4 Hour Bruder Dozer
 

My fiance bought me this for christmas so I thought today was as good as any to convert it. I used some 360 servos for the drives and an old standard futaba on the blade to make it work. It still has the usual problem of the tracks slipping but I think I can fix that...maybe. Anyway this was fast and fun, only taking 4 hours to complete. The ripper does not function but I don't plan on using it so I will leave it static. The first picture gives you an idea of the scale difference from 1/10-1/16.:eek: http://youtu.be/57bJTp5KRnc
http://i1293.photobucket.com/albums/...7/IMG_0080.jpg
http://i1293.photobucket.com/albums/...7/IMG_0081.jpg
http://i1293.photobucket.com/albums/...7/IMG_0082.jpg
http://i1293.photobucket.com/albums/...7/IMG_0083.jpg
http://i1293.photobucket.com/albums/...7/IMG_0084.jpg
http://i1293.photobucket.com/albums/.../IMG_00862.jpg
http://i1293.photobucket.com/albums/.../IMG_00872.jpg
http://i1293.photobucket.com/albums/.../IMG_00882.jpg
http://i1293.photobucket.com/albums/.../IMG_00892.jpg
http://i1293.photobucket.com/albums/.../IMG_00902.jpg

Thanks for looking!
Reg

Re: 4 Hour Bruder Dozer
 

What a great idea Reg ! I purchased one also just to have on my lowboy. Might not push dirt but I could at least drive it on and off the trailer :cool:
Thanks, you just added to the future projects list:D:eek:

Mario

Re: 4 Hour Bruder Dozer
 

No problem Mario! It's by far the cheapest toy in my collection. The dozer came from Winners at $20 plus tax, the 360 servos came from Sparkfun and are under $15. They seem to have ok torque(60oz/in I believe) considering I'm running it on 4 AA batteries at the moment. The biggest trouble is the tracks but I don't think its unfixable. Should be good fun in soft stuff or as you say just to load and unload.

Reg

Re: 4 Hour Bruder Dozer
 

I had some LED lights kicking around for another project that isn't floating yet so I thought I would stick them on this. http://youtu.be/HQcgEUg4ORA They sure are bright considering how small they are.

Thanks for looking

Re: 4 Hour Bruder Dozer
 

Good fast build Reg ..Nice work ..It willcome in handy to clean up those wood pellets we are going to scatter all over the museum ..lol

Re: 4 Hour Bruder Dozer
 

That will be about all it is good for Lou. I've started referring to the Bruder's as my "inside toys":D. I had some fun driving it back and forth on the living room floor last night. If only I had an "inside" loader now....

Thanks

Re: 4 Hour Bruder Dozer
 

Who makes that volvo? I've heard about them but haven't seen any for sale anywhere

Re: 4 Hour Bruder Dozer
 

Well...me I guess. This one was scratch built by yours truly. I can't say for sure if anyone builds a kit volvo.
http://rctruckandconstruction.com/showthread.php?t=3135

Reg

Re: 4 Hour Bruder Dozer
 

Only 4 hours? Gezz, I think I'd have the model all broken apart and destroyed in 4 hours, let alone functional, and back together again! Those Bruders are tough to disassemble. I tried it with a Mack Granite truck, and I spent a lot of time trying to take it apart, without breaking all the tabs. I still broke at least one.

Re: 4 Hour Bruder Dozer
 

They are put together very well but the only thing I removed from this was the drive wheels and blade. This has to be the simplest Bruder conversion out there but its probably the worst for performance. Its tough to get it to do much work with the track design the way it is. I have some things I want to try but I've been sidetracked the last two evenings:D.

Reg

Re: 4 Hour Bruder Dozer
 

I think i have seen someone use the tracks from a bruder excavator. It looks like thats what bruder is going to use on their new model of this dozer. You thinking you want to make it push dirt? :D would like to see how you go about it! I hope to see more of your work, your conversions are great!

P.S. We would not be mad at you if you take your bruders and a camera out in the dirt to play and post a video up!! Not mad at all! Hehe.

Thanks for sharing!

Re: 4 Hour Bruder Dozer
 

Ah nice. yes i never recalled one either so i had to ask.

Re: 4 Hour Bruder Dozer
 

Well done! I have done a similar conversion but I used the wheels closest to the blade as my drive wheels. If you look at the track you can see that the wheel provides the most surface area against the track and therefore reducing slip. I also lined all the wheels with a 1/16" rubber to reduce any slack and increase friction. The dozer works incredibly well once I did this, my weak link now is the torque on the continous rotation drive servo's.

Re: 4 Hour Bruder Dozer
 

Thanks, I agree that it would have been the better place for them but it doesn't work too bad where they are. I have some rubber coating stuff that I'm going to try on the drive wheels but it if doesn't end up having a lot of power to push dirt that's ok. I have the metal toys for outside anyway but I'm no longer allowed (for good reason) to bring them in the house so the Bruders are house pets!
I hope to do the wheel loader next so I may steal some of your ideas!

Thanks Reg

Re: 4 Hour Bruder Dozer
 

Can anyone give me a link or some details to the volve excavator in the first picture please.

Re: 4 Hour Bruder Dozer
 

Re: 4 Hour Bruder Dozer
 

Thank you very much for the fast response. I am new to the rc construction but have been in rc scale crawlers for years, just trying to get some info.

Thanks again

Re: 4 Hour Bruder Dozer
 

great conversion

Re: 4 Hour Bruder Dozer
 

After playing with my 955 I thought I would see how a plastic toy would do. It did OK at first but once the tracks and drive wheels got dirty they started to slip. I may have to build some tracks for this down the road...and then probably a blade and a....lol

http://youtu.be/g6ioXe_rYfU

Re: 4 Hour Bruder Dozer
 

.....I've been telling myself not to do this for over a year and a half but I figure WTF! So here we go....

I've never tried making sprockets before....

http://i1293.photobucket.com/albums/...ps64b16947.jpg
http://i1293.photobucket.com/albums/...ps76d71f38.jpg

Re: 4 Hour Bruder Dozer
 

I like what I'm seeing .. Maybe dozer for me too lol

Re: 4 Hour Bruder Dozer
 

Hahaha, your the only person that I didn't want to see this Jason. I guess I should have cut another set of sprockets hey? I hope this works but we'll have to wait and see.

Re: 4 Hour Bruder Dozer
 

Well, this thread should not be called "4 Hour Bruder Dozer" anymore. I spent at least 5 hours working on it just today alone!lol

I finished up the sprockets and made new idlers for the front and rear. I'm cheap so the plan is to TIG weld nuts to the chain again like I did on my 955K and EC300. I wish I could just use K1 links but it's not in the budget. Right now it is still running the 360 servos that I put in it to begin with. They are only 50-60oz/in so they need to be upgraded. In the video it is only running off of 4, AA batteries. After filming the video, I wired in a BEC switched to 6v and ran everything off of a 7.2v battery. It was a definite improvement but still not enough for metal tracks. I made the hubs so that they can be drilled out to fit on gear motors should I ditch the servo idea. I may just go that route instead of using high torque servos but I will have to see what fits best in the model and my budget.

Here's how things are turning out so far. Kinda like putting lipstick on a pig I suppose....

http://youtu.be/jGtNWZWy_1s

http://i1293.photobucket.com/albums/...psf2f79a6e.jpg
http://i1293.photobucket.com/albums/...ps3c52e06e.jpg
http://i1293.photobucket.com/albums/...ps398e565b.jpg
http://i1293.photobucket.com/albums/...psdc0f58ad.jpg

Thanks for looking.

Re: 4 Hour Bruder Dozer
 

After finishing up my work day in the shop I spent a couple of hours tonight working on my dozer again. I have to pick up some things before I can make any more progress on the tracks so I decided to get started on the blade. I made it slightly wider than the plastic blade and angled out the corner bits. I am looking at this project as practice for my next scratch build so hopefully I can learn a thing or two along the way.

http://i1293.photobucket.com/albums/...ps789d268f.jpg
http://i1293.photobucket.com/albums/...ps09b9fff9.jpg
http://i1293.photobucket.com/albums/...ps5769402a.jpg
http://i1293.photobucket.com/albums/...ps909bfef7.jpg
http://i1293.photobucket.com/albums/...psfcbde3bc.jpg

Re: 4 Hour Bruder Dozer
 

Hey reg
Nice looking tipper. Great job on the dozer

Re: 4 Hour Bruder Dozer
 

looking good! How hard were those servos to convert to 360 rotation? I'm looking at the hs85mg's but they are quite a bit more

Re: 4 Hour Bruder Dozer
 

Thanks Justin. I guess we will see what you think of the tipper in about a week and a half hey?lol


Thanks. These servos are already 360 rotation. I ordered some new ones this morning that are 13KG. Hopefully they will be strong enough to push a little dirt.

A little update. I spent a few hours today finishing up the tracks. I TIG welded 112, 4-40 nuts onto the chain. This took approximately an hour and a half. Then I proceeded to cut, drill and slot 56 pads. After that I bolted it all together and took some pictures. I took a test drive too but will make a video of that after I finish up the rollers under the track frames. Next up will be a new C frame for the blade!

I would also like to add that this is all Mario's fault!:D

http://i1293.photobucket.com/albums/...ps27810497.jpg
http://i1293.photobucket.com/albums/...ps3394648d.jpg
http://i1293.photobucket.com/albums/...pscac4e712.jpg
http://i1293.photobucket.com/albums/...psff0f431f.jpg
http://i1293.photobucket.com/albums/...psbb58a0b6.jpg
http://i1293.photobucket.com/albums/...ps78f0d581.jpg
http://i1293.photobucket.com/albums/...ps8d177550.jpg
http://i1293.photobucket.com/albums/...ps338d512f.jpg

Re: 4 Hour Bruder Dozer
 

Hope you made 2 sets ....looking great wow

Re: 4 Hour Bruder Dozer
 

Sorry Jason. So far I have only done one set. Money talks though so if you or anyone else wanted a "KIT" I would happily build another.;)

Re: 4 Hour Bruder Dozer
 

RCP57-nice work on the conversion. How did you possibly weld those 4-40 nuts? :eek: Did you have a jig? Did you consider using button head screws on the pads? Guess it really doesn"t matter though but it might look better. Nice work anyhow.

Re: 4 Hour Bruder Dozer
 

Thanks! Yes I made a jig a couple years back when I did my 955K. It is a pain in the AZZ welding the nuts to the chain but with a little care it goes OK. I didn't ruin any nuts so it can't be that bad. The worst part is the smoke off of the chain as the oil burns out. Man that's toxic!:( I agree that the socket heads look out of place and I ordered up something else but this is all I had enough of in my drawers.

Today's update!!!! After playing "dump box builder" I shut down the business side of the shop to finish up the undercarriage on my Lil Dozer. I made up a pair of sliders for the chain to run in where the rollers should be. It seems to work pretty well and I know other people us a similar setup so I think it will be fine. Once the new servos arrive I will beef up their mount and the underside will be complete! The amount of time I have in this has added up quickly. If I had given it more thought before I started I would have probably started building my D8K instead but this will be cheaper and that was the main reason for doing it.

Anyway, I'm pretty stoked to be half way toward having a dozer!:bounce::bounce:

http://youtu.be/bD40EylUQ-Q

http://i1293.photobucket.com/albums/...ps9ee7337a.jpg
http://i1293.photobucket.com/albums/...ps39af584d.jpg

Re: 4 Hour Bruder Dozer
 

Reg,
Are you using gas or gas less tig welder? Nice build really enjoying the innovation in the build.

Cheers

Paul

Re: 4 Hour Bruder Dozer
 

Thanks Paul! I'm using straight Argon. I didn't know you could TIG weld without gas? I've never heard of that but I'm not saying it's impossible. I think it would be possible to MIG weld the nuts on too but my MIG welder is a bit large and I only have .035 wire in it. I would end up with the chain welded into a blob by the time I was finished!haha

Might get some work done on the blade later but we'll see. Customer projects need attention first!

Re: 4 Hour Bruder Dozer
 

Woah your cheap tracks are awesome! Did I read somewhere that those pads are the rails that are for carpeting of some sort? I may have to steal that idea of welding nuts to the chain although I only can MIG and might end up with a solid chain with welded links by the time i'm done:D

Re: 4 Hour Bruder Dozer
 

Reg,
I am not sure about the gassless myself. Any pictures of your jig for holding the track and nuts please.

Cheers

Paul

Re: 4 Hour Bruder Dozer
 

Great work on the dozer. I you decide to skip the servos (and if you have the space) this geared motor could be worth a shot. They're about the price of a regular 360 rotation servos (minus the speed controller, of course) and much more powerful and longer lasting. The site has plenty of gear that could be of use for RC conversion projects, and free shipping to boot.

Re: 4 Hour Bruder Dozer
 

OF course it would help if I actually include the link!!!

http://www.dx.com/p/hzdz-370-worm-ge...5#.VFWRhVc0-So

Re: 4 Hour Bruder Dozer
 

Hey Reg, It's ready for a scraper can now! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k7HrKvlg19I

Cheers, Neil.

Re: 4 Hour Bruder Dozer
 

Thanks for the links guys. I received some parts today in the mail. Somewhere along the way my "do not safe drop" package got ran over by the looks of it! Some stuff inside was crushed to but by the looks of things none of the actual parts were damaged just their packaging.

http://i1293.photobucket.com/albums/...ps32942eb3.jpg
http://i1293.photobucket.com/albums/...psc3c55051.jpg
http://i1293.photobucket.com/albums/...ps6f0e9150.jpg

I am already regretting the choice to use servos for the drives. I ordered some 360 tower pro servos and one glitched and fried within 30 seconds of plugging it into the receiver!:mad: This on the bench long before it had even seen the model....Not happy! Anyway I ended up ripping the guts out of both and turning them into gear motors. This defeats the purpose as to why I chose to run them in the first place so I am kinda pissed. Now they are in there and wired up to a Sabertooth ESC so at least that part works. Now I can push into a pile of dirt and strip the gears.lol I did a pretty hill billy job of installing them because I don't think they will last long. That link to those gear motors will come in handy yet, trust me!

I picked up some actuators from Ian at Firgelli on Sunday for the blade movement. I haven't made much progress but I have done a bit toward the C frame and actuator mounts.

http://i1293.photobucket.com/albums/...ps3f67f0bb.jpg

Here's a picture of my jig when I did the Volvo's tracks. It's nothing special that's for sure...
http://i1293.photobucket.com/albums/...ps138e09b9.jpg

Re: 4 Hour Bruder Dozer
 

Reg,
Thanks for the jig photo, explained a lot.

Cheers

Paul