Re: First build ,cat D11
 

http://i1357.photobucket.com/albums/...ps47e99dee.jpg
This is the only pic I have of a filter, look at the bottom of tank, that line goes into a white micron disposable filter. It was the smallest housing I could find. It had barbed ends on it for 1/4" tube and larger. I cut off the barbs and threaded it to accept the m5 hose fittings.

These are the motors I have, I can't find anything about running them higher voltages.
http://www.robotmarketplace.com/prod...-218-1003.html. But if the larger (10 n 11 tooth) sprockets fit (chain clearance) I'll just stay 12 volts and pick up speed with gearing. I think that would probably be the best way. I've been acquiring several spare parts for future builds from this dozer build so adding a couple sprockets to the pile would help fund a future project (sounds good to wife).

Re: First build ,cat D11
 

You may have to put a woodruff key way on your drive shafts. The set screw on the flat will most likely keep loosing from the forward and backward movement. You may consider having a press fit on the sprockets too.

Re: First build ,cat D11
 

Well my car, for example, when it's running voltage is around 14.5v. Most Lipo's discharge at around 3.8v-3.5v, that's where the voltage curve flattens out/they remain at the longest. I wouldn't think approx. 15v would hurt the drive motors. Especially if the speed is only needed in reverse and you aren't pushing anything.

Re: First build ,cat D11
 

The motors don't cost that much... if they burn up from over voltage, easy enough to replace them & don't do that again. :D

The sprockets have dual set screws? On the track drives for the Vario, I drilled a shallow hole into the shaft so each set screw would lock into place. I haven't touched either drive in two yrs.

Re: First build ,cat D11
 

That's a good idea, I'll do that. The flat spot on the shaft allowed the set screw to move ever so much, but when it rolled to the edge of the flat I think it put an outward (oblong) pressure on the sprocket causing it to break. And after looking into the over volt on the motors wouldn't be that harmful to them, they are a pretty robust and slow motor to start. Agree with the cost , as I'm use to spending $300-600 on motors like lmk or neu and I push them to and beyond limits but still try very hard to limit the magic smoke when they disagree with what I put them through. Cooking some of them almost makes me cry :). As long as the new larger sprockets don't hit anything I'm just going that route. I should have them tomorrow. A small hole and some red loctite should keep um planted.

Re: First build ,cat D11
 

http://i1357.photobucket.com/albums/...ps7023b366.jpg

Had a few trips to the house today, so a couple coats of paint on the ripper. Hydraulics are only thing left for paint.

Re: First build ,cat D11
 

And at the end of the day I drained the koi pond and started pulling out the liner. As the wife said I'm not allowed to have a giant open pit mine in the back yard, but she never said a time frame of how long I have to fill it in!! Should be able to make it all summer long project and by that time she will have accepted it :) lol!!
http://i1357.photobucket.com/albums/...ps1aaaf3fe.jpg

Re: First build ,cat D11
 

LOL!
I too need to scrape off the top 6" or so around my "work site" so I don't have to deal with roots. Since I don't have an excavator I need a pretty large area (open pit mine) so that I can peel off the dirt and still make it out of the hole. I have some Tyco/Radioshack old RC cars that I am planning on turning into crude dump trucks for at least this summer.

Re: First build ,cat D11
 

Great paint job on the Cat.

Re: First build ,cat D11
 

Thanks on the paint, I'm working very hard on removing it,, lol!!!

Here are some pics in the tear down, to replace sprockets and check final drive sprockets too.
http://i1357.photobucket.com/albums/...ps615c56ca.jpg
http://i1357.photobucket.com/albums/...psffa7a49c.jpg
http://i1357.photobucket.com/albums/...psd237f22e.jpg
Kinda a tangled mess right now but things are secured and organized once together.

Re: First build ,cat D11
 

I didn't want to mess with tearing apart too many of the lines so I just pulled the sides off. Had to take tracks off but only have the blade tilt cylinders disconnected.

These are the choices of sprockets. I'm going to try the 11tooth ones. Had 9 on originally. I don't think two more teeth on primary will result in too much speed. And as you can see in the pic the 11t sprocket is good ole steel and lots of it. And I don't have to increase the clearance hole for the sprocket. And I will still have a bearing on the end of the shaft.
You can see the hole where the sprocket sets in. There is a 1/4" flanged bearing in there. I'm not sure what ones I originally had but in a few initial test runs both bearings came apart, ordered some from fast eddy and those seem to be holding up. As a precaution I'm going to throw new in anyway.
http://i1357.photobucket.com/albums/...ps35f27c3b.jpg

I guess this is the real trial and error or testing phase. And I found out weather it's a model I completely designed and built myself or one with instructions I still don't know how it goes together!! Lol!!

Re: First build ,cat D11
 

http://i1357.photobucket.com/albums/...ps1pziuhod.jpg
Put a small divot in the shaft for the second set screw that I will use this time :)

Re: First build ,cat D11
 

You can buy set screws with different tips on them. Look in the McMaster Carr catalog. See the ones with the extended point. They have like a dowel shape to them and would go into your divot but be careful that the more material you remove from the shaft, the weaker it becomes. That is why I was saying to use a key in there and press the sprocket on to the shaft. What kind of steel are the shafts made of?

Re: First build ,cat D11
 

Yes, I didn't want to remove any more than necessary. That's why I didn't mess with the side with the flat. Shaft is what came with motors, reduced to 1/4 for sprockets. It didn't feel like anything other than carbon steel. Currently I don't have any broaches but is on the shopping list.

Re: First build ,cat D11
 

This is the oil change after setting up and playing around, about 1 hour. Left is fresh new oil and right sample is old oil.
http://i1357.photobucket.com/albums/...psqq81cany.jpg

Re: First build ,cat D11
 

Re: First build ,cat D11
 

I will upload at a better resolution. I did not know how to do that until my tec guy showed me ( my 5year old nephew. ) hopefully have some more video later today, tonight. Thanks and appreciate your comments. Oh, and the 11 tooth sprockets seem better to me.

Re: First build ,cat D11
 

Down at our Riverlot and I don't have a landline for upload connection , to get hd resolution, I will upload some videos tomorrow. Only thing down here is soil is riddled with roots and I'm constantly worried about entanglement in the tracks. So after a few drinks she just ran and ran and just tore through any roots!! Very happy with how strong this model has turned out!!

Re: First build ,cat D11
 

http://youtu.be/gjTm-oizc58

This should be a better video, I started filling in the backyard koi pond.

Re: First build ,cat D11
 

Congratulations You did a Dirty Video with your Super Dozer :) Bye-Bye Koi Pond

Re: First build ,cat D11
 

Thank you!! I myself am still overwhelmed with how it is turning out!! I must have watched that video 30 times so far!! I keep watching the tracks, they need to get worn a bit more but they are laying like the full size dozers. My first attempt to video was just the pile of dirt with the d11 sitting on top. I soon realized that it does have limitations. Since the dirt pile was fresh and dozer sitting on top I had to do a lot of maneuvering. I soon realized that having a lot of loose dirt piled into the tracks was/is a bad idea. It resulted in about 30 min of picking packed dirt out of the track links. Some dirt is ok but I was turning and packing dirt into the links. Then the sprocket was compressing it more resulting in slippage. Lesson learned as it does have limitations. In the last couple days I have been removing one track shoe at a time and milling a little bit off the touge to gain the much needed 1.5-2mm of clearance between shoes. That has made a lot of difference in track arching. As in the video you can see it is laying quite flat on the top rollers. A stiffer tensioning spring would be a bennifit too. Still amazed of myself in building something like this!!! Once the windows, decals, lights, sound and paint in cylinders this will be a second look at realism (In my eyes). The way it reacts and works seemed to resemble full size machines, do you all think? I've been around equipment all life but not big stuff.

Re: First build ,cat D11
 

Since you said the shoes are filling up with dirt because it's damp, and I know it would be a ton of work, maybe mill the cleats on the shoes with a slight taper both sides with a small radius at the bottom. This will help the dirt from packing in there giving a relief.

Re: First build ,cat D11
 

I also found some bolts loosened up. Probably settling in the paint, have to go and check all of them, mostly on the carrier wheels. And somewhere I read not to use bearings on tracks. That made sense to me but I thought I could get by with small bearings inside the wheels. Possibly too small, they are 5/16 od , 3/16 id. They have been compromised. So I just ordered some bushings from McMaster. Bronze bushings with stainless or brass shafts should hold up well I think. I'm realizing that there is a lot of stress on the tracks.

9w, on the tracks it seams like taking some more material off the lip of the shoes has done the trick on the dirt packing I between shoes. Having just enough room to have dirt be able to escape and not being packed in. But the river dirt is a sand and silt type, that may pack in there as it is kinda like clay. And as long as I'm not turning sharp in the loam to where dirt covers the track links I haven't had that problem of the dirt packing into the links covering the track pins then having the sprocket compress even more resulting in slippage. I think I'm on the downward side of getting the little things fixed to make this a pretty reliable machine. The wife couldn't believe I leveled all the dirt out with that little toy I built!! Oh and still on the opinion I'm not going to make that into a man size sandbox,, more time and she will eventually give up or in :)

Re: First build ,cat D11
 

Cooper-that is a nice video. You have done a great job in a short amount of time. I am not putting your model down but I must say with that HUGE BLADE on there, you cannot push even a half-blade of dirt without the tracks spinning. Is the model too light? What does it weigh? Maybe you need about 10-20lbs. of ballast. (just guessing). Have you watched D9 joe's videos. I think he is the best operator I have seen and I believe it was he who mentioned something that may be helpful. It looks like dirt is sticking to your blade so the suggestion was to sand the gloss off the paint to make the blade slippery and get the dirt rolling up the blade and falling forward. This might help push more dirt. You could just wear the paint off but that will take a long time so I would probably try the sanding.The model looks great and you should be very proud and I am sure with time you will work everything out.

Re: First build ,cat D11
 

Yes I agree with the blade being big, it was modeled after the old coal mine I use to visit, they had a huge dozer with a large carry blade. I also think the lack of traction was how soft the dirt was. If I were to step in the dirt I would have sunk about 4 inches. I lightly dumped that load with our backhoe. Thought was to keep it light and uncompressed. I doubt the weight is an issue, weighing in at 84lbs with one battery. And down at our Riverlot (in previous videos) it is riddled with roots that stop and snag the blade. But this is the first time I've done anything like this so I'll look into where I could add weight if you think it will help. Only problem is it's pretty well balanced and it's gonna be hard to get some more weight say 5#s front and 5#s back. And I will try very hard to get that paint off the blade :). Thanks so much for the advise!! I'm still tickled that it turns!!! (Turns on!!! Lol!!)

Re: First build ,cat D11
 

Oops, not 84pounds , seventy four (74)

Re: First build ,cat D11
 

Had me worried about the blade so I did a double check, 1:1 blade is 20'10" and my 1:14 scale comes out to 20'5". Looking at my skid plates I think I can hide/add some weight in them. Ahhh,,, another thing to add to the list,,lol!!!

Re: First build ,cat D11
 

Hi Cooper
You have created one great machine for sure. I was a operator in a d10 for two years, and that dozer had a huge blade mounted on. I added a concrete block mounted on the ripper and tilted the blade backwards and when it started to fill up with dirt I lifted the blade slightly to don't dip down, the extra counter weight in the rear made the entire track surface stay in touch with the ground and ad traction. Your machine seems to have a lot of power so I think you can try to hang a weight temporary on the rear and see what happens.
Cool video :)

Re: First build ,cat D11
 

The 1/1 D11 is 230,581 pounds So you can ad more weight 10-14 LBS maybe

Re: First build ,cat D11
 

I watched your video and it seems to me that your blade being a carry blade cannot lay back far enough to get a full load. It's acting more like a straight blade. Think of a wood plane slicing off a chip. Your blade can't penetrate into the dirt at the steep angle it's at now. Well the dirt is wet and loose like you said. Maybe if your push arms were longer a tad to give the blade more room to lay back between the radiator grill. Or change the cutting edge to a lower angle. It would be interesting to see it in some dryer material not sand.
I had to play around with my tooth angle on my dragline bucket to get better penetration and get a full bucket.
Hope this helps.

Re: First build ,cat D11
 

In my opinion if you were to lengthen the pivot arms of the blade that would give it more of a tilt like the 1:1 model

Re: First build ,cat D11
 

I went and pulled the bearings out of wheels and replaced with bronze/graphite bushings on stainless shafts. 4 of the 8 bearings were already shot. And finished re-milling the lip profile on track shoes. Put everything back together and charged a battery for some pushing. At about 15 min into it she had a snap and no hydraulics. Found the hose going to blade had bubbled and burst. Yes, oil everywhere. Guess that blue hose isn't as strong as the black. I wasn't sure what the specs were for it but I will be replacing it as I now have plenty of the black higher pressur line. Still trying to find a way to add weight. Question for you guys, I can hide a lot of weight in the blade but that will not help traction as blade will be on the ground, right?? And after looking and comparing blades I see what steep angle I have on the blade. I wasn't completely happy with the blade so just enough excuse to make a new one!! (Just not sure how soon). But I will study the cutting edge angle and place profiles more to come close to functionality of the 1:1. I'll try and post some pics of the hose blow-out.

Re: First build ,cat D11
 

I think I can modify the blade by adding a new cutting edge. It is rather a steep angle, but I think by adding another cutting edge I will be able to get a better angle without making the blade higher. And it seems to be able to blend in with the curvature of the blade. Almost is like I screwed up to start with by making such a steep angle on the cutting edge originally. I think I was more so comparing in my mind to a snow plow blade. By creating a shallower angle on the cutting edge does that pull the blade down resulting in the machine acting as it has more front end weight? Obliviously I don't know the engineering of blade mechanics but that would make sense to me on these big machines made to carry large piles of dirt.

Re: First build ,cat D11
 

And I'm not sure where I could hide 10 pounds. Maybe 4-5 in the front skid plate by modifying it and welding on some heavy plate steel. From the videos it looks to me it needs more front end weight. Before I weld anything to the front skid plate I'm going to work on the blade modifications and see how it reacts to that.

Re: First build ,cat D11
 

Makes sense, but are the hydraulics up to the task of pushing back to transfer the weight onto the tracks?

For extra weight I purchased some lead from the scrap yard/metal recycling place, you could try that. Although I can't imagine carrying that dozer around with how much it weights already.

Re: First build ,cat D11
 

I'm pretty sure the hydraulics will be able to handle the added weight. And yes she is heavy to carry from garage to backyard!! Like modelman said I think the issue lies with blade geometry. I'm going to try that first. I know she isn't under powered. Just need to get her hooking up right :)

Re: First build ,cat D11
 

did you get oil-lite bushings or straight bronze ? Oil-lite is what you want . As for the blade , from what I can see , the whole thing is tilted too much to the front . Looks to me like it needs to come back so it just about touches the cylinders . right now it looks like your corners are doing all the work and the middle is gliding along . Another thing to remember the coal blade will carry more volume to weight in coal then soil . Meaning , soil is much heavier then coal .

looks great , speed looks good . More inspiration to get my TD40 goin :)

Re: First build ,cat D11
 

Yes on the bushings. I actually got the ones impregnated with graphite instead of oil. Figured dry is better. And have looked into trying to get as much backward tilt by possibly moving tilt arms back or drilling new holes for the pins.

Re: First build ,cat D11
 

Love how it turned out.....I agree that if you can get the angle of the blade tilted back farther it should be able to take bigger bites of dirt. This will also help with traction as the farther the dirt moves up the blade the more weight is put on the tracks.

Re: First build ,cat D11
 

Hey
Your local building supplier might have lead flashing rolls and you can cut strips or any sizes you like with your shear. I just got 17 lbs. for $ 2.52/lbs.
Just one idea.
Bo