FEL Grapple from Scratch W/ Lots-O-Pics

[3RRL]

Larry,
I've said it before but I'll say it again...GREAT JOB!
And another thing....I admire the spirit in which you carried on with your thread. It showed some real character.

I especially want to thank all you members...too many to name individually... who fully supported our story. I am humbled to be your friend here on TBN. You guys are truly a great bunch of guys, giving us support when we needed it the most. It brought a big smile to this old face. Just an outstanding display of fellowship.
Thank you.

And thank you too Willl, for reading and following this thread. I know your posts weren't made intentionally to upset the cart. I can sympathize with the way you felt after peeking at Larry's portfolio, however, I hope you can appreciate and understand why we presented the progress in this manner now. I have no hard feelings about it at all.

Now to see what else Larry has to add...

 

[woodlandfarms]

Truly amazing work and great documention guys. I wish I had a 100th of your skill's...

Carl

 

[GuglioLS]

Larry,
I've said it before but I'll say it again...GREAT JOB!
And another thing....I admire the spirit in which you carried on with your thread. It showed some real character.

I especially want to thank all you members...too many to name individually... who fully supported our story. I am humbled to be your friend here on TBN. You guys are truly a great bunch of guys, giving us support when we needed it the most. It brought a big smile to this old face. Just an outstanding display of fellowship.
Thank you.

And thank you too Willl, for reading and following this thread. I know your posts weren't made intentionally to upset the cart. I can sympathize with the way you felt after peeking at Larry's portfolio, however, I hope you can appreciate and understand why we presented the progress in this manner now. I have no hard feelings about it at all.

Now to see what else Larry has to add...

Thank you Rob,
You continue to amaze me to speak such words of wisdom. It's just one of your many traits that we all have come to admire and respect. I too extend my heart felt appreciation to all who followed and supported this project - thank you!

Willl - you may have earned some of the comments directed toward you. I don't believe it was malicious intent on your part. My only hope is that you may have enjoyed some part of this or learned something along the way. I know that I did. We all have a choice in how we act or react, I choose to have no grudge.



OK enough of the touchy feely mushy crap, one more thing to add - some video:




The last video demonstrates the ability to move the bucket and jaws simultaneously. I'm learning to coordinate the FEL joystick with the new grapple solenoid buttons. It should not take long to master as I have projects lined up for it this coming weekend. I have trees, brush & stumps to relocate that Rob and I ripped out with my Bull Dozer when he came to visit.



I had a great time putting the grapple together. From concept to completion took two weekends over the span of two weeks, not bad IMHO.

Special credit goes to Rob, (3RRL) for custom designing this to fit my FEL bucket. Thank you Rob!

Larry

 

[hankus]

Great pictures and documentation is the best. Kept waiting for some audio to match the videos though. Love these projects from you two, and can't wait until the next adventure.

 

[GuglioLS]

Great pictures and documentation is the best. Kept waiting for some audio to match the videos though. Love these projects from you two, and can't wait until the next adventure.

Yes audio - I see a new digital camera in my future. Not only that, the clarity of any video I post will be much better.

Thanks for checking this out and taking the time to reply.


Larry

 

[SkunkWerX]

Great job, very nice finished product!
I'd wager that being able to tip the bucket and clamp the grapple at the same time will come in handy.

I've got a hankering for a plasma cutter.

 

[Mith]

Larry (and Rob) nice work yet again, I've come to look forward to seeing what you 2 have been up ot in the workshop

A couple of questions if I may

After all that welding, everything was still in alignment as the pins slid right in.

Do you have any tricks for keeping stuff in alignment when welding it? I tend to try and weld it when it is all assembled so it doesnt misalign, but even then I get some warping. Even trying to keep the welding even I still get some movement.

Also, I see you have some brackets to hold your hydraulic hoses. Do you use bulkhead fittings to go through the mount, so do you just snug the hoses up around the bracket?

Cheers

 

[3RRL]

Larry (and Rob) nice work yet again, I've come to look forward to seeing what you 2 have been up ot in the workshop

A couple of questions if I may

Do you have any tricks for keeping stuff in alignment when welding it? I tend to try and weld it when it is all assembled so it doesnt misalign, but even then I get some warping. Even trying to keep the welding even I still get some movement.

Also, I see you have some brackets to hold your hydraulic hoses. Do you use bulkhead fittings to go through the mount, so do you just snug the hoses up around the bracket?

Cheers

Hi Mith,
I can help with a couple of your questions.
There's really no trick but basically fixturing by clamping the materials together and also to a solid work table. Often clamping and fixturing is the key to not only reduce/eliminate warpage, but also key in getting them welded in the right place. Go back to post #39 and you can see how Larry used his 1-2-3 blocks to brace, space and secure what he was welding. Not only that, he's made great use of them in his machining set-ups as you can see in his photos.

I have a whole assortment of blocks and fixtures I've made to help hold the materials into the position I want before welding. Then you also have to make sure you've left room to get into the areas you need to weld or at least tack solidly. Once you've done that, it should not move or warp out of position. I'm positive I spend more time fixturing the project than I do actually welding it.

Try to weld as much as you can while it is clamped together. Only take off those clamps that are not needed anymore for the next series of welds so you can get to the rest of it. But one most important thing is to at least tack solidly ALL the joints that need to be welded while everything is still clamped up. Then go back and lay the finishing beads if you can't get to it while clamped.

Here is an example of how I clamped my backhoe feet when I was extending the length of the pivot brackets. It was important to keep the pivot holes in line and to make sure everything was square and parallel.









You can see the materials clamped and spaced properly and also that they are securely clamped to my welding table so they are flat and tight together, following the same advice I gave you. The last photo is the finished weld showing that nothing moved or warped.

As far as the bulk head fittings, I'm certain Larry uses them. You can buy or make those yourself too. I'll share a couple that I made myself for other projects to give you an idea of what you can do to make them custom, if you want.
For example, here is one I custom made for 3 sets of rear remotes.



Here is another special one for my grapple quick disconnects.



So you see that you can make them easily to suit your customized needs. Or, you can buy ones also if you prefer and they fit what you want.
I hope that helps with your questions.

 

[GuglioLS]

Larry (and Rob) nice work yet again, I've come to look forward to seeing what you 2 have been up ot in the workshop

A couple of questions if I may

Do you have any tricks for keeping stuff in alignment when welding it? I tend to try and weld it when it is all assembled so it doesnt misalign, but even then I get some warping. Even trying to keep the welding even I still get some movement.

Also, I see you have some brackets to hold your hydraulic hoses. Do you use bulkhead fittings to go through the mount, so do you just snug the hoses up around the bracket?

Cheers

Mith,
About reducing welding warp / misalignment - What works for me, in addition to Rob's solid clamping, blocking, & tacking in place techniques, is to keep the weld penetration, speed of travel & amount of material deposited even on both sides of the work. Another thing that helps is to weld the opposing side of a prior weld before it cools. Which brings up another point, cooling - I let it cool natural, no dousing of water.


Hose Brackets & bulkhead fittings -
What I did on this project to mount & support the hoses, was take a piece of steel angle, then drill & tap for 3/8 NPT. Then thread a 3/8" NPT fitting into the tapped hole. It works quite well.



Larry

 

[GuglioLS]

Great job, very nice finished product!
I'd wager that being able to tip the bucket and clamp the grapple at the same time will come in handy....

Thanks SkunkWerX,
Being able to move both at the same time will come in handy indeed, not only that, I can control the speed of the grapple with the adjustable flow divider.

I've got a hankering for a plasma cutter.

ME TOO!

Larry