Skeeters contracting services

[Northern Farmer]

Originally Posted by skeeter

Well, we did it, I bought my FIRST piece of HYDRAULIC equipment. I got this one \/

unnamed (81) by Anthony Kalnoski, on Flickr

I'd LOVE to have made the MOSTLY 3D printes, & a little bit of CNC excavator, like Stein did, but I DON'T have access to a CNC machine! Without access to one, I decided I'd just bite the bullet & buy one during RC4WD Black Friday SALE! I feel I got a decent deal out of it. The machine, battery, extra hyd hose, plus S+H was $1644.27! By far the MOST expensive RC I've ever bought, but I feel it'll be $$ well spent.

Congrats on your new purchase You got a good deal. Check out DiggingWithMartin on youtube. He’s had his 4200 for a couple years now and know’s everything there is to know about these excavators. In the future if you ever want to upgrade the track motors take a look at Soyland Industries (Rimrock) on here.

[frizzen]

Alas, poor flex-shaft, taken before its time. Hopefully you new fast-tool replacement lasts longer.

Hey what kinda height, width, and length do you have on that Fire Ladder? Not counting the search light, since i'd knock that off first thing. Uh, for research purposes...

[skeeter]

I'lll have to take some measurements of the ladder, tomorrow fir ya.

HOPEFULLY Santa got the hint, & will be placing a new Dremel tool under the tree for me

[skeeter]

Originally Posted by Northern Farmer

Congrats on your new purchase You got a good deal. Check out DiggingWithMartin on youtube. He’s had his 4200 for a couple years now and know’s everything there is to know about these excavators. In the future if you ever want to upgrade the track motors take a look at Soyland Industries (Rimrock) on here.

I feel after searching around for a LONG time, that I got a good deal price wise. I just hope it's a good deal in the long run. Meaning I hope it holds up well!

Thanks fir the info, I'll check those 2 out.

[skeeter]

Today I made a lil more progress on the Bruder Skidsteer conversion. I fabbed an aluminum box to hold my Savox servo that I want to use for the boom lift. Since I had to cut the mounting tabs off to make it fit inside the model, I had to get creative with how to mount the servo. Then I used some old Traxxas parts to make a connecting rod for it. The servo horn (You guessed it) it's left over Traxxas too. A while back I'd ordered a beacon light for a different project. That light DIDN'T work well scale wise for that project, & sat in the parts bin for a lengthy period of time. Today it gained a purpose in life!

20171125_152912 by Anthony Kalnoski, on Flickr

20171125_152925 by Anthony Kalnoski, on Flickr

unnamed (86) by Anthony Kalnoski, on Flickr

unnamed (87) by Anthony Kalnoski, on Flickr

unnamed (88) by Anthony Kalnoski, on Flickr

[skeeter]

Now lets test things out!

Testing the programmable beacon lamp
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8EuY1RwZ4qA

Testing the boom lift
https://youtu.be/toAzzow-0nc

Um,....yeah, there's a problem here! I knew I SHOULD have tested that Savox servo PRIOR to installing it in the model! It glitches REALLY bad. Reminds me why I pulled it from the crawler to begin with! Well.............I guess tomorrow can be spent undoing what I did today, so I can change that servo to a different one. HOPEFULLY that one DOESN'T glitch like this one does! I think I will test it BEFORE installation

[skeeter]

Since our little case dozer at the house is dead, we rented a D4 to finish up a lil work. I snapped some pics of the Bruder conversion with it's 1:1 likeness. After seeing the Bruder perched upon the Cat D4, I am more sure than ever that the Bruder is modeled after the D4! You take a look at pics, & decide fir yourself.

20171125_125535 by Anthony Kalnoski, on Flickr

20171125_125334 by Anthony Kalnoski, on Flickr

20171125_125517 by Anthony Kalnoski, on Flickr

20171125_125250 by Anthony Kalnoski, on Flickr

[skeeter]

Well...................poop! I just it ate at me WHY would I put a servo into the misc parts bin, if it wasn't any good. I just had to do something about it, so I went out tested OVER a dozen servo's with the servo tester. ALL of them glitched. EVEN the brand new hitech micro servo that I just got. I think my servo tester is boogered up! Tomorrow, I'll have to make a trip to the LHS, & see if I can acquire a new servo tester, as well as a new servo. I just want to make sure that when I return home with the new tester, IF in the event all them servo's went bad (I CAN'T imagine why they would) that I have a brand new one that I can place into the skidsteer to get 'er working...........WELL, as working as can be, until the Sabertooth 2X5 gets here to make the wheels drive.

[Hofabooz]

Hi Skeeter

It all looking good congratulations on your excavator purchase.
Will be looking forwards to seeing it and the skid steer in action soon.

[skeeter]

Thank-you, sir! IDK if the excavator will be used until the weather dries things out a bit. It's too wet here now. I have rocky ground, but it got clay like properties to it, if that makes any sense.

HOPEFULLY tomorrow, or day after at the latest, the Sabertooth will be in my hot lil hand. Soon as that thing gets here, Skidsteer will be running.

[skeeter]

Originally Posted by frizzen

Hey what kinda height, width, and length do you have on that Fire Ladder? Not counting the search light, since i'd knock that off first thing. Uh, for research purposes...

Frizz, the firetruck is 26 inches long from bumper to bumper. From the ground to the tallest part of the truck with the ladder stored for transit is 8.25 inches tall. The ladder from base to the end of the basket is 19 inches long while stored for transit. The truck measures 5.5 inches wide from side to side.

Since I have that d@m Skidsteer apart today, here's a couple pics of the custom fabricated mount I made to hold the servo that operates the boom lift. There's already a few sanps posted of it, but they are with it installed in the machine.
unnamed (90) by Anthony Kalnoski, on Flickr

unnamed (91) by Anthony Kalnoski, on Flickr

[skeeter]

I've REALLY been wanting a CNC machine, & a lathe. I've found a lathe at Hazardous Freight (Harbor Freight) although small, it'll work for what I do, IF I can find a spot for it in the garage. ?

I've found this CNC on Evilbay. Is it any good? will it work? Is it any good? Will it have longevity, or die within a couple projects?
https://www.ebay.com/itm/4Axis-VFD-3...19.m1438.l2649

[tc1cat]

Machine would be fine for light milling in plastic only or engraving. I would not use it for much of anything other than plastic. No telling what kind of bearings are in it. Milling machines need bearings that can take a side load. Engravers and drill press' do not have bearings made for side loading. That is why a drill press will start making oval holes besides bad drill bits.

I would get a regular milling machine and convert to CNC. Need to go slow and learn process as you go. I speak from 30 years of machining experience- both manual and CNC.

[skeeter]

Originally Posted by tc1cat

Machine would be fine for light milling in plastic only or engraving. I would not use it for much of anything other than plastic. No telling what kind of bearings are in it. Milling machines need bearings that can take a side load. Engravers and drill press' do not have bearings made for side loading. That is why a drill press will start making oval holes besides bad drill bits.

I would get a regular milling machine and convert to CNC. Need to go slow and learn process as you go. I speak from 30 years of machining experience- both manual and CNC.

Thank-you, sir for the info. I will NOT be acquiring that machine!
I plan to take it slow, starting with a small machine, & eventually, HOPEFULLY get into bigger machines.

[frizzen]

Originally Posted by skeeter

Frizz, the firetruck is 26 inches long from bumper to bumper. From the ground to the tallest part of the truck with the ladder stored for transit is 8.25 inches tall. The ladder from base to the end of the basket is 19 inches long while stored for transit. The truck measures 5.5 inches wide from side to side.

Wow, i figured it was a little bigger. My fire chief is 8 1/4" tall to the light, 7 7/8" wide at the rub rail, and 26" long at bumpers.

[tc1cat]

I really cannot praise the Sherline machines enough for a beginner. Easy to assemble and easy to use. This was my first small mill and lathe which I still have after 25 years of use. Both have been upgraded many times and very few parts replaced. While they do seem pricey at first, they are worth every penny. Size is an issue with them thou. You can just make wheels for the semis over the saddle on the lathe without some mods but the accuracy of the machines is much more than needed for this hobby. The many available options are one of the big plus' for me.

Must add that I have 6 of the Sherline machines- 3 lathes and 3 mills!

[skeeter]

Today, I installed the new Traxxas 2075 servo into the skidsteer conversion. The Traxxas servo is shorter then the Savox SC-0251MG. Since the two are different size, I had to modify the box that I fabricated to hold the servo in place.
unnamed (92) by Anthony Kalnoski, on Flickr
The gears from the Savox DO, however fit the Traxxas 2075 servo's. Since they fit, I gutted the bad Savox servo, & installed the METAL gears into the Traxxas servo. Now I still have a metal gear servo in this thang, even if it is a slightly weaker servo than I originally wanted to use.

[skeeter]

Since the flex shaft for the Dremel tool died, I've not been doing much lately. I've gotten spoiled with the ease of removing material(s) with it. Hopefully once Xmas is here, I'll have a new dremel tool with flex shaft, & can again start new projects. In the meanwhile, I've ordered the pump for the firetruck conversion.
https://www.ebay.com/itm/DC-3-7V-6V-...sAAOSwkjNZqNYS
Alo been ordering a few other misc. parts & pieces that are needed around here.

[Efroeh]

Awesome look forward to see your take on the fire truck conversion. I've been thinking about building one also. Keep it comming

[skeeter]

Made a lil progress on the Bruder Skidsteer conversion tonight. This thang has been a PITA (Pain In The @zz) from day one. It all started with the disassembly, & nothing's been easy since the beginning! I thought I had it all sorted out, but ran into problem after problem with this thang. The battery pack I thought was going to fit nicely............. it didn't fit. The receiver.....well I HAD room for it, but then I had to re-arrange EVERYTHING in it! I now have to order the miniature 4channel Spektrum receiver I'll be impatiently awaiting it's arrival on the SLOW boat from China. Anyways, here's a couple of pics from tonights adventures with it.

The 2/3A batteries shohorned in it.
unnamed (97) by Anthony Kalnoski, on Flickr

The run/off/charge switch installed. It still needs dome black touch up added to it, so it looks more like an exhaust stack.
unnamed (96) by Anthony Kalnoski, on Flickr

The top cover mocked in place with the new switch installed
unnamed (95) by Anthony Kalnoski, on Flickr