Bucyrus Erie crane truck

[Trucker_Jo]

Killer job! Looking foward to more updates, glad you're trucking right along with this one.

[kerst]

The house looked pretty good. have you considered using AL?

Kerst

[Krewmember]

Originally Posted by Trucker_Jo

Killer job! Looking foward to more updates, glad you're trucking right along with this one.

Thanks. It will be a fun one to operate once it's done

Originally Posted by kerst

The house looked pretty good. have you considered using AL?

Kerst

Thank you. And yes my original plan was to mill down a block of aluminium, but I no longer have access to a milling machine. I would however be able to use aluminium flat bar and plate. BUT I would have use epoxy as I do not have access to a tig welder.

Edit: or maybe brazing

Shawn

[Krewmember]

This project has been the back burner sense my last post. Again
But a couple of days ago I finally pulled it off the shelf and did some detail work mostly on the crane carrier but. I did add sliding doors and rivets to the back of the crane as well.






As for the carrier, I added a battery box and the fuel tank. And some trim to the cab as well as a opening door.



















I'm still having trouble deciding the best way to approach the mechanical parts of this project, and to make things harder my little craftsman lathe is still not running do to a missing drive pulley which for the life of me I cannot find for sale anywhere




Shawn

[skeeter]

This is a really kewl build! I can't wait to see vids of it working.

[Mikem]

Your coming along faster then my parts . I’m still trying to find sizes for the crane body . Looks great

[Panther F]

Sweet, I really like these purpose built cabs like the COE & CBE. Much more appealing than a kit body.

Hope that pulley finds it's way to you. It really grinds a project to a halt when you cannot use that special tool.

[Krewmember]

Originally Posted by skeeter

This is a really kewl build! I can't wait to see vids of it working.

Thank you. I will be sure to take plenty of videos when I get it operating.

Originally Posted by Mikem

Your coming along faster then my parts . I’m still trying to find sizes for the crane body . Looks great

What type are you planning to model, 22B? if so 9W Monighan shared some scans from a 22B manual here.
http://www.rctruckandconstruction.com/showpost.php?p=47280&postcount=14

They helped me get the scale on my crane housing pretty close.

And if you need reference photos, I have a small collection of photos I have saved from the web on my computer. Also if you use Sketchup I would be more then happy to share my design file.

Originally Posted by Panther F

Sweet, I really like these purpose built cabs like the COE & CBE. Much more appealing than a kit body.

Hope that pulley finds it's way to you. It really grinds a project to a halt when you cannot use that special tool.

Funny story. I actually got on ebay shortly after posting the update, and was
shocked to find that the exact pulley I have been trying to find for almost a year just got listed on ebay, let's just say that was the fastest ebay purchase I have ever made!




Shawn

[egronvold]

Impressive styrene-work.

[Mikem]

Thanks for the info Shawn . Went and quickly looked at the site . And I don’t have sketchup . I will plod along . Mike

[Mikem]

Hi Shawn what are planning on using for a swivel on the crane house

[Krewmember]

The plan is to get the swing mechanism as close to the real machine as I can. So I'm going to machine a custom swing ring and cut internal gear teeth in to it just like the deal.

Here is a diagram of what I have been able design based on what information I have.




The ring will be mounted to a base by bolt holes tapped in the ring, the base will have the bearings for a central shaft that will be mounted to the crane frame. The frame will have rollers that go inside the race in the ring, like this.







Shawn

[Mikem]

This is interesting the ring mounts to the truck then the wheels are mounted to the crane and support the weight of the crane ? Is there a center pivot ?

[Krewmember]

Yes, there is central shaft that runs through the crane base to the ring base






Shawn

[Jared]

Cool! I'm planning to do the same thing on my 25B when I get back to it. I have a shaper I plan to use to cut the gear teeth- after I get it running, that is. How will you cut the teeth?

I don't think the center shaft does anything to keep the house centered on the swing circle; the hook rollers do that. As far as I know, it is just a way to transmit power down to the tracks. I wouldn't get too worried about building that part into your machine. Before hook rollers came along, cranes had upper and lower rollers to support the weight of the house and the center shaft did double duty as power transmission and keeping the house from falling off the circle and my understanding is it was nothing but trouble.

[Mikem]

So much to learn and figure out !

[JAMMER]

How are you planning to cut the swing gear, by broaching it?Ed

[Krewmember]

Yes the plan is to use broaching to cut the swing gear. I only have a lathe so I'm going to use a profile tool in a boring bar holder and just slowly scrape away until I get to the right tooth depth and since I'm using aluminum for the swing ring I should not have too much trouble. As for indexing. My lathe has a gear reduction that can lock the spindle, so I can just enable the gear reduction cut a tooth and then disable it go to the next tooth on the gear reduction or skip a couple to divide, that way i can use my lathe as a poor man's indexing head


The only reason I was planing to add a center shaft was for rigidity. As I do not know how tight I'm going to be able get the hook rollers. I will just have to see how it works when I machine the parts and do some tests.




Shawn

[sparkycuda]

Love this build! Just a clarification about the center shaft and hook rollers. Center shaft does transmit propell power to lower works, but the house is also centered by the bushing around the shaft housing. Hook rollers control the tilting of the house on the ring, so clearance is needed between rollers and ring path. Roller clearance allows front rollers to contact on bottom flange and rear rollers on top flange, when lifting. If they are adjusted in too far, lack of clearance will prevent rollers from turning during house rotation.

[Krewmember]

That makes sense. Thanks for clarifying that.