Sterling Dump

[Heavy Metal]

Okay guys...been wanting to do this one for awhile. I imagine this has been done before but I haven't seen any myself. This is pretty much my first model project so...hope it turns out. Was going to wait until I got my backhoe build thread going but there is soooo much waiting for parts and drafting plans that I was looking for something to tinker with in between. (BTW, the backhoe project is alive and well...tires on way from Germany, booms and cylinders all sized and mocked up in balsa wood and most remaining pre-manufactured parts on way from PMD or Germany).

I don't know all the details but the first Sterlings were pretty much the Aeromax with a new front grill. Even the most recent class 8 models, (prior to the Sterling line being discontinued), continued to look a lot like the Aeromax - just sleeker...in fact, the last model before they shut 'em down was a **** good looking truck (IMO).

Anyway...some back story here...my pop retired from a management job with an oil company in 1999 and set out to "enjoy" his retirement driving a truck. He was a truck driver earlier in life and that's what he really enjoyed most. So he landed a job with a local concrete company hauling stone and they set him up in a Sterling dump with a single drop axle very similar to the white truck pictured below but in blue (Mom is looking for pics for me but no luck so far). Well, in January 2001 he had a massive seizure driving the Sterling through town in a 25mph zone. Lucky for all he was giving a guy a ride to pick up a repaired truck and they got the truck pulled over without anyone getting hurt. Turns out he had brain cancer....and that's the last time he ever drove a big truck. Happy to report Dad is alive today and doing pretty well considering....so this one's for you Pop.

On to the build...so here's the general inspiration...you can see what I mean about the newer models looking pretty cool (yellow and blue)...



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Picked up this Aeromax from Vince a couple weeks back. I'm sure some of you saw the truck on Buy & Sell. Vince seems like a pretty good guy. Thanks Vince.



An hour later...



Cab disassembled and sleeper cut off...



Mocked up with cardboard dump body to get the feel...definitely on the right track here...frame length pretty close as is but I got some frame rails from Freddy and will be starting from scratch to fine tune the length after I finish the design on the dump body.



Now to make the all important Sterling front grill. First to remove the Ford grill and carve away the vertical sections and Ford emblem. (Before I did this I transferred the shape of the grill by wrapping a piece of paper around the front real tight and shading w/ side of pencil point to pick up the lines).



The little Taig CNC in action...



...and the prototypes after some scroll saw and pan brake trickery.



Temporarily set in place...not bad.



I'm in process of reworking the grill (hopefully for the last time). Will have the Sterling S milled in and ends of grill slots will better match the original. Have some miniature stub end mills on order that should be able to do the job on the S logo. Hopefully the Taig is up to the challenge...I've never done anything that small in aluminum.

Might post some more tomorrow with mock up of the lower grill piece. Need the new end mills before I can attempt the STERLING relief carving. Doubt I will have anything on the new front bumper but maybe...still mulling over fabrication methods on that one.

As for rest of truck?
- New frame rails from Freddy
- Truck came w/ PMD 4:1 gear reduction so that will stay
- Wedico telescopic hydraulic pump/cylinder on the way
- Fabricating the dump body

Rest I will work out along the way. Thanks for looking. Comments and suggestions welcome!

Joe

[DieselKid]

That is AWESOME! Can't believe the progress made on this already in just a short span of time!

And your CNC mastery!, very impessive!!! Amazing work on the grill....cool to see how it transformed the whole image of the truck with just that detail alone.

Will be checking back on this one frequently! What kind of box did your Dad's truck have?...an Alfab like the first pic?

-Alex

[rc_farmer]

WoW is all i can say!!!

[Espeefan]

First of all, glad your dad is still with you and your family! Secondly, you are certainly off to a great start. The grill looks really nice, and I can understand having to re-work it a few times to get it perfect, but it's darn close. Nice job. I've always liked the Aeromax. My favorite box stock Tamiya rig. Nice to see it rendered as a dump truck.

[Scalerlover]

Very nice, ill be watching this one for sure.

[fhhhstix]

Looks great Joe keep up the good work and you will be happy with the results in the end.

Travis

[Bigrigger]

WOW! That is a great start, and that grill is amazing!!!

[Izzy]

Boy - someones go thte right tools for the job! That grill is awesome........really transformed that cab....... Really nice start to great project.....

[nenard]

Very kool!

[Heavy Metal]

Thanks for the kind words guys. Guess I might be an addict now. I should probably warn you this won't move too fast.

Alex - I'm actually a novice at the CNC stuff but I did CAD work professionally 15 years ago so that was a big help. I'm not sure what box was on Pop's Sterling...curious myself so hoping Mom finds some pics.

Nate - I was tempted to just move on with that grill...but so much nice work on these boards...just gotta give it one more try for the cadillac version!

Izzy - Ya well...I wouldn't have the CNC or half my other tools if I didn't happen across these boards 2 1/2 years ago, (GT forum but same guys). I saw all this cool mini truck and hydraulic equipment and decided right then I wanted to learn how to machine and work metal and see what I could build. Stay tuned I guess.

Joe

[tc1cat]

Very nice CNC work! Does the Taig have high enough rpm to handle the small end mills needed for making the Sterling name plate and "S"?

Lynn

[SmallHaul]

Very nice work on the grill! It is going to be a very nice truck.

[Dreamweaver]

Wow Joe, very impressed. The grill looks great. I'm watching this build.

-Mike

[Heavy Metal]

Originally Posted by tc1cat

Very nice CNC work! Does the Taig have high enough rpm to handle the small end mills needed for making the Sterling name plate and "S"?

Lynn

Lynn - Uh...how about "I hope so". Could be an expensive experiment. (Broken or dulled end mills, right?) Taig has max spindle speed of 10,500 RPM. I'm no machinist but plan is to do the math and just slow my feed rate down to achieve end mill manufacturer recommended chip size for 6061 alum. 4-flute end mills help as well. Have to admit I haven't paid as much attention as I should to spindle speed, depth and feed rate so far. I kind of combined math from books with trial and error tests a couple years ago and wrote a few notes on garage wall for approx feed rates and cut depths for 1/16" thru 1/4" end mills and just run the mill at 6500 RPM all the time (Taig has 6 speeds via belt change). (Machinist are cringing, I know). Obviously I will be moving the belt to 10,500 for these 0.015" thru .040" end mills.

Machinist in the group: Tips and suggestions on this welcome!!

Joe

[tc1cat]

10,500 rpm should be fine if your feed rate is OK for the .015" end mill. 6500 rpm for the .250" is a little high but again OK if you are using any type of cooling. I noticed that you either have air or coolant lines for the tooling. If you use either, you should be fine.
That is one of my problems. No cooling of any type for my mills. Need to get an air compressor and start running air lines!!

[Espeefan]

Originally Posted by jbothell

Lynn - Uh...how about "I hope so". Could be an expensive experiment. (Broken or dulled end mills, right?) Taig has max spindle speed of 10,500 RPM. I'm no machinist but plan is to do the math and just slow my feed rate down to achieve end mill manufacturer recommended chip size for 6061 alum. 4-flute end mills help as well. Have to admit I haven't paid as much attention as I should to spindle speed, depth and feed rate so far. I kind of combined math from books with trial and error tests a couple years ago and wrote a few notes on garage wall for approx feed rates and cut depths for 1/16" thru 1/4" end mills and just run the mill at 6500 RPM all the time (Taig has 6 speeds via belt change). (Machinist are cringing, I know). Obviously I will be moving the belt to 10,500 for these 0.015" thru .040" end mills.

Machinist in the group: Tips and suggestions on this welcome!!

Joe

Joe, I'm not a pro either, but what you do sounds about what I do. I usually just go by feel (manual milling, no CNC for me) and how the cutter sounds. If it starts squeeling bad, I know I'm either cutting to deep, spinning the RPMs to high, or something is dull! I almost always spray some light oil onto the material I am working with, by hand using a spray bottle, and the end mill. Especially with aluminum. It machines nicer that way. Aluminum can get a little sticky.

Originally Posted by jbothell

Thanks for the kind words guys. Guess I might be an addict now. I should probably warn you this won't move too fast.

Nate - I was tempted to just move on with that grill...but so much nice work on these boards...just gotta give it one more try for the cadillac version!

Joe

Can't blame you one bit! That's how I feel.

[Heavy Metal]

Originally Posted by tc1cat

10,500 rpm should be fine if your feed rate is OK for the .015" end mill. 6500 rpm for the .250" is a little high but again OK if you are using any type of cooling. I noticed that you either have air or coolant lines for the tooling. If you use either, you should be fine.
That is one of my problems. No cooling of any type for my mills. Need to get an air compressor and start running air lines!!

Thanks Lynn. VERY helpfull. I do need to figure out what feed rate an .015" and .025" end mill can handle as well as safe max depth. Any experience there? Can I do .02 in one pass?? These are stub end so mill ends only .063" long w/ .125" shafts. I'll be doing some reading but always nice to find someone that already knows the answer!

Yes, I run an air coolant setup. Actually came with the mill - I bought it second hand from a custom cycle shop that had upgraded to a Tormach (drool). Little gizmo makes some pretty cold air! Coolant mist systems look pretty nice and seem affordable. Messy I suppose and would require air compressor anyway.

I know you are right about 6500 RPM being too fast (at least for the .25"). Maybe I left it there because I'm was always working in the 0.125" range. I better do a little homework so I don't dull my end mills running 'em too fast!

Originally Posted by Espeefan

Joe, I'm not a pro either, but what you do sounds about what I do. I usually just go by feel (manual milling, no CNC for me) and how the cutter sounds...

...I almost always spray some light oil onto the material I am working with, by hand using a spray bottle, and the end mill.

Nate - Glad I'm not the only one! It's amazing how much manual milling helped me understand what works and not. Can't "feel" anything w/ CNC and the math is only good so far anyway. I jumped straight in to CNC having never milled anything manually or otherwise. After a week or two messing around I sat in the garage one night running the Taig by hand (no graduated hand crank but does have big beefy knobs on it) and that did me more good than a weeks worth of reading books and web sites. Any specifics on the oil you are using in the spray bottle? Sounds like a good idea.

Joe

[Izzy]

The "machinery's Handbook" is a fine wealth of knowledge - first book I was told to purchase when starting classes at Purdue - a little pricey but will help for many things....

http://search.barnesandnoble.com/Mac...eries+handbook

- it's a book that will last a lifetime

[ihbuilder]

joe nice work that grill is right on the well drilling outfit my 1 friend works for just got a couple of those trucks 2 w/a flatwater body(flat bed on top of a water tank ) and 1 w/a drill As for feed don't push it , the slower you move the table the better finish you'll have . I'm doing stuff manually and I go by feel . most times on my lathe I'll hog it down with the power feed then do a finish pass by hand to get a much slower feed speed . I'm starting to learn cnc but it is still a little greek to me yet .

Steve

[Heavy Metal]

Few updates here. Mom and Dad stopped by today - they found some pictures of the Sterling my Pop used to drive. He was pretty excited seeing the old pictures and looking at what I was working on so that was pretty cool. Pretty good looking machine too. Don't think I can do white wheels though...will look way better w/ alum wheels and dual stacks.



Showin' off the box in action...



Did some more work on the grill. This is the first prototype of the lower grill and turned out pretty good.nice. If all goes well the final part would not have the big oval cut out...just cut down in relief with raised word STERLING. Then I would paint the relief section black.



That's probably it until next weekend...busy days ahead. Thanks again for the kind words and all the machining tips. Joe