1/14 Grader Caterpillar 12F
 

Because I saw some graders in this forum, I want to show you the grader, which is currently on my workbench: it is a Caterpillar 12F. The original was build until 1973 and it was the last one with a mechanical controlled blade. The scale of my model is 1:14.

My model is based on a 1:50-model of this grader from Gescha and a original brochure from the cat 12F. Additional I found a lot of pictures of this grader in the internet.

I started with the blade. For movement of the blade I used a Faulhaber-motor with a planetary gearbox (dia. 10mm).

Here some pics:

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7060/6...66c38f5f_b.jpg


http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7195/6...056295fb_b.jpg


http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7182/6...9d5b883e_b.jpg


http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7189/6...8294a340_b.jpg


http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7203/6...ef2dae2e_b.jpg


http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7041/6...35a202b8_b.jpg


http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7043/6...eae062a5_b.jpg


http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7185/6...f39f33a7_b.jpg


http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7183/6...50485050_b.jpg


http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7200/6...d3df17e8_b.jpg

Re: 1/14 Grader Caterpillar 12F
 

Wow!!!!!! Outstanding start for your grader!
Cheer's, Neil.

Re: 1/14 Grader Caterpillar 12F
 

Beautiful work!

Re: 1/14 Grader Caterpillar 12F
 

I like gearboxes!! Very nice job on the moldboard assembly!!

Re: 1/14 Grader Caterpillar 12F
 

Welcome Chris,

finally the graders are taking over the world! =)

Cheers
Jens

Re: 1/14 Grader Caterpillar 12F
 

Very nice work! Thanks for sharing.

Re: 1/14 Grader Caterpillar 12F
 

It is crazy the models that are being built around the world. This is another build that I will be watching.

WOW

greg

Re: 1/14 Grader Caterpillar 12F
 

Gears, u-joints, shafts, bearings - they are beautiful things! The 12F was a cool machine just because of all the linkage and stuff. Looks great and am looking forward to see this one drag some dirt.

Ken

Re: 1/14 Grader Caterpillar 12F
 

Wow, welcome Chris and thanks for posting pics to another great build. Gotta go get some more popcorn :D

Re: 1/14 Grader Caterpillar 12F
 

Oh my goodness! I think I just had to pick my jaw off the floor. When I scrolled down to look at the rest of your pictures, I could have swore the very first photo looked like a 1:1 blade assembly, sitting there, in mint condition. Wow. Grader builds are getting popular here! That's fine by me. The quality of these builds is mind boggling! Yours is no different. Incredible work and craftsmanship!

Re: 1/14 Grader Caterpillar 12F
 

Not only is the popularity of road graders being built is surprising, but the extremely exquisite engineering & machining is like never before seen in a functional radio controlled model!

A great introduction Chris and welcome to forum. :cool:

Re: 1/14 Grader Caterpillar 12F
 

Another nice grader build. Have had 2 Cat 212, very funny to drive, guess running a model is just as fun. Those small precision motors with gearbox is very powerful. Velcome to the forum.
Dan

Re: 1/14 Grader Caterpillar 12F
 

Beautiful!! Man you got skills!

Re: 1/14 Grader Caterpillar 12F
 

awsome work!!!!

Re: 1/14 Grader Caterpillar 12F
 

Outstanding work!! CNC machining- I presume- at its best. Taking the added time to sand or bead blast the parts adds to the professional look of the build.:D:D

Re: 1/14 Grader Caterpillar 12F
 

Thank you for your friendly comments and your compliments.

Yes, most of the parts are done by my self-made CNC-routing machine. But additional I needed a 3D-CAD-system. Without CAD I could't do this quality.

Actually my grader is in a much more advanced status like shown this pics. In the next days I will update you step by step up to the current status.

Re: 1/14 Grader Caterpillar 12F
 

WOW!!!!!

I´m speechless. The finish of your work is really incredible. It just oozes quality.

Stefan

Re: 1/14 Grader Caterpillar 12F
 

I must agree with everybody, it looks great:). Nice to see older mechanical operated grader too.

Re: 1/14 Grader Caterpillar 12F
 

Here are the next pics: the front axle.

The wheel camber is only adjustable by hand, not by R/C. In this case, for me a scale appearance was more important…and anyway, there is no space within the frame to add any additional movement equipment.

The black oil hoses are only dummies.

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7044/6...d7a04761_b.jpg

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7200/6...56cfd3c9_b.jpg

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7057/6...f29cf9dd_b.jpg

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7197/6...24835439_b.jpg

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7199/6...fddf749d_b.jpg

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7183/6...4790bb77_b.jpg

Re: 1/14 Grader Caterpillar 12F
 

Outstanding machine work!! Looking forward to more pictures.

Re: 1/14 Grader Caterpillar 12F
 

here comes the next pics: the frame, some gearboxes and a video from the first test moving the blade:

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7198/6...31b9dd61_b.jpg

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7069/6...6ff88911_b.jpg

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7188/6...2d00a785_b.jpg

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7196/6...c0bcda91_b.jpg

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7185/6...01583dc6_b.jpg

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7194/6...03ab0a52_b.jpg

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7069/6...c1baa636_b.jpg

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7044/6...2a9cfcdf_b.jpg

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7203/6...aeb4edd0_b.jpg

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7036/6...c4cafb58_b.jpg



...and here is the youtube-links to the video :

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uoA8lS4G920

Re: 1/14 Grader Caterpillar 12F
 

nice work works really good very impressive for the size too keep it up this is going to be a cool build

Re: 1/14 Grader Caterpillar 12F
 

:eek: Chris , that is sweet :eek: I like all your little gear boxes ;)

Re: 1/14 Grader Caterpillar 12F
 

That's really cool! Where's the motor for the circle turn mounted? Inside the frame?

Re: 1/14 Grader Caterpillar 12F
 

@Jared,

yes, the motor (Faulhaber-motor with planetary gearbox, dia. 12mm) is inside the front frame. Here is a bottom view of the front frame. The movement goes about 3 little gearboxes:

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7045/6...58ce75d9_b.jpg

Re: 1/14 Grader Caterpillar 12F
 

That is very cool! Love the gearboxes. On the plus side, you'll have no hydraulics to worry about, which will be nice.

Re: 1/14 Grader Caterpillar 12F
 

Hi Nathan, that's why I love the mechanical solutions of such oldtimer...

Re: 1/14 Grader Caterpillar 12F
 

Here is the last part of the update: the powertrain.

The hole powertrain unit is fixed with 4 screws at the bottom of the rear frame. I decided to use no differential.

At present I am at the unloved job of lathing the rims.

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7051/6...a767592a_b.jpg


http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7189/6...6a760435_b.jpg


http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7055/6...01690807_b.jpg


http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7036/6...d3ea4960_b.jpg



an here a bottom view from the powertrain. Later I will close the gearbox with a cover plate.


http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7042/6...cfab6c8e_b.jpg

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7183/6...f4c110ae_b.jpg


http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7047/6...6b9daecf_b.jpg


http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7057/6...e25e43f6_b.jpg

Re: 1/14 Grader Caterpillar 12F
 

Outstanding gearing! Looking better with every posting of your progress!

Re: 1/14 Grader Caterpillar 12F
 

Hi Looking Great

Very high standard of craftmanship going into this cannot wait to see it unfold.

Regards

Mark

Re: 1/14 Grader Caterpillar 12F
 

Wow,what a build,awesome skills you have,looking forward to seeing this grade some dirt:D:D

Re: 1/14 Grader Caterpillar 12F
 

I broke out on an F model many moons ago. This thing brings back memory's.

Wow, what an excellent job on this so far, can't wait for more. My hats off to you.

Re: 1/14 Grader Caterpillar 12F
 

Thank you for your friendly comments. Now the grader is standing on his own 6 wheels:

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7057/6...6c534d22_b.jpg


http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7068/6...49512eab_b.jpg


http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7181/6...9d1172d6_b.jpg


http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7177/6...68c8d5c7_b.jpg


http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7201/6...c0c25664_b.jpg


here are the piece parts of the rear bumper:

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7188/6...4caec41e_b.jpg


http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7209/6...65de1823_b.jpg

Re: 1/14 Grader Caterpillar 12F
 

This is a great project and you do very good machine work!! Keep the pictures coming.

Re: 1/14 Grader Caterpillar 12F
 

Beautiful work! Looks like Swiss watch. More pics. please.

Re: 1/14 Grader Caterpillar 12F
 

Wow. Everytime I look at the photos of the grader, even in a half assembled state, my mind keeps saying it's a full-sized 1:1 machine because everything looks so exact and beautifully made to scale, yet I know better, if only because the gear head motor for the drivetrain is visible. If it wasn't for that, I'd think for sure this was a 1:1 Cat 12F, going through a restoration, in someone's shop!

I really like the way the gear is keyed to the shaft, on the flat. I would have never come up with something like that. That is far superior to a set screw (grub screw) threaded through the gear hub. Much more robust with the key. I'm always learning something new.

The one thing I am a little surprised about is you decided to include some plastic gears in the drivetrain. Were you thinking of doing that for sacrificial purposes, to prevent any damage to other components? The weak link, being the 'fuse'?

Is this grader going to have cab, or will it be an open station model?

Re: 1/14 Grader Caterpillar 12F
 

This is a very interesting build, very well built with some new technics (like said above about the key inside gear). By studing builds here in this forum you get a lot of new knowledge, atleast myselves.
Building a mechanical grader is a challange, looking forward to more pics showing the progress.
Dan

Re: 1/14 Grader Caterpillar 12F
 

thank you for your comments,

@Nathan,
when you look at the tables for strength of such plastic gears (POM), you will find, that the values are not much lower than for normal steel, like C45 (sometimes even higher). I use the plastic gears because they are running quieter.

I buy my gears at Mädler in germany:
http://www.maedler.de/Product/1643/1...1050/1053.aspx

I will make an open station model, because I like this kind.

Re: 1/14 Grader Caterpillar 12F
 

great work love to have the tools and skill that a lot off you have keep it up

Re: 1/14 Grader Caterpillar 12F
 

I made a new gearbox for the grader: it is for the transverse movement of the entire blade.

The movable gear segment consists of two halves which are screwed together. This gear segment is driven by a worm gear. After assembly I have mounted the drive motor temporarily to test the function (so you can see my hand in the video).

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7111/6...9f776157_b.jpg

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7137/6...64f02684_b.jpg

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7122/6...912427b1_b.jpg

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7231/7...fd2fb24d_b.jpg

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7108/7...b2595aa0_b.jpg


In this video you can see how it works:

http://youtu.be/1GGAO1b0fa0