New Here

[RP14]

Love the idea of building construction equipment. And love the video of the guy digging out his basement and I am interested in doing the same. I live in North Dakota and the winters can be brutal which is why I thought about working in the basement (crawl space).

Need help and suggestions to finding plans or starting points on construction equipment such as excavator, dump truck, dozer, etc. No money for high end equipment, besides I like to build things.

I am looking into little machine shop lathe and mill. My work has welding shop to do welds, etc.

Any pointers would be great.
Thank You

[Lil Giants]

Welcome to the forum.

Unless you are a millwright by trade & have the machinery or access to it, you're not going to accomplish much in the short term (yr or two) buying just a mill and/or lathe & a bit of tooling. Most of the guys who build from scratch at the high quality level you see on this forum have been at it a decade or longer & probably have an investment in tooling greater than the kit bought collection that I have.

If you like to tinker/improve/modify & have some basic tools to do so, then the china model line up may be an avenue you can get your feet wet & see whether or not this a hobby you'll be in for the long term... as much as I hate on the china crap models being offered, it's still a reasonable economic level entry into the hobby for ppl with mechanical skills.

[RP14]

Makes sense. I am still researching and will start with the basic equipment like a dump truck then work my way up. I usually do things by trial and error. Hate to buy chinese but will if I have to. Have to start with small machines due to space limitations (no garage, but have office space). I used to have the bigger machine tools but had to sell it all due to moving to better job.

[thebigo]

Welcome, this is a great site with lots of guy's to help in your hobby. I think you and i are among the few in the mid-states, I am in Whitewood SD. I really enjoy this hobby would maybe one day like to have a construction meet, there are none that i know of around here most are in the eastern or west side of the states.

David

[RP14]

Originally Posted by thebigo

Welcome, this is a great site with lots of guy's to help in your hobby. I think you and i are among the few in the mid-states, I am in Whitewood SD. I really enjoy this hobby would maybe one day like to have a construction meet, there are none that i know of around here most are in the eastern or west side of the states.

David

David

Would like to meet you someday and see your stuff. I am in the beginning stages and only have quadcopters and rc cars. Cannot drive or fly in the winter which I saw video of guy digging his basement. Thought it would be a load of fun.
Ron

[Dieselchopper]

Not crazy far for you two to possibly join our crew in Estevan,Saskatchewan, Canada once in a while. We have a fall model engineering show that is lots of fun. We even get Lil Giants to join us when he can. We are also looking at putting up a long term construction site in conjunction with the local rc flight club. Year round possibilities.

[thebigo]

That would be very cool Dieselchopper, keep us in mind, I would drive up through North Dakota and pick Ron up for a meet preferably in the spring or summer, early Fall wouldn't be bad either.

Ron, I know Dieselchopper has an excavator from China, and I have the excavator, loader and 8x8 Dump truck, and I think he will also tell you he enjoys his, I really like mine. You do have to expect to work on them, but for the most part they are very good.

[RP14]

Bought the excavator plans from john-tom and am going to try to have them cut out of steel. I have a customer who has the plasma table. Will use that as a starting point.
Looking for dump truck plans, need to have something to work with. Hopefully when the xmas holiday is over with and bills paid, I'll get a mini mill and lathe. No shop yet for the bigger machines.
Will know more soon what the input would be on the excavator.