Re: Hercules flatbed trailer with skids of drywall
 

Oh yeah DDmckee, using Magnet Wire for leds is "FUN". Surface mount leds do let you put lights anywhere, if you can tolerate working with them. (Masking tape helps). Those tabletop trucking guys are next level.

I really like those drywall skids!
The grain doesn't really bother me, but a white primer would have more solids to help smooth that. If ya wanted to define sheet edges you could run a stack of Utility Knife blades along the 2 sides.

While you're set up for cargo pallets, it might be worth trying to find spraypaint logos to make some skids of Plywood, OSB, and Dimentional Lumber. (Georgia-Pacific, Hunt, Inland)

Re: Hercules flatbed trailer with skids of drywall
 

Over on RC Groups a guy built a stand-off scale model of a JU-52, the German Tri-motor from the 30's with the corrugated skin. He used an inkjet printer and printed the corrugations on his covering - it actually looked pretty good. I bet you could do the same thing for your drywall stacks. You're already printing the ends, just print the sides too. Then you could just wrap that around your block in one or two pieces, hiding the wood grain. That might even be easier than putting a separate piece on each end.

Edit: Actually, you could do something like that to make most of wrapped loads that you see on the road these days. Just did a little back of the napkin figuring. You wouldn't be able to print a 48"x96"x36" load at 1/14 scale in one piece on a letter sized printer, that's 8.5"x11". If your printer could handle 11"x17" you could do it, you could even do scale 12' sheets on an 11"x17" printer.

Re: Hercules flatbed trailer with skids of drywall
 

@frizzen -
That's a good idea for making a stack of utility knife blades for scoring. 5/8" drywall at 1/14 gives about .045", which is in the realm of thickness for machine-screw washers.

I went nuts building skids of cargo for the cancelled Lebanon show.
The small and large tubing were scraps from work (I wish I had grabbed more of it).
The green tubing was from some crafting PVC-pipe-frame thing of unknown origin. The color emulates sewer piping pretty well. White PVC could serve the same with the appropriate spray paint.
The others are square dowels, cut-down paint stir-sticks, and bamboo slats (all from amazon).
Then most of the skids underneath are homemade.

I am contemplating some type of tarped covers for wood blocks.
But otherwise, I think I'm done with cargo for now. (unless a really cool idea hits me)
I have too much truck building work waiting on me.

@ddmckee54 -
I had looked at some gray film wrapping to save painting time, but didn't find any colors light enough, and wrapping the blocks brings its own challenges.

I think a small-wattage laser might work well to make sheet lines, but would need some pretty accurate location of the block, so that the lines are parallel along the length of the block.

You are correct, creative use of a printer opens new doors.


And for anyone contemplating making skids of stuff, zipties make a nice emulation of cargo straps, and I highly recommend a ziptie tool like this to put a good cinch on them (although care must be exercised not to snap the zipties).

Zipties come in a variety of lengths, sometimes it's easy enough to daisy-chain them, but I have bought 2 bags of really long ones, and 1 set in yellow.



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Re: Hercules flatbed trailer with skids of drywall
 

I like that cargo!!!
I know you already mentioned hanging a forklift off the truck, but i was thinking working with that much long stuff may be a good excuse to consider a Side-Forklift for your operation

On your pipe skids, some big pipe loads get wood cribbing slats placed between layers so there's less outward pressure on the bottom rows. Also the small ones sometimes may get a couple wood flat top pieces milled for strapping to help it hold shape so they can be stacked.

Some tyvek from some mailing envelopes or a 'bunny-suit' could probably scale about right thickness, flexibility for some tarps.

Hopefully we can get a winter Lebanon meet this time. I've heard rumors there's supposedly a group around Danville that does rc construction stuff, but i still can't find them?

Re: Hercules flatbed trailer with skids of drywall
 

IDK ....might need a crane for some of those longer loads of pipe :D

Re: Hercules flatbed trailer with skids of drywall
 

Yeah, no side forklift for me.
I have 2 Bruder forklifts, 1 for hanging off the back of a flatbed, and a 2nd really-big Linde.
Good enough for static display work at a show.

And too many other projects in queue:
I have Nylint roller, 2 Doepke road graders, a King Hauler and ZIL130 to finish up, and more flatbeds to make for al this cargo. Want to make that car hauler we discussed awhile back - I now have 3 Corvettes waiting for it.

The biggest problem I have with the pipe loads is them falling out the end. When I got that ziptie tightener, that helped a lot.

Tyvek mailing envelopes are an idea worth exploring when I get one in the mail.
I have a yard of dark-olive cloth that I think will work well too.

Re: Hercules flatbed trailer with skids of drywall
 

To be fair, I think we all have too many projects in line.

Some glue toward middle of pallet might help keep your pipe loads together, unless you're planning to unload and use them at destination.

That carhauler style you were thinking about should look great with a load of vettes. I can't wait to see what you have in mind for those Graders

Re: Hercules flatbed trailer with skids of drywall
 

For the Doepke grader, I was simply planning some modern 1/10-size tires that look somewhat correct (I was very selective on the tread/sidewall pattern) and adding a cab to it, some exhaust-pipe detail + maybe a set of lights. No RC action, too much engineering required at this time. And new paint.

The Nylint roller will get a muffler and air intake setup, the cab is done, and a new paintjob. No RC here either.

So I got around to making a pair of straps, and they confirmed what I was planning to do anyway. To make them pulled slightly tight, it caused the skids to move. I was planning the next design of drywall skids to be glued together into a solid block of 4 skids, so the straps merely confirmed that. In the picture here, the skids were re-adjusted into a good position.

The straps are a PITA to make. De-burring the brass flats, bending into a hook, threading the elastic, folding it and putting 2 pieces of heatshrink on it. 1 strap is burned a little from the little micro-torch, the other one has an imprint from where I flattened the heatshrink while it was still hot. Better methods are needed. They seem semi-durable, at least. I need a better option for the brass hook, one with less CNC and debur time. I am thinking of making them from brass flat and making the whole hook the same width, and then just CNC-ing the slot for the elastic.

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Re: Hercules flatbed trailer with skids of drywall
 

A fabric glue such as Aleene's Tacky glue might an option for the straps. It won't be as fast since it takes a while to dry, but it also won't try to curl up like the heat shrink does. You could always use a small drop of CA glue with the Aleene's. The CA is used to tack the straps together while the Aleene's dries.

Re: Hercules flatbed trailer with skids of drywall
 

Thanks for the tips on gluing, I'll put that on the to-get list.

And I just found an off-shelf item that is almost identical to the brass hooks and it only needs to be bent to shape. And very economical, too.

Re: Hercules flatbed trailer with skids of drywall
 

Well do tell.... what is it...:bounce:

Re: Hercules flatbed trailer with skids of drywall
 

It's a male blade/stud connector terminal thingy.
It is almost exactly the same dimensions as the brass things I CNC'd.
Approx $10 for qty 50+ shipping.
I like my oval slot better, but at $10/50, I'll get over it quickly.

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https://www.mcmaster.com/8015K51/

Re: Hercules flatbed trailer with skids of drywall
 

Have you tried securing the strap ends together with a dot of CA glue, then clamping / smashing it flat and square with pliers while curing? Worked ok with these.
https://www.rctruckandconstruction.c...=Ratchet+strap

Nice, those found parts some 1/4" electrical blade termials? At that price its worth the time to file the slot and figure out a bending jig

Re: Hercules flatbed trailer with skids of drywall
 

I would definitely need a jig... no way I'd get them all bent true. LOL

Re: Hercules flatbed trailer with skids of drywall
 

My bending jig #1 did not work well with the CNC'd parts. It was an 8-cavity jig, and only a few cavities worked well due to variation in the parts.

As often happens, failure drives improvement.

I've conceptualized a new bender that is much simpler. Will do only 1 part at a time, but I believe it will be significantly faster. We shall see.

I have not tried CA glue, my straps are elastic and my gut says glue won't work well. But I have a bottle of Aleene's that I will try.

Re: Hercules flatbed trailer with skids of drywall
 

You're just using the CA to tack things while the Aleene's dries, the Aleene's is flexible.

Are you annealing the CNC'd parts before you try bending them? Copper and brass will work harden, that could be part of the problem. Of course if you want them hard after that you either need to work them (Bend or hammer them.) or you need to artificially harden them. Other than hammering or bending, not sure how that's accomplished. Maybe throwing the parts in a vibratory cleaner for a couple of hours and letting them rattle around?

Re: Hercules flatbed trailer with skids of drywall
 

I've not annealed the brass, the bending isn't the problem. The problem is parts and the jig were precisely machined, and the variation in the parts causes a lot of them to not fit in the jig for bending. I'm using a .070 endmill and I'm surely getting some flex in it. The parts that do fit are easily bent around with pliers, though.

I thought about a vibe machine for deburring, but this would be the only item I've made (so far) that would need it. Micro-machining always works better in my mind vs the parts that come off my machine, so I try to avoid really small things.

I've only got a 6 more hooks to debur (3 straps) + need to CNC 2 more hooks so that all the straps on this trailer match.

After that, I'll see how well the electrical terminals work out.

Re: Hercules flatbed trailer with skids of drywall
 

So:
Haven't made much priority to finish these straps, even though they are the final parts to this entire trailer and cargo. I guess my my natural inclination to "hit 80% complete and start another project" has now stalled me at 99%. (!!!) Anyway...

Here is the one strap I've made with the new electrical terminals. They work quite well, I just wish the hole was smaller. They bend nicely with pliers, it takes 2-3 secs to get them eyeballed into the pliers. I may not even bother with a bending fixture.

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Re: Hercules flatbed trailer with skids of drywall
 

LOL... I was just thinking the same thing.. I get about 80% done and starting getting restless to start another project....
But those straps look great....

Re: Hercules flatbed trailer with skids of drywall
 

Fury Fan:

The terminal that you got from McMaster-Carr is called a PCB Terminal Tab. It's a rivet mount, that's why it's got the big hole. If you just Google "pcb terminal tab" you'll probably get a couple thousand hits.

Try one of the electronics suppliers like RS-online or Digi-Key. You'll probably find a wider variety of these tabs than McMaster-Carr had, probably cheaper too. When I looked on Digi-Key they had 58 different flavors of tabs, and RS-online had a couple hundred. Those tabs come in a couple of different widths, 0.110", 0.187" and 0.250" if I remember correctly.

Don