Great Dane excavating co.

[Cooper]

Originally Posted by RCP57

Well at least your first project wasn't a welded aluminum boat like mine was.lol I like the steep learning curve too! No point in being a p@ssy and taking the easy route. Dive in and get some!

It's looking better all of the time!

Well a boat is half underwater. But on the other hand I can cover the bed welds with dirt !!!lol!!! I still get a little shakey especially when all contorted trying to get into the tight corners, and then stick the electrode with the rod!! Been doing that quite a bit. Standing for some isn't any better!! But I can go back over some of the welds and flatten them out. Makes sense of what you said about being able to fill in some holes or low spots. Also level out some high spots. About the only thing I can't fix is the warped spots on the sides. And being aluminum some dents (too much heat at one spot) will add to the used work truck look!! My biggest mistake has been trying to weld too much. No need to be running continuous beads. That has been a big mistake I was doing. Along with not letting things cool. Nice thing about the smaller torch, when it gets hot I stop and let parts/torch cool. Still reminds me of doing drywall, only put on as much mud as you need, less to sand later. And put every coat on like its the final one. Oh I hate doing drywall. still need to make lift cylinders, front hubs, detail rims, lights, steps, handrail , removable grill, clean up all the square parts, going to print the tanks and boxes for on the deck, even with all the little details she is on the down side now. Definately not fitting the box in my blast cabinet. Have a big bucket of soda blast material, maybe waste that outside. Thanks again for those lights mark, they will be perfect.

[RCP57]

Haha well that's true the welds are mostly hidden on my boat when it's in the water. I was thinking more along the lines that some of the welds were porous and the hull leaked. Sinking is not much of a problem for us with our trucks.lol I've been welding this crap together for a few years now and I still make mistakes regularly. I don't think I will ever be a really good welder but I can dream.lol I have yet to try welding while sitting down. Seems to be the way to do things but I don't have a bench in my shop that I can do it at. I almost always stand except for the occasional out of position weld that I have to kneel down for.

[bigford]

WE need updates...

[TRUCKMAKER]

Yeah where are we at here?

[RCP57]

It's probably finished, painted, hauled a load and then he's realized that his excavator is too small so now he's building a 6015B.

[bigford]

via Imgflip Meme Maker

[ihbuilder]

man looky at the groupies

[RCP57]

Originally Posted by ihbuilder

man looky at the groupies

Mark will be throwing his panties on stage any minute!

[bigford]

how if i'm dead on the bench???

[Cooper]

Oh boy!!! Panties!!! But not any of marks!! They probably have marks in um, live and dead lol!!!!

Ok hopefully this doesn't get deleted, so I'll get back to the building stuff,, haven't had much time or ambition to devote to the dumper. Most of the week days were digging holes for fence. Rented a 6" hole bit for our skid steer auger. 30 seconds digging a hole, some hand cleaning out and no big deal. First one was by hand because it was next to garage. And the next 3 were at edge of driveway so not the easiest digging with machine with such a small auger. (In a 6" hole a little rock will throw it off pretty easily) but pretty much everyone after that was about an hour or two!! Only thing I can think of is back in 50's they may have had a concrete driveway, the kind where just two pads were poured for the car tires and grass in middle. About 6' deep I hit 6-8" thick concrete. Had to rent a big hammer drill and drill a bunch of holes to bust out. If it would have been a little deeper I may have just post down but couldn't do that.


All those posts with exceptions to three off house and 3-4 along existing driveway were concrete!!! And even tried to move different locations but right where I wanted fence!!!

So tonight this is what I got,,,,


The start of the double acting telescopic cylinders. Going to try and make them from stainless. Got smooth wall stuff so probably just a simple hone and polishing of insides. Last night I did spend some time grinding a new more accurate inside grooving tool. And the solid stuff is easier to machine stainless.

[Mikem]

That's your new house beautiful my dream

[Cooper]

Yeah been my dream for a few years but now it's my nightmare every month when the payments are due!!! I like to think of it as I bought my dad a house in Florida.

Every time I turn around this creepo is starring at me!!! He is a problem child!!!



I was going to comment but I'll leave that up to reg, but I can say it's hauling some tail already!!

[bigford]

thanks daddy i love my new litter box!!!

[Cooper]

Originally Posted by bigford

thanks daddy i love my new litter box!!!

Yeah,,, remember last year with the pile of gravel I had in garage to test the new excavator? Had to keep the little ginger out of it constantly!!! And he thought it was a new open litter pit just for him!!!

[headers]

Absolutely amazing great job Cooper

[TRUCKMAKER]

I know that look, it's "why in the he!! Did you put me in this stupid thing, oh crap her comes that flashy box thingy you point at me all the time! At least you could've put a blanket in here so I could curl up and go to sleep" I get that look around here quite often!

[modelman]

I went thru your complete thread and put all of your animal pictures in a folder and showed them to my wife and she really enjoyed them. I noticed this cat is in most of the pictures so I think this is your favorite animal,(you probably won't admit it) but it is really a pretty cat. Truck looks okay too!!!

[TRUCKMAKER]

Originally Posted by modelman

I went thru your complete thread and put all of your animal pictures in a folder and showed them to my wife and she really enjoyed them. I noticed this cat is in most of the pictures so I think this is your favorite animal,(you probably won't admit it) but it is really a pretty cat. Truck looks okay too!!!

I agree 100% he'd be a keeper no matter how much of a pain he might be!

[Cooper]

We take him to our river lot and he actually listens better than any dog, knows his boundaries and even gets in the river! Just throw a small stick and he comes running!! Yeah, for a cat, he's a keeper!! Even though I'm more of a dog person!!! But he is my shop companion .

Ok starting on the part where fittings attach. Using a 5/16 shaft for the cylinder to attach to. That will run from one side to other. The 1/8" tube is for the top oil port. That will get welded in top and bottom of first stage. Once I figure out actual lengths of each stage and decide weather to have a bolted on end of last stage or have the final stage with bolt on seal cap. But I wanted to make the bottom where fittings attach able to slide in from top, that's why it's same diameter as first stage cylinder. It's still a bit confusing to me and still not sure what I m doing

[ihbuilder]

looks good so far Coop . I'm assuming you got stainless rod for tig welding your joint .