1/25 6 Axle Lattice Crane

[dirtpusher9]

Wow, what fine piece of cratfmanship. Look forward to more from you, Dan.

[Southgate]

Originally Posted by ihbuilder

Dan , have you looked into these http://banebots.com/pc/ELECTRONICS/BB-0309 I may be getting a bunch of them

IHSteve

WHAT!!!!!!????????

(in my whiniest voice)
Where was this info when I was paying way too much for the ESCs I'm using!!! Oh, if only I had found you guys about a year ago!!! (WAHH!) It would have saved a ton-o-munny, two tons of hard work figuring out how to make this thing work, and about a cubic acre inside that freekin upper unit!!! (snivel, sob)

If you only KNEW the grief I went thru! I had 4 ESCs in the upper unit, all powerful enought to start a real D-8 Cat on a cold day. They wouldn't work on the rotation (slewing) motor, it would jerk very erratically at best. So I replaced it with TWO larger ones to consume enough current to register with the ESC (read: machine out a whole additional motor access and mounting apparatus) Didn't work. Was better, but not acceptable. Then I got to remembering how smooth it ran on tethered DC with a train control for speed, right? I gutted an MRC train power pack and put a servo on the speed control pot, wired it to it's transistor, and that to the motor. All hiding in the bodywork. Works extremely well, but uses a lot of space and 2 channels, speed and direction

BUT!!! (sniff...drying up a bit now)

It's not too late. Please tell me those controllers can handle loads in the 100 milliamp range smoothly,at hyper low speeds? huh-huh-huh? (Just barely pouting still)


I'll be able to convert the slewing back to one channel , making for easier operation, and I'll have that whip line (small lighter duty, faster drum) back in the crane so fast on the 4th channel yer head'll spin, or at least mine will. this will still leave more room in the body than there is now. (starting to smile a little)

I knew there had to be a way to remote control low speed low drain operations. Had no clue where to start looking. Robotics! Shoot, there are probably tons of forums...

Thanks Steve!!!

Greg, do you have a picture of the log loader and outriggers you are talking about?

Thanks for looking, and watching a grown man lose all composure

[Southgate]

I just got back from a longer look at that BaneBots site. It's like being whopped up side the head with a board. I'da had this crane done by now and on to the next adventure if I'd known they existed. The prices are unbelievable, especially for US made. The motors they have, the electronics and such...

It makes me want to finish this one up and build another! I had no desire to build another after this one. I thought it was too much. Well, I'm not complaining here, just be aware that I've just had a major eye opening, and it's kinda hard to take, as welcome as it is. Oh, I still like my crane, it has kept the gray matter busy for about 4 years, teaching me good new stuff all along the way, and forcing me to meet challenges I never expected. I do intend to do the upgrades I mentioned above. Those other parts that get taken out and replaced will go into the box of stuff for later use. No waste here!

Then I went and looked at what some of you guys are building in construction equipment. Makes me dizzy for sheer amazement!

I hope I will have some useful info to share with you guys, and not just sit here and soak it off ya.

The question still stands, Steve: Do you know if those Banebot controllers operate these iddybiddy current motors smoothly at SUPER slow speed? That is pivotal.

And, um...How'd I get 5 stars? I've only been here a couple days, trying just to stay in my seat. Just curious. Dan

[ihbuilder]

Dan those esc's should work , I have the larger 1 in my paystar with a 75t lathe motor no problems and smooth you also could look at http://www.robotmarketplace.com/prod...ntrollers.html . this place compiles a bunch of manufactures together . now read specs carefully some are 1 direction . I had the same prob as you when I started and thanks to these guys and a lot of i net research from a long gone forum . As for 5 stars you earned it

IHSteve

P.S your fitting right in with this league

[Southgate]

Thank you, Steve. I'm honored. One more question, probably a dumb one...What's a "Post lizzard"?

[sparkycuda]

Welcome to the site, and it's your craftsmanship that so quickly earned the 5 Star rating! I'm very new to this hobby and can attest that the folks on here are willing to share and help you with anything. Mechanical, electronics, hydraulics - someone has probably done it before or have experience with it. Just ask! It's a great place to learn.

Ken Sharp

[tracksntreadslou]

Dan awsome build ...you get 5 star from me too...Looking like you are gona get a few spare parts ...Maybe convince you to jump to 1/14 scale lol...You have some great ideas as well and thinking outside the box to make things work ...I envy you for tackleing such a small scale...The machine Greg was thinking about is this one ...this is a large scale non working model at a local machine shop on the island.

[td9clyde]

wow!!!!! nice work good looking crane now you can rerail your trains

[Southgate]

Originally Posted by td9clyde

wow!!!!! nice work good looking crane now you can rerail your trains

Truth be told, the trains at 1/87, the crane at 1/25, I have on occasion absent mindedly knocked the train cars off the tracks when playing around with the crane! gotta watch the level of that hook. This crane coud be used to rerail G scale trains, I'm sure. That could be fun. Dan

[Mrfish55]

Terrific job on the metalwork, I can appreciate the brass work in the boom, I would never dream of taking that on in 1/25 scale, I am half way thru a 75' ladder truck in 1/13 scale and find it difficult to make everything fit, good luck with the rest, will be watching it progress.

[Southgate]

[QUOTE=tracksntreadslou;3066]Dan awsome build ...you get 5 star from me too...Looking like you are gona get a few spare parts ...Maybe convince you to jump to 1/14 scale lol...You have some great ideas as well and thinking outside the box to make things work ...I envy you for tackleing such a small scale...The machine Greg was thinking about is this one ...this is a large scale non working model at a local machine shop on the island.
What exactly is that? It looks kinda like a logging yarder. Cool machine, in any scale.

Mr fish, I once powerewd up a crane in 1/48 scale. full carbody function; boom lift, swing, and winch. I cheated however. All the works were hiddeen o9nder the table (benchwork) that the crane sat on on a O scal train layout. (not mine)

[td9clyde]

well you like cranes ....if you want to rerail trains you need a 583 sideboom lol all it is is a D-8 H with a boom on the left side from sittin in the seat and draw works on the right with a flip out counter weight then you have a dozer and a crane lol you can find 583 sidebooms on you tube

[FabOne]

SUPER build Dan. The detail is great. The same in 1/14 scale would be even easier (LOL).

Terry

[Southgate]

Originally Posted by Mrfish55

Terrific job on the metalwork, I can appreciate the brass work in the boom, I would never dream of taking that on in 1/25 scale, I am half way thru a 75' ladder truck in 1/13 scale and find it difficult to make everything fit, good luck with the rest, will be watching it progress.

I might mention something that might be of interest to anyone building anything with lattice or rungs. It's much easier to drill holes in the square brass tubing and then insert the rungs or lattice pieces into the holes, then solder. That way the pieces dont have to be cut to exact length, and it makes for a stronger joint. I pin the tubes to a board all straight and square before soldering.

Thank you all for the comments so far Dan

[Southgate]

Progress report...I ordered that BaneBots ESC, installed it, and watched as the crane's upper unit can rotate at high speeds, and definately has improved lower speed performance over previous ESCs, but still can't run the motor smoothly at the required SUPER slow speeds. I put it into my box of RC stuff. I think it will work fine for wheeled speed control, but for ultra smooth-slow speed, I'm still having to use the servo turned train throttle mechanism. I do acknowledge that what I am asking of an ESC here is probably well beyond their intended purpose. It will no doubt find it's way into a future project, or it might be useful even on one of the crane's existing applications. At least one real plus is it's compact size, and the price was better than any other reversable ESC I've ever seen.

[ihbuilder]

what kind of radio ? I'm not sure of the term , I think it's trim If you go to the channel you have your swing motor on there is epa ( end point adjustment ) start reducing the % this should slow it down . found this out yesterday when I could not figure out why rev. was slower than fwd on my tractor . what ever fwd % is set rev % the same .

IHSteve

[9W Monighan]

Perhaps you may need to get a motor with more reduction in the gearing. What are you turning now? Like Steve said too adjust the slow starting of the radio. I didn't know those radios were capable of doing that. That is a cool thing to have. One thing I have noticed on these trucks on here is the speed is right now and same for reverse,no pause to ramp up,not too realistic. On my machine,my 90Volt drives can be adjusted in many ways including ramp up and down speed 0-20 seconds ,torque output min & max speed. My swing is too fast so I have it cut back the speed and the ramp set so the bucket is not swinging back and forth making everything more controllable.

[Southgate]

The motor I'm using has a very high gear ratio. I think it has more to do with the high impedence of the motor Im using, and the pulsating output of the ESC. I won't have time until next week to play around with it, but I do have a couple ideas to try out. If all else fails, the system that is currently in the crane works very well. I'd rather have smooth operation requiring 2 channels rather than jerky ops on one, ya know?

I'll keep ya posted. Thanks, Dan

[kerst]

Hi Dan,

Thanks for your compliments about my Liebherr LTM1800.
I just red your whole post and I can only say: GREAT! What a nice crane! You have done a great job! You must have put a lot of thought into the upper, there is not much space left and it looks all very sturdy and ready to work.
Keep up the good work! Looking forward to more progress pictures,

Kerst

[Blender]

Wow, Southgate, your crane is incredible. I would have been blown away if you squeezed all those functions into a 1:14 scale model, but you've exceeded my wildest dreams. Initially I wouldn't have guessed your crane would even be possible to build at 1:25 scale with all the features you've included. Bravo, sir.