New Project!

[Stuart]

Originally Posted by Espeefan

Looking really good, Stu. I can't wait to see what you come up with for the 3 point hitch. I might find myself in the same situation someday. I really want to build a tractor.

Thanks, go for it, its a challenge but great fun

Made a start on the front hitch:





Thanks for lookin
Stu

[kaptain Jack]

Machined from solid piece of aluminum... life must be good.

[Stuart]

Originally Posted by kaptain Jack

Machined from solid piece of aluminum... life must be good.

Bien sur!

Front hitch arms & linkage:








Stu

[Espeefan]

Nice work Stu. Are the lifting arms pinned to the shaft, or just secured with set screws? How much power does your lifting servo have? The parts are looking good!

[Stuart]

Originally Posted by Espeefan

Nice work Stu. Are the lifting arms pinned to the shaft, or just secured with set screws? How much power does your lifting servo have? The parts are looking good!

Thanks Nate, I machined a flat on each end of the shaft and they are set screwed in place for now, there's enough meat there to drill and pin if required.

Its a metal geared servo rated at 15Kg/cm stall @6v 13kg @4.8v

My lift arms are 60mm long and the crank is the same length as the servo arm so should stall at around 2kg if my maths is right? long time since i've done those sort of claculations!
Should be way more than I plan to use anyhow.

Stu

[Acadieman]

Awesome work!

Can't wait to see it fully operational.

[Stuart]

Originally Posted by Acadieman

Awesome work!

Can't wait to see it fully operational.

Thankyou, yeah I'm looking forward to it too, can't wait to see how much pulling power these motors have.

Waiting on more stuff to arrive, then I can get it wired up properly.

Cheers
Stu

[FlyingBeagle]

This is a fantastic build, I can tell this tractor is going to work very well. Please go into more detail about how you set up the pivot motor with the pot and speed controller so that it functions like a servo. I am not very good with electronics, but I am very intrigued by your setup and would like to know more.


Thanks for sharing with us all.

[Stuart]

Originally Posted by FlyingBeagle

This is a fantastic build, I can tell this tractor is going to work very well. Please go into more detail about how you set up the pivot motor with the pot and speed controller so that it functions like a servo. I am not very good with electronics, but I am very intrigued by your setup and would like to know more.


Thanks for sharing with us all.

Thanks FB, no worries I will take some more detailed pics of the steering setup over the weekend.

Thanks for looking

Stu

[Stuart]

Some pics of the steering setup.

The 10k pot fitted to the steering pivot:



This is the speed controller, 3 wires go to the pot, 2 to the motor, 2 to the battery and the other 3 to the receiver. Its less than an inch square and 1/4 inch thick:



Started on the wiring, I'm using jst connectors so its all "plug & play" and all the electronics are mounted to a removable plate, so far I have 4x speed controllers (1x throtle, 1x steering, 2x for the implement I plan on making) and a ubec. Next is the sound unit, speaker and lights, hope it all fits



Cheers
Stu

[Stuart]

Got some more done this weekend:

Sound module



Receiver



Speaker



Lights





A quick vid:

Sounds & Lights test

Will do an outside vid soon

Stu

[Stuart]

Sun was shining this afternoon so I thought I would find out how well it pulls a trailer:

Trailer full of sand

Stu

[Ken Orme]

Stu;

Very good job on your engeering and maching.

I think that with 4 geared motors you will have more power than traction.

Thank you for posting your build.

Ken

[Lil Giants]

You must be quite pleased seeing your hard work & great planning in motion. Well done Stu

Is the start up adjustable so it doesn't take so long? ...I like my stuff to start at the touch of a key.

[Espeefan]

Looks and works nice, Stu. Great job with the lights and with fitting all the necessary electronics in such a small space. I like the front speaker placement too. What are your thoughts on the wheel motors, now that you've had a chance to run them?

[Stuart]

Originally Posted by Ken Orme

Stu;

Very good job on your engeering and maching.

I think that with 4 geared motors you will have more power than traction.

Thank you for posting your build.

Ken

Thanks Ken, yes your right the tyres loose grip before the motors stall, so thinking of adding more weight. Maybe in the wheels???
It weighs about 4kg at the mo.

Originally Posted by Lil Giants

You must be quite pleased seeing your hard work & great planning in motion. Well done Stu

Is the start up adjustable so it doesn't take so long? ...I like my stuff to start at the touch of a key.

Yes I love it when a plan comes together

All the sounds are adjustable on the pc, then you load them onto a micro sd card and put the card in the sound module.

It has 2 sounds for starting, a "cold start" & a "warm start" with an adjustable timer for how long to wait when stopped before reverting to the "cold start"

I must have it set for Artic conditions I need to do more tinkering with the sound files.

Originally Posted by Espeefan

Looks and works nice, Stu. Great job with the lights and with fitting all the necessary electronics in such a small space. I like the front speaker placement too. What are your thoughts on the wheel motors, now that you've had a chance to run them?

Thanks Nate, I'm pleased with the speaker as well, although it does loose a lot of volume when you close the bonnet, sorry, hood

May need to cut some slots in the grill to let the sound out???

The motors are great, maybe not as smooth starting as the modelcraft ones but seem to have good power and as I said above, the tyres loose traction before the motors are anywhere near stalling. For the money and the fact they are centered, I would recommend them.

Thanks for all the compliments, still more to come

Stu

[FlyingBeagle]

That is a great build, Thanks for the additional details on the steering. I did not realize it was a commercially available setup. I thought you were an electronics guru and built it all youself. That is a really neat product. I cant wait to see more videos of your tractor working hard.

Thanks again for sharing.

[Stuart]

Originally Posted by FlyingBeagle

That is a great build, Thanks for the additional details on the steering. I did not realize it was a commercially available setup. I thought you were an electronics guru and built it all youself. That is a really neat product. I cant wait to see more videos of your tractor working hard.

Thanks again for sharing.

No worries & thanks for the comments, yeah the steering works really well, no fear of overloading at full lock.

I've shortened the warm start sound:

Another vid

Cheers
Stu

[Stuart]

First time in the model room since christmas! Where does the time go!

So a little update on the JD, mounted the rear mudguards and fitted the rear lights, also made a start on the rear implement sockets:



Thanks for looking
Stu

[kaptain Jack]

Great job Stuart, now we need video clip.
Jack