now nursing my sore fingertips. Getting those metal locks on the hoses sure takes its toll.

Next would be the oil tank and it's lines. According to the drawing they seem to indicate to run the pressure line underneath? Seems a tad weird because that way prone to getting stuck to things when in "rough" terrain.

Stephan

[Rakthi]

Short update. Am not really happy with the way the 2 short hydraulic hoses run. Just doesn't look right at all.



So had another look at it. Took that bit out. For some reason I have about 5 extra nipples so nothing was stopping me to do some little experimenting. I only tightened the nipples about 2 turns, so they could move freely and came to this result:



This looked much better and still sticks to the 5 cm ScaleART recommends as length for these pieces. I did try longer pieces of hose thinking to run them through the holes in the holder, but then the coupling connecting them pushes up the other hoses that then interfere with the hook sliding back and forth.



Final installation. Looks much better. Will have to clean up all those bit of loose paint I scraped while messing around and do some retouching. A small bit of double sided tape to hold the coupling in place might prevent further paint damage.



While I was at it took a picture of the back to show how the hoses run there.



That's it for today. My head is not really with it so I better leave it for now before I make another stupid mistake.

Stephan

[Rakthi]

Good thing I took some time out. Realized that with the hook mechanism in place and hooked up to the valves, I will no longer be able to move it up or down until pump and electrics sorted out.

Then I would no longer be able to sort out the rear lights! So that is what I did today.

Got the rear lights of



Removed the shrink tube



Covered the back with Liquid Tape and screwed it back on to the support with M2x5 self tapping screws I sourced on the bay. Followed my own advice and first put on the lights and then pulled the wire through the frame. The new shrink tubing is 3mm one. Could barely get the wires through so used some silicone grease on them. The tubing has not been shrunk so it's way more supple too.



Bus connector for the 2 rear lights.



Cable is too short to go al the way to the front. So extended it. Made sure the connections were spaced to avoid a thick area where the 2 unions are. Put some of the Liquid Tape on them before I pulled it through the shrink tube.



Lights plugged in. (only shrank the tube at beginning and end)



Bus connector installed inside the cross beam for now. Have to sort out a cover for it later. (Looks like all my wires and hoses are crossing one another)



Looked at installing the servo for the trailer coupling, but that will be a real pain in the neck without taking the hook stuff off. I'm just going to forget about that for now.

Stephan

[Rakthi]

Started off with the servos for the valves.



They get controlled with these two knobs. The further left of right you turn, the wider the valve opens. I am sure they also control the pump through one of the mixer functions.



The valve body. The indent indicates the valve is in the middle potion (closed)



Side view



top view



Front view



What hose hooks up where



Servo horns cut and corners in plastic cut as per instructions. Pressed in place.



Servos attached.



Got some unwanted assistance from one of our cats



Test fitting tank so I can finish the hydraulics ...



And bummer ... I had to move that support didn't I ... the screw holding the earth wire of the motor interferes with the tank support forcing it too much towards the back so I will never be able to get the fender in place



Tried different solutions, didn't want to mess with the tank support so ended up filing the head of an M3 bolt down to almost nothing - lucky it is only to hold the earth wire - until it the tank fit in place. If I had left the support in place or moved it over one opening more towards the front this would not have been a issue.



Hopefully next update I will get around to fixing the tank in place and finishing the hydraulic connections - time permitting.

Stephan