Cat 777D Mining Truck

[Espeefan]

The handrails look great to me. I don't know the 1:1 777D inside or out, but from what I can tell, things look really good!

[modelman]

Steve-I know about frustration when it comes to eyesight. If I could go back 25 years when I had perfect vision and hands that didn't work like lobster claws I could build these parts easily, but it's a different deal now. I'm not complaining though, I just use what I have and go on. This stuff doesn't affect how the truck works and that is what matters to me. Sparkycuda-actually I haven't thought about cylinders until you mentioned it but they probably would look good. When I finish with everything else I will make that call. It all depends on the space I have. Espeefan-thanks a lot!

[dirtpusher9]

Tom, the truck looks good. It's going to be great watching it get loaded by your shovel.

[modelman]

Thanks joe-haven't heard from you in a while-how have you been doing? No work done on the truck.WHY? 2-weeks ago today-5 tornadoes ripped thru AL..At 6:00a.m. one took a N.E.path across Cullman Co. about 1-mile so. of my house destroying lots of homes and about 25% of the golf course. At 3:00p.m. another one went ripping thru downtown Cullman which is about 1-1/2 miles north of my house and it destroyed 6-churches,1-school, hundreds of houses,restuarants,factories,and everything in it's path. About the same time another one went thru about 45 miles north of Cullman and hit the Browns Ferry Nuclear plant which generates electricity for approx. half of Al. 39 towers that carry the high voltage power lines were destroyed and 50% of Al.was out of power. The city of Cullman was shut down completely for a week. People could not get gas for generators or there vehicles.No one could buy food,clothing or anything. It looked like a war zone with 25% of the city destroyed and will take years to recover. It is a miracle that no one was killed but there were a few serious injuries.Things are slowly getting back to normal but some peoples lives have changed forever. Seems these storms are getting more frequent across our great nation and it's amazing how much damage can be done in a couple of minutes. All our communication tools,(power,phones,internet) just came back on yesterday afternoon.

[ihbuilder]

dang Tom , I almost forgot you were in that area I've seen pics of the damage never thought wind could pickup a steel train bridge and throw it a good couple yards down stream . It's good to hear your alright and most the folks in your area .

[modelman]

Yes steve-that was a scary day for a lot of us!! Several other cities were hit hard also. Maybe things can get back to normal soon.

[modelman]

I have been working on the screw drive mechanism for the truck for awhile now and I must say it has been "kicking my butt". I cut and hacked and re-made parts until I thought there was no way this was going to work but I finally got it right. This may be the shortest screw drive ever! I only had-2-"of travel on the shaft to make it work and something was in the way with every move I made. Oh well nobody said it was easy. Here are the pieces it took to make it work-

I had some alignment problems with all the parts fiting with the gearmotor so a friend told my how to make this self-aligning coupler. It's really simple but works great-

Here is everything put together in the frame-

Here is a short video of it dumping-

I need to get some shoulder bolts for all the hinge points and this part will be finished. That's all for now.

[steamer]

Tom. The screw drive turned out fantastic. You showed some real patience there, for it to fit in such a small space. Have you tried it yet, to see how much it will lift?
Rob

[9W Monighan]

I wondered where you've been hiding out. Hopefully your shop has some AC. That looks like it should do the job Tom. How much weight can it handle? I want to make one of those when I get to it on a Tonka like Scott's .

[modelman]

steamer-thanks a lot. It had me talking to myself for awhile but it all worked out. And yes,I tried it, it will dump a full load. Steve, no I do not have AC, I wish. I have been getting up at 6;00 every morning and working a few hours before the heat gets me. I spent a few sleepless nights wondering if I had enough power to dump a load since the lift points are so close to the hinge but it dumped a full load with a half-charged battery pack and only drew less than 1-amp. The motor is rated for 2-amps so I think I am okay. I didn,t weigh it but it is a huge pile of dirt. Later I will weigh the load and let you know.

[rc_farmer]

Modelman, that is fantastic engineering there!

[dirtpusher9]

Tom, that is some nice machine work and engineering on the lift. This will be another incredible model when you finish.

[cbazq271]

nice! How much weight can you put in the box and still be able to dump?

[sparkycuda]

Very ingenious screwdrive! This model is quite mechanically innovative and your workmanship is excellent. Will be a real eye-catcher when in paint. Great work.

Ken

[modelman]

Thanks everyone-the main topic seems to be weight capacity so I decided to check it out. The dump box in this video contains 6-1/2 lbs. of dry dirt. It struggles just a bit at lift-off but handled it just fine-

A normal load seems to be about 5-1/2 lbs. but I can heap it full and carry the 6-1/2 lb. load. The hinges just have 4-40 screws thru them now and are binding just a little. I think when I get pins installed in all the hinge points it will work better. I will know more later. Also everything is dry. I don't want to grease anything until it's painted.

[steamer]

Tom. she handles the load just fine. That's a good lift for such a short throw. After I painted mine I covered the screw with anti seize and it sure helped ease the drag on the thread.
Rob

[cbazq271]

Can't wait to see this in paint!!

[mazdaparts]

It looks great, I can't wait to see it finished.

[SmallHaul]

Your mining truck is looking good Tom. It will be cool to see it all painted up.

[cbazq271]

any updates