Volvo G990 Grader

[JensR]

Stefan, not to be a party spoiler, but are these plates a good idea?

How do you prevent hose chafing and so?
I guess you can round the edges, but - not having the pdf of the original at hand - I remember similar plates in other machines having quite generous padding/guidance/radii to prevent cutting/chafing the hoses and wires.

[doodlebug]

Hey Jens, Are you thinking of grommet's around the hose's?
Cheer's, Neil.

[JensR]

Or sheathing around the hoses - not sure if any of that is realistic in the model.
It's problematic enough on the big machines.

I once saw an Australian(?) safety pdf where they talked about best practise in laying and securing hoses. But I cannot find it

[Stefan]

Jens, that´s not a spoiler, I´ve thought of that, too, but the original has a plate like that, so I made it (them). In reality each hole carries a fitting, to which a hose is attached from both sides. Obviously the holes are too small for model fittings (at least the ones you can buy), and many of them are even too small for the hoses I intend to use. So, depending on how many hoses will actually pass the waist (depends on whether I put valves also in the front frame) maybe I will use the plates, maybe not (edit: What I mean is: for a smaller number of hoses I can use the larger holes and include some kind of hose protection).

[Azorean]

Amazing, really nice work...

[Lil Giants]

I have models with rubber gromets & without going through metal holes, but the hoses fit snug! Never a problem yet with rupture.

Apart from UV light, vibration greatest factor to premature failure no matter how properly secured.. not something to worry about on a model I wouldn't think.

5yrs eh? and 5 more?.. don't let the media find that out or you'll be the new poster boy for "too much time on hands".

[Stefan]

Hm, someone must be drawing the wrong conclusions here, and I don´t know if it´s you, me or those potential media
Now, if you mean "too much spare time" I must respectfully disagree, cause sometimes weeks and even months have passed without me having had any time for the build . If you mean something else, you may still be right of course (pls enlighten me)

[Lil Giants]

I'm sorry Stefan I was teasing you and making fun of the media & ppl in general who don't understand what it means to have the challenging & exciting hobby that we all here enjoy so much... bad taste, my appologies, I didn't mean any offence to the extraordinary skilled work you are doing.

[doodlebug]

The people that make fun of this hobby have no skills or talent!
My $.02 worth
Grader is getting better all the time!
Cheer's, Neil.

[9W Monighan]

Sometimes there is different meanings to the slang we use.
For example; I have a Ukrainian guy who has worked for me about 12yrs and one time I was going to the lumber yard close to his quitting time and I said; "See Ya Later" and I left.
About an hour goes by and I get a call from my dad wondering when I'll be back. I said I was still loading the trailer and he said well Vladimir is waiting for you because I told him I'd "see ya later" what I should have told him was: "I'll see you tomorrow"

Oh yea, This is the reason I inquired on another topic about requesting more Emoticons and Smiles.

[Stefan]

Hi Joe! Having just read your comments on your neighbours' reaction to your own long term project as well as what other people say, I now quite understand what you meant. And in any case, no offence taken!

[Stefan]

This time I have some pictures from the building of the rear frame.







My first hard soldering job in over thirty years. A bit overheated


But o.k. looks better after cleaning.






In the original machine these bars are the ultimate attachment points for the rear frame installations including the engine, the cooling fan with its casing and the engine cowl. In all essential only the tank (between the frame bars at the rear end) and, of course, the tandem axle have separate attaching means.














Weight as shown 3.8 kg (8.4 lbs). B.t.w. the weight of front frame, as shown in an earlier installment, is 6.2 kg (14 lbs).




Stefan

[9W Monighan]

Looking like some of these parts are right out of the factory on a 1:1 machine. The hard solder joints came out nicely too.

[Espeefan]

Great work. The solder joints look like miniature welds, off a 1:1 machine. I don't know that I could do that clean of work, but you're making some great progress. Watching these big machines come together, in miniature, is a real treat.

[Stefan]

Thanks for the warming words. Long time, no show, but here I´m back with a sequence of pictures from the build of the tandem boxes:

First how they should look when finished... apart from the colors













This is the dia. 75 mm (3 inches) raw material for the brake housings (without function).


Two thirds of the material removed. The swarfs filled up one large packing case.






And here you see the rear axles and wheel hubs.


Stefan

[D8R]

A lot of nice parts! Looking like you are building 2 graders, or is it only spare boxes?
Are the drive axles made in one piece or axle pressed/soldered?
What type of material do you use, the surface looks realy good.
Dan

[Stefan]

Hej Dan!
Yes, my intention was to build two of them, which I've also managed for most of the parts up till now. The calculation was that all the time for planning is better invested that way. The drive axles are a two piece pressed, or rather glued, construction. The axle proper is diameter 12 mm. The material used is stainless 1.4305 (which I think is called 303 in the states). I use this where no welding is needed, for the simple reason that it doesn't weld but is relatively easy to cut (achieving an acceptable surface). For parts to be welded I use 1.4301 (304).
Stefan

[kerst]

WOW! Great machining! Impressive!

Kerst

[Stefan]

Thanks Kerst! I made some additions for the moldboard installation.

These are the bearing bronze blocks. The actual guide slots will be milled in one setup after finishing the moldboard with its guide rails.


This bar connects the quadrants and also protects the moldboard slide cylinder from dirt (final screws will be shorter, of course).




Stefan

[Stefan]

Finally I was able to prepare some new pics. Have been rather busy with the garden, as usual in the springtime, so didn´t do much on the model in the meantime, and the pics show what has been done before. Sorry for the long delay

Anyway, this is the story of the (still unfinished) front axle:




The knuckle and the spindle data were sent to a 3D print shop for producing master models for lost wax casting by another shop. This way it was possible to reproduce even the part numbers on the castings. Here are the master models having been returned after casting. You may note a pin having been inserted in the spindles to avoid air being trapped. The aluminum plugs in the knuckles were added when it turned out that the (one man) casting shop couldn´t handle holes of the particular depth to radius ratio.


Unfortunately, the casting guy had slightly misjudged the castability (or his skill). Apparently, my parts were thicker than anything he had handled before, and came out with a lot of shrinkage cavities. In all, he cast each part six times (I had ordered two), but still was not happy, so he gave me the best pieces for the price of the metal. Here the knuckles:


And here one spindle already in the mill:








The next step was a bit tricky. The original ball joints for the tie rod and the steering cylinders have a conical insert end and there is of course no drill bit available in the needed size and conicity. Reasonably I should have given up at this point and made a simple threaded hole, but this time I was so determined to stay to scale, that I decided to make my own set of conical drill bits. Below you see the spindle arm for the tie rod connection being drilled.


Whereas this was relatively straightforward, said spindle arm unfortunately obstructs access from above to the steering cylinder attachment point. Consequently, I felt compelled to take yet another step towards insaneness and make this hole by means of reverse drilling. This requires threaded drill bits and an arbor. I suppose the next pics explains this better than more words:








Next, I turned to the clamp on the tie rod ends. In order to test the design I hand made a single sample from 0.5 mm (20 mils) stainless steel sheet which was glued to a larger bar for ease of handling. It turned out to be a bit on the weak side, so I´ll probably have to increase to 0.8 mm, but that´s still in the future.






During box assembly I apparently forgot to take pictures . This is the only one I could find:


Front hub parts:




The remaining pics show pretty much the current state. Tie rod ball joint seats as well as cylinders for steering and wheel lean still have to be made.












Stefan