Hitachi, Bucyrus and then some....

Hello to all forum members.

After a contact with 9w, I finally joined this new forum....

I have not been very active on the internet for the past 2 years, but I think the rules did not change and I will first have to post some pictures or anything else to introduce myself.

So, here are some old models and undergoing projects :

Liebherr excavator and mack truck doing some work in my basement (this reminds me about someone, but.....)


Hitachi EX1900-6


and the tracks (with bruder tracks for size comparison)


Bucyrus 88-B


And some parts....


And last but not least, my sandbox


Sorry fot the "pic heavy" post, but this was the best way for me to introduce myself

[SmallHaul]

Welcome aboard!

Nice equipment, nice metal work and cool job.

Thank you for the welcome compliments

[9W Monighan]

Welcome! Nice builds. I'll get you some pictures and sizes for the 88B

[W900snowman]

Welcome, very nice work on your machines.

[Lil Giants]

Fantastic machines you have built & are building Papy, more pictures please.

[mazdaparts]

Those tracks on the 88b look like what Small haul needs for the unit cable hoe. Nice looking models you have.

[Jared]

Welcome! I'm drooling over the 88B.

[RCLogger]

Welcome Papy
Looking forward to more of your builds.

greg

[rc_farmer]

Welcome to the board and we love pics. Great builds you have going on

[sparkycuda]

Welcome to the Forum! Man, you have some great models going. Did you make the tracks for the Hitachi? If so, would you share your building methods and give some close-up pictures? The distributor I work for was a Bucyrus-Erie dealer for over 50 years and we sold a bunch of 88B's in the coal fields. We've had Komatsu since the mid-80's, so was pleasently surprised to see the PC1250 working.

Ken

[Oil Field Construction]

Looking forward to seeing the Hitachi build! Great sand box and welcome to the forum!

[Scalerlover]

Excellent work, cant wait to see more done.

[Espeefan]

Very nice models! That is some really nice machining on those drive sprockets. What kind of mill do you have?

[Papy]

Originally Posted by sparkycuda

...Did you make the tracks for the Hitachi? If so, would you share your building methods and give some close-up pictures? ...
Ken

Yes I did. At that time, my mill was not CNC, so I had some of the parts laser cut. I'll post pictures of how to do as soon as possible. You will see it requires a lot of work, but there is nothing complicated.



My mill is a small hobby BF20L. I turned it to CNC myself 3 years ago using electronics made by a small french company.

[D8R]

Nice models, please write some more about converting a mill to CNC. I have a little bigger machine that was equiped with digital readouts 2 years ago, what a difference. Guess it will be much better with control system. Can the DRO be used for information to the motors?
Dan

[Dreamweaver]

Originally Posted by Papy

Sorry fot the "pic heavy" post, but this was the best way for me to introduce myself

Welcome to the forum, and there is no need to apologize for pictures, we love pictures...

-Mike

[Papy]

Originally Posted by D8R

Nice models, please write some more about converting a mill to CNC. I have a little bigger machine that was equiped with digital readouts 2 years ago, what a difference. Guess it will be much better with control system. Can the DRO be used for information to the motors?
Dan

As far as I know, a standard DRO "reacts" too slow to give a correct feedback of the motors position.

I can show you what I did, but I am not a specialist and the software I use is in french. However, the demo version with limited functions can be downloaded here for free : iprocam

I recommand you this site : Mach3. This is exactly the same type of software. I know it's very popular and they have a dedicated forum.

[Papy]

How my tracks are done :


The track links are made from laser cut parts. The frames help to position each half (inner/outter) accurately for welding (TIG).

Track pads are milled by pairs.



the track pads are then bent, separated and receive final cuts.





Sorry for this one....not so clear. The links are assembled with a small bushing. This is the reason why the hole of the inner half is larger than the pin hole.
Then the links are soldered to the pads.

[sparkycuda]

Wow! Track work is ingenious and exceptional quality! I have no idea about the cost of laser cutting but the results are amazingly prototypical. Can't wait for more pictures!

Ken