Bruder Conveyor Brass Rebuild
 

So while I wait till later this year to buy a excavator I have decided to build a conveyor belt to move dirt around. I started with a Bruder conveyor belt that I looked at for about five minutes, then proceed to destroy it and salvage the rollers and belt from it.

Next step was buying 3/16 ( 0.1875 ) brass tubing from the hobby shop for the new frame, 1" x 1/16" ( 0.0625 ) brass strip for bearing plates, and some sheet metal for a hopper.

I then set up my Bridgeport mill to mill four 21" tubes to length for the main rail of the new frame, and also to cut/notch the ends of all the tubes that would be used as spacers for the height and width of the frame.

Here are some pictures of the set-up and final product of my work.

http://i.imgur.com/sEHVsex.jpg?1

I used a scrap of the tubing against a vise stop to ensure that both notches were parallel with each other. To make the notches I used a 0.1875 endmill ( EM ) to drill a hole down the center of the tube and offset from my stop the length of the spacer I wanted.

http://i.imgur.com/T7pLWXB.jpg?1

http://i.imgur.com/ndUuCou.jpg?1

In all I had 4 - 21.00" main rails, 20 - 1.00" spacers, 11 - 2.125" spacers.

I spent my afternoon this weekend ( 7/15/17 ) soldering all the part together to make the two sides of the frame and also milled my 0.0625 bar stock to size to fit between my 1" spacers. I also made a spacer block to get a very consistent spacing of 2.375" between each tube center to center and also to keep them square to the frame rails.

Here are some picture of the frame as I assembled it.

http://i.imgur.com/OEWeo6u.jpg?2

http://i.imgur.com/riA20Zw.jpg?2

Here are pictures of the finished sides with the bearing plates.

http://i.imgur.com/BMg3Lg0.jpg?1

http://i.imgur.com/64ow5ik.jpg?1

Here I am soldering in the bearing plates, I used a piece of my 0.0625 brass stock to get the plates centered in the frames.

http://i.imgur.com/VdxOGYJ.jpg?1

The finished product.

http://i.imgur.com/idStF2m.jpg?2

My next steps will be to add in my 2.125" spacers and drill and bore the bearing plates to fit my flange bearings I bought as well to drill the clearance holes to allow me to bolt the gear motor on. I bought all my motion components from www.servocity.com, time will tell if these components hold up. the motor is a 195 RPM motor.

http://i.imgur.com/3D8EX0S.jpg?1

http://i.imgur.com/wAxR9n9.jpg?2

http://i.imgur.com/3lVbGn1.jpg?1

So this is my update for now, It will be a week or two before I get around to boring the holes for the bearings.

-Joe

Re: Bruder Conveyor Brass Rebuild
 

Wow looks awesome already. Cant wait to see how this turns out!

Re: Bruder Conveyor Brass Rebuild
 

Wery nice work:jaw:

Re: Bruder Conveyor Brass Rebuild
 

Very nice! Thanks for the assembly /setup photos, I have been thinking about doing another conveyor just like yours!

Jim

Re: Bruder Conveyor Brass Rebuild
 

I LOVE IT! I wish I had room for tool in the garage, so I could do nice things like this.

Re: Bruder Conveyor Brass Rebuild
 

That's looking awesome.

What's the plan for belt tracking adjustment?

Re: Bruder Conveyor Brass Rebuild
 

No plan as of yet, im thinking of using the original rollers from the bruder frame, they have a grove in them that registers with teeth on the bottom of the belt.

Re: Bruder Conveyor Brass Rebuild
 

Here is a video link to your build. Do you think the 195 rpm is going to be about right? Were you able to measure the speed of the belt or just a guess? I ordered several motors last night in that range from a bit slower to faster. Thanks for the video!

For tracking i crown the rollers a bit, it doesn't take much, but with the center spline and original rollers you may not need to deal with it.

https://youtu.be/8DsMjBCIgkw

Jim

Re: Bruder Conveyor Brass Rebuild
 

According to my math it should cycle a belt length every 4 or 6 seconds... but i can adjust that with the voltage. But it was mainly a guess... so heres hoping.

Re: Bruder Conveyor Brass Rebuild
 

Ya, I'm hoping I get something close with the new motors I ordered last night.

I am going to run a pulley or possibly chain and sprockets so I have a bit of adjusting I can do with the final ratio there to get the belt speed where it works good.

Jim