1/14 Grader Caterpillar 12F

[Espeefan]

Wow. Everytime I look at the photos of the grader, even in a half assembled state, my mind keeps saying it's a full-sized 1:1 machine because everything looks so exact and beautifully made to scale, yet I know better, if only because the gear head motor for the drivetrain is visible. If it wasn't for that, I'd think for sure this was a 1:1 Cat 12F, going through a restoration, in someone's shop!

I really like the way the gear is keyed to the shaft, on the flat. I would have never come up with something like that. That is far superior to a set screw (grub screw) threaded through the gear hub. Much more robust with the key. I'm always learning something new.

The one thing I am a little surprised about is you decided to include some plastic gears in the drivetrain. Were you thinking of doing that for sacrificial purposes, to prevent any damage to other components? The weak link, being the 'fuse'?

Is this grader going to have cab, or will it be an open station model?

[fuchs301]

thank you for your comments,

Originally Posted by Espeefan

The one thing I am a little surprised about is you decided to include some plastic gears in the drivetrain. Were you thinking of doing that for sacrificial purposes, to prevent any damage to other components? The weak link, being the 'fuse'?

Is this grader going to have cab, or will it be an open station model?

@Nathan,
when you look at the tables for strength of such plastic gears (POM), you will find, that the values are not much lower than for normal steel, like C45 (sometimes even higher). I use the plastic gears because they are running quieter.

I buy my gears at Mädler in germany:
http://www.maedler.de/Product/1643/1...1050/1053.aspx

I will make an open station model, because I like this kind.

[Fired up]

great work love to have the tools and skill that a lot off you have keep it up

[fuchs301]

I made a new gearbox for the grader: it is for the transverse movement of the entire blade.

The movable gear segment consists of two halves which are screwed together. This gear segment is driven by a worm gear. After assembly I have mounted the drive motor temporarily to test the function (so you can see my hand in the video).












In this video you can see how it works:

http://youtu.be/1GGAO1b0fa0