Another Mini-Dozer

[grsthegreat]

Now this is too cool for school! I'm looking forward to seeing more pix as this progresses.

Is 16HP going to be enough ponies?

If anyone needed access to a CNC laser or water cutting system, it's you. Did you look into having the parts cut that way?

My plasma cutter cnc unit couldnt have maqe sprockets as nice as those. Plasma has trouble with cutting circles.....thay tell me its due to the swirling action of the air. The edges of mine are a bit sloped.

 

[Iplayfarmer]

First your work looks very good, and your tracks look very good,

but I have a question, has any one ever cut the side wall down on a tractor tire and stretched it over two air filled tires to use as a tracks? and if so how did it work?

These guys sell a little unit with just that for tracks. In fact, it seems like their main business is tire recycling. I don't know how well that system would hold up in a dozer situation.

ATV, Mini Track Vehicle, tracked mini. ATV. tread truck. atv new. atv off road.

Edit: Apparently they aren't selling many. I just saw that the video and the blog are both out of date. The video had a kid riding pretty aggressivly and the tracks seemed to be holding just fine.

 

[davedj1]

You are an artist! That being said and believe me I'm no expert but do you think the tracks will hold up to the torsional forces? I guess what I mean is the fact that they are only riding on the center 3/4" sprocket. In my thinking if you run over a small rock and tilt the inside or outside a lot will the track still remain true?
Great job so far.

 

[dntfxr]

Man that is very impressive! I'm tagging along for this one! Do you anticipate any wear issues with the sprockets not being hardened steel?
Very nice work so far! Btw, what kind of welding machine are you using?

 

[rawinok2]

You are an artist! That being said and believe me I'm no expert but do you think the tracks will hold up to the torsional forces? I guess what I mean is the fact that they are only riding on the center 3/4" sprocket. In my thinking if you run over a small rock and tilt the inside or outside a lot will the track still remain true?Great job so far.

I really havn't given it that much thought. Its going to have three bogey wheels per side but they are riding on the center of the track too.I guess I could have a problem with that. I noticed that the old Struck units didn't have any bogey wheels at all and the track shoes were made from 10 gauge material. I wonder how well they performed. The new models have double sprockets on them as well as bogies so I'm guessing it must have been somewhat of a problem.:confused3:

 

[PapaPerk]

Nice work! :thumbsup:

 

[PapaPerk]

I really havn't given it that much thought. Its going to have three bogey wheels per side but they are riding on the center of the track too.I guess I could have a problem with that. I noticed that the old Struck units didn't have any bogey wheels at all and the track shoes were made from 10 gauge material. I wonder how well they performed. The new models have double sprockets on them as well as bogies so I'm guessing it must have been somewhat of a problem.:confused3:

I think the bogey wheels should stradle the drive link part of the chain. This could be done with 6 wheels per side or 3 wheels with a groove cut in them. It may throw a track if you go over a rock or something...

 

[rawinok2]

[

Man that is very impressive! I'm tagging along for this one!

Do you anticipate any wear issues with the sprockets not being hardened steel?

Answer: I'm not too worried about it. I figure the track will be the big problem for wear though I have case hardened the areas on the track feet that surround the pin holes.

Very nice work so far! Btw, what kind of welding machine are you using?

Answer: It's my old Lincoln 225 amp AC stick welder that I received as a graduation present in the year 1974 !

 

[rawinok2]

Now this is too cool for school! I'm looking forward to seeing more pix as this progresses.

Is 16HP going to be enough ponies?[/QUOTE]
If anyone needed access to a CNC laser or water cutting system, it's you. Did you look into having the parts cut that way?

The "MD" line which Struck sold back in the 60's/70's (and whos transmission I am copying) was offered with ones choice of 3 engines: 7, 12, or 16 HP.

I didn't consider those cutting systems because I figured it would be out of my price range.

 

[Short Game]

Answer: It's my old Lincoln 225 amp AC stick welder that I received as a graduation present in the year 1974 !

I love it!

 

[mjncad]

I didn't consider those cutting systems because I figured it would be out of my price range.

If you can do the CAD work, that will save you a bunch of bucks as you're doing a big chunk of the work for them.

 

[Verticaltrx]

Neat project, I'll be following this.

I have a set of plans to build the Magnatrac 1800, the one that uses a 4spd transaxle. Hopefully someday I'll have the time to build it. Just looks like something fun to build and play with. I wanted to get plans for one of the newer ones like the MT 3000, but they seem real stingy about releasing any plans that use their current track system.

MT 1800:

One bit of advice, and you may already employ this technique, is the use of hole saws. I have found that any hole 1" and over is much easier to make with a good quality hole saw. All the Lenox ones I've used have been surprisingly accurate. I've made holes as big as 2.5" through 1/2" plate with them with great success. I like to drill a 3/16 pilot hole to line them up, then just go slow (200-500rpms depending on dia.) and clean the chips out often. I also keep a bowl of water nearby to occasionally dip the hole saw in to cool it. I stopped using cutting oil years ago in favor of water for any drilling processes. Saves a lot of time cleaning parts before welding and I haven't noticed and reduced life of the bits either.

Also, I really think if everything works well after an initial test run, you should send out all the undercarriage related parts to get professionally heat treated. It's not terribly expensive but will increase track and sprocket life by a lot.

Look great so far. :thumbsup:

 

[Short Game]

I like hole saws, but can't say that the tolerances are all that tight in my experience. But, it certainly makes sense to move less steel with the cutting edge. If one were to slightly undersize the hole with a hole saw and finish with a drill, how much would one want to be cutting on that last pass for things to work out best/easiest? I'm self taught and learned by doing. I may have always been doing it wrong, for all I know. I'm willing to listen to the voice of experience on these matters.

 

[NormL]

I like hole saws, but can't say that the tolerances are all that tight in my experience. But, it certainly makes sense to move less steel with the cutting edge. If one were to slightly undersize the hole with a hole saw and finish with a drill, how much would one want to be cutting on that last pass for things to work out best/easiest? I'm self taught and learned by doing. I may have always been doing it wrong, for all I know. I'm willing to listen to the voice of experience on these matters.

Me too SG! I too am finding inconsistencies when using the hole saws. If the hole turns out to be under size by a thou or two I'll use my die-grinder to smooth out and expand the hole. If the hole is oversize, I have been known to use crosstube cutoffs welded over the opening since the holes are usually for pins on the backhoe I'm building. As for using a twist bit for the final pass, that gets beyond the capabilities of my press drill real fast. I find that the bit will grab the edge of the hole and stall out the drill. My cheapo bits usually chip out when that happens.

 

[Short Game]

Yeah, when the hole is only there to bolt a couple of things together, no big deal. But when it is to accommodate moving parts under loads, thousandths of an inch get huge.

 

[rawinok2]

Verticaltrx:

One bit of advice, and you may already employ this technique, is the use of hole saws. I have found that any hole 1" and over is much easier to make with a good quality hole saw. All the Lenox ones I've used have been surprisingly accurate. I've made holes as big as 2.5" through 1/2" plate with them with great success. I like to drill a 3/16 pilot hole to line them up, then just go slow (200-500rpms depending on dia.) and clean the chips out often. I also keep a bowl of water nearby to occasionally dip the hole saw in to cool it. I stopped using cutting oil years ago in favor of water for any drilling processes. Saves a lot of time cleaning parts before welding and I haven't noticed and reduced life of the bits either.

Rawinok2:
I got quite a bit of experience with hole saws when I built my "Ground Hawg" back hoe a few years back. I didn't have my drill press rigged up to run at low rpms (620 was the slowest) and I had trouble with it sawing crooked if that makes sense. In other words, the sides of the hole would not be perpendicular to the surface.
I wish I would have known about cooling with water, I did have a big mess to clean up every time.

Verticaltrx:

Also, I really think if everything works well after an initial test run, you should send out all the undercarriage related parts to get professionally heat treated. It's not terribly expensive but will increase track and sprocket life by a lot.

Rawinok:
I like that idea ! I might just do that.

 

[Verticaltrx]

When I built my CAD Digger 628 a few years ago is when I really started using hole saws. What they are excellent for is if you need to cut a large hole through plate to weld a bushing in (lots of those on a backhoe). In that case the tolerance isn't that important since you are welding the bushing in anyways. I did find however that surprisingly most of the holes fit the mechanical tubing with pretty close tolerances, so they can be accurate. I think it may have to do some with the setup also. I was using brand new hole saws and on a pretty good drill press (heavy old Delta-Rockwell). Also had the work firmly clamped to the table. I have a second drill press now that is a cheapo with a lot more spindle run-out and it isn't as accurate with the hole saws. I think that run-out is greatly magnified with a hole saw for what ever reason. With that said, I do use drill bits for anything that is fairly precision. If it's just a pin hole on a piece of farm equipment or to weld in a bushing then hole saws work great.

 

[NormL]

When I built my CAD Digger 628 a few years ago is when I really started using hole saws. What they are excellent for is if you need to cut a large hole through plate to weld a bushing in (lots of those on a backhoe). In that case the tolerance isn't that important since you are welding the bushing in anyways. I did find however that surprisingly most of the holes fit the mechanical tubing with pretty close tolerances, so they can be accurate. I think it may have to do some with the setup also. I was using brand new hole saws and on a pretty good drill press (heavy old Delta-Rockwell). Also had the work firmly clamped to the table. I have a second drill press now that is a cheapo with a lot more spindle run-out and it isn't as accurate with the hole saws. I think that run-out is greatly magnified with a hole saw for what ever reason. With that said, I do use drill bits for anything that is fairly precision. If it's just a pin hole on a piece of farm equipment or to weld in a bushing then hole saws work great.

I agree with your assessment of the cheapo drill press. That's what I have and when the bit was new the holes were pretty close. Now, after about a dozen holes into 1/4, 3/8, and 1/2" steel, I find I'm using the die-grinder a lot more, reaming and smoothing the holes for fit.

I saw a neat idea to slow down my spindle speed on another thread. I hope to try that and see if that will help for accuracy.

 

[rawinok2]

Question how many track pads did you make per side? Looks great!!:thumbsup: Loren

34 per side. Thank You.
Today I got a little ahead of myself and started welding before I had all of the figuring done. I didn't allow enough room for the front sprockets to adjust all of the way backwards.:ashamed: But after a few modifications, I think I'm OK now. Also, I welded the hubs onto the sprockets.

 

[cschulz]

These are very cool projects and your is really nice. If you are looking for Diesel engines look here.
Chris
Electric Start