1/25 6 Axle Lattice Crane

[Espeefan]

That's a great little machine, Dan. When I first saw the design, and how it looked like a little Bridgeport mill, I thought it was a great design! I just kind of wish Sherline had a little bit bigger version of it. Something more around the 100 - 150 pound range, and maybe two or three times the size. You can never have to much table and table travel, is what they say. That was kind of the selling point for my Sieg SX2 clone, offered by The Little Machine Shop. The only disappointment I have with the SX2 clone is that the way they throw them together in assembly, one must tear it all down and tram the head to column, and the column to the table, which isn't easy because the column is only adjustable for tilting the head. Everything else needs to be unbolted, shimmed, and rechecked, until it's good enough for the operator (me). The SX2 mills are known to have the spindle 'off' from the factory. Not perpendicular to the table, nor parallel to the column, and you really can't make good parts till it's assembled properly and gone through. That's why I envy you with your little Sherline! How easy it is to tram it all.

It never crossed my mind to mill styrene, but that's one trick I'll have to remember! How much speed do you run the cutter at, and is there any chance of it melting the styrene? I imagine it goes right through it like butter and you can feed a pretty good clip!

[Southgate]

Nathan, for cutting styrene, you spin the cutter SLOW. You have to be able to see it turning, not a blur of speed. I use it to make duplicate strips. It's so easy to get it off when cutting, say a few 3/4 inch strips with an exacto. Seems they'll be off by a couple thou, which may ot may not mess you up. But when you can cut them to about .050 over then mill them to spec, they will be right on. I also used it to mill out all the window openings in the cabs, nice and STRAIGHT.

[Southgate]

It seems winter has arrived. Snowin like crazy. What's a boy to do? As if we need to ask...

Heres the latest progress on the crane. I'm continuing on the styrene cosmetic details. Or whatever material suits.

If styrene could scream...


Rare earth magnetoscopy


This picture shows a lot. The figure has a magnet in his rear, There's another in the pink seat, (I'm gonna paint it) milled just below the top surface. He stays planted it it, yet, is removable. Those black dots in the seat mount are also magnets. The bottom of the seat mount is steel. It can be slid to and fro. This allows me to slide the seat and figure back from the control handles and pedals, and yank im out of the cab. He also has a head in this picture, the top part of a different "guy" grafted on.


In the above picture, there is a piece of thin slippery clear plastic on top of the magnets, so that the seat slides easily. The hand control pedestal and the figure were built simultaneously so that his hands and feet are really planted on the controls when he's in position, as seen below. Since this picture was taken, the front panels of the cab have been added. The windshield one is still removable so i can pull the whole interior platform out still for painting.

The door slides open and shut. Channels were made by milling one side off of K&S brass square tube.


On to the hood, now. I wanted a butterfly hood, cuz I just like 'em. Pivots were made from sewing pins. A micro drill is used to drill into the end of the styrene, as seen here. You can see the corresponding pin in the other piece. Cheap, effective, strong.


For the other hinges, I used doll house piano hinges, held on by 3M adhesive membrane that a buddy scored for me. This is the underside if the hood to show the basic components.


Here it is as it looks as I write.


I'm working now on the exhaust pipes and intake tubes, which will go through access ways in the hood sides. Then I can put the opening latch handles and such on it. Note the rear grill, same as the front ones.

[sparkycuda]

Very nice styrene work. Especially like the operator details and hinged hood,etc. Milling styrene certainly has its benefits - really like the way the cab and windows came out.

Keep up the great work!

Ken

[kerst]

Poor guy!
But great to see some progress on this fantastic model!

Kerst

[Espeefan]

Nice updates! Boy, that operator must be feeling a little sore, and like he has some lead in his bottom? Ha ha. He fits the cab really well though. Hands and arms in the perfect place.

[Southgate]

Yeah, guys. ya gotta feel for the little fella. But I bored him out and got him all patched up before I put his head on so he never felt a thing! ('sides that, he's plastic)

Moving along, the hood cant be finished until the exhaust and intake details are done, so here's where that is. I like these little sock hangers for this kind of work, as they provide nice round "pipe" with different radius curves to work with.


I use different sizes of rods and pins to help make the joints...




I came up with an idea while working on the crane that will work on most any other truck that calls for a custom exhaust system. I turned a bunch of these little muffler ends on the lathe. Note the hole in the center, the stepped radius diameters.


Now I simply make a muffler casing of the right diameter K&S aluminum tube, any length desired, to fit the given application. A 7/32 tube goes down the center to act as muffler sleeves. 3/16 tube is used for the final stacks, resembling 4' pipe. The screen is expanded aluminum made from frying pan spatter screens available at wal mart cheap. After cutting to the proper length, you wrap it around a pen or something to get the desired radius, and superglue ot together.


These are relatively short, as to stay as out of the way of the boom as possible. they'll go about here.


Not too bad, huh? Dan

[RCLogger]

Thanks for the update Dan

Great progress,

greg

[D8R]

like those mufflers, as said before, a lot of new ways to make things here on the board, can be used on different models and scales!
Looking forward for more updates!
Dan

[Espeefan]

Great idea, using those hangers to make the exhaust pipes. I will have to remember your ideas, as it's one of those things that makes you say 'why didn't I think about that?' So simple, and easy to do too. I could see that working for a nice engine exhaust manifold in a larger scale.

[sparkycuda]

Detail, simplified! Very realistic, a minimum of work, and low-key approach to making a great model. Thanks for the how-to!

Ken

[Southgate]

Hi gents! It's been a while, but I have gotten some more done on this project. I got the bright idea of putting lights in this while at a doll house supply shop, where I go to get brass hinges and such. They had these LEDs that are the right shade of white, and bright enough too. It snowballed from there...

PB052034 by Southgate_08, on Flickr

The park lights and clearance lights come on with the main power switch. The headlights can then be turned on, and/or the emergency flashers. These pictures can't show ya that action, but it involves a 555 timer IC, a small coil relay, and resistors and pots to get the right intensity of the hi and lo brightness. Also, these pictures exagerate how bright the lights are. theyre realistically bright, but not as blazing as they appear in the photos.

Here's with the headlights on. note the silver colored switches in the grill area. the grill hides them when it's in place.

PB042015 by Southgate_08, on Flickr

This shows how the batteries are held, 4 AAs in each of those brass tubes to give 12 v for the light system, which is independant from the RC motion control, and is totally built in to the styrene carrier deck. You can also see here the bottom of the circuit board that controls the flashers and brightness of the lights. The grill is in place here.

PB052029 by Southgate_08, on Flickr

Out back, you can see (better in the reflection) the 2 amber tail light in between the reds on the fenders. Again, the photo looks brighter than it really is.

PB021997 by Southgate_08, on Flickr

The side frames were not rigid enough, and always looked warped. So brass ones were made by milling K&S brass bar to the right width, scoring it up with a rasp, and replacing the styrene sides. That's the quick version!

PB172133 by Southgate_08, on Flickr

There are a couple other small improvements, but this gets you mainly up to speed. I need to take some new overall pictures of it. Thanks for looking. Dan

[Shane]

Nah, Not to bad at all !!
Fantastic effort in all your efforts to date, Dan.
Loved the photo you took of the boom and all the lattice detail in the earlier shots.
Lots of great info for all to read and will look forward to your updates.
Good Onya Mate.

Shane.

[Southgate]

Since the last post, air cleaners were turned on the lathe and a couple details added. There are 2 air cleaners for the carrier truck. They'll mount like this:

PB292179 by Southgate_08, on Flickr

In progress:

PB282155 by Southgate_08, on Flickr

up close. That superglue has since been cleaned off.

PB292173 by Southgate_08, on Flickr

The mirrors have been made, The harder of the 2, I like to think, has been mounted. It's all stainless where it's metal. Notr that here it is retracted, close to the body.

PB302182 by Southgate_08, on Flickr

It can be extended, too.

PB302183 by Southgate_08, on Flickr

Then, on to the cat walks. The idea here is that no matter how the upper unit is positioned, access to the cab can be made from the carrier's deck, either from behind, the front, or the gap in the rail. It took a lot of work to get these things to fit without interfering with motion at the front or the back.

P1010092 by Southgate_08, on Flickr


P1010093 by Southgate_08, on Flickr

They easily come off for transport.

P1010094 by Southgate_08, on Flickr


PC022191 by Southgate_08, on Flickr

I'm getting it ever closer to prepping and paint! Thanks for looking. Dan

[Espeefan]

The details are incredible! Glad to see you're still working at this project. The lights look great. So do the air cleaners and catwalk, with rails.

[Dairyland Trucker]

Simply awesome this is one impressive build I can't wait to see it all finished...

[Southgate]

I've been working away at it here, getting well under way on painting the crane. These pictures are basically mock ups, but you can get the over all idea. The 2nd color will be gray, as the front grill, and the one on the upper unit. It's as shiny as a new die cast model. That will be dealt with too.



The grill on the hood will be gray too.

[catmack]

Southgate, this is fine work. I like the detail on the exhaust. Colin

[kerst]

Looks great!

kerst

[Espeefan]

Very nice, Dan. Keep going!