DannyWilliams
Bronze Member
Rch and Henro,
Thanks for your praise. The FEL is an original design…didn’t use any CAD…just looked at a lot of pictures (on the Web) as well as looking at the Kubota FEL (pictures only…as the dealer didn’t have one on the lot). Then I began making components out of wood to come up with all the hinge points, lengths, etc. The articulating bucket linkage was interesting. I kept making pieces out of wood and trial fitting only to find out that something would bind up at some point. I would redesign the piece and go through the motions again….raising the lift arms and watching the bucket to make sure it stayed lever as well as checking dump and roll back at the bottom and top of the lift.
I don’t remember for sure, but I would say I had the design worked out in a week. I’m sure that a smart guy with a CAD program could have whipped one out much quicker….but, what can I say.
I used my acetylene rig to cut out some of the larger pieces (that would be a rough cut, 1/8” to 3/16” from the line). I would then use my angle head grinder to grind down to the line. The smaller pieces (most of these are 3/8”) were cut out on Delta metal cutting band saw and then got the grinder treatment to finish up.
One of the main reasons I wanted the bucket to stay level was because I planned to replace the bucket with a set of forks from time to time and I wanted to be able to just level out the forks, lower the lift arms, poke the forks under something and simply raise the lift arms and drive away.
With all that said, it’s been a rather long project….one that I probably wouldn’t do again. I always seem to spend way too much time on a project….seems as though I’m always coming up with additional ideas during the building process or ways to do it better. I cut the ends off of my tilt cylinder once and welded them back on. And now, after some more thought and hem hawing around, I think I’m going to cut them off again, /forums/images/graemlins/confused.gif make a slight adjustment (for clearance) and weld them back on. That’s just the way it goes….love that band saw….just secure something in there, turn on the saw and go about your business until you hear a (Clang) and you know the cut is finished…the saw shuts off automatically.
Henro, you asked about the welder I use. I guess it was around 1994 when I bought a Miller 250MP (the MP stands for Micro Processor) they don’t make em’ any more. I love it…. however, I’ve learned through trial and error that I need to select a heat range that’s just a little higher than recommend. You’ve got to get good penetration and you can’t do that with the welder voltage set to low…you’ll wind up with what they call a cold weld. It will look kind of like someone used a glue gun to melt some globs of steel or like the old timers use to say, it’ll look like a Turkey came by and took a squirt on it (I cleaned that one up a little bit). Oh well, welding is fun and all it takes is practice, practice, practice and a little instruction is always good.
I began welding in the early 70’s when I was building a home built airplane (Steen Skybolt) …used 4130 steel tubing…(.035 and .049 wall thickness) that’s thin stuff. I bought a acetylene rig and had a friend give me some instruction. It wasn’t long before I was able to make nice welds (practice, practice, practice). I’ve always heard that once you learn how to gas weld it makes learning how to use a stick, tig or wire welder much easier. You’ve just got to get a grasp of the basic art of watching the puddle and running it along the path….a little faster…or a little slower…or maybe a little more heat and so on.
You’ll love the welding course…it’s really fun.
OK, I quit…I’ve blown enough hot air /forums/images/graemlins/blush.gif….good luck with your welding class and projects.
DW
Thanks for your praise. The FEL is an original design…didn’t use any CAD…just looked at a lot of pictures (on the Web) as well as looking at the Kubota FEL (pictures only…as the dealer didn’t have one on the lot). Then I began making components out of wood to come up with all the hinge points, lengths, etc. The articulating bucket linkage was interesting. I kept making pieces out of wood and trial fitting only to find out that something would bind up at some point. I would redesign the piece and go through the motions again….raising the lift arms and watching the bucket to make sure it stayed lever as well as checking dump and roll back at the bottom and top of the lift.
I don’t remember for sure, but I would say I had the design worked out in a week. I’m sure that a smart guy with a CAD program could have whipped one out much quicker….but, what can I say.
I used my acetylene rig to cut out some of the larger pieces (that would be a rough cut, 1/8” to 3/16” from the line). I would then use my angle head grinder to grind down to the line. The smaller pieces (most of these are 3/8”) were cut out on Delta metal cutting band saw and then got the grinder treatment to finish up.
One of the main reasons I wanted the bucket to stay level was because I planned to replace the bucket with a set of forks from time to time and I wanted to be able to just level out the forks, lower the lift arms, poke the forks under something and simply raise the lift arms and drive away.
With all that said, it’s been a rather long project….one that I probably wouldn’t do again. I always seem to spend way too much time on a project….seems as though I’m always coming up with additional ideas during the building process or ways to do it better. I cut the ends off of my tilt cylinder once and welded them back on. And now, after some more thought and hem hawing around, I think I’m going to cut them off again, /forums/images/graemlins/confused.gif make a slight adjustment (for clearance) and weld them back on. That’s just the way it goes….love that band saw….just secure something in there, turn on the saw and go about your business until you hear a (Clang) and you know the cut is finished…the saw shuts off automatically.
Henro, you asked about the welder I use. I guess it was around 1994 when I bought a Miller 250MP (the MP stands for Micro Processor) they don’t make em’ any more. I love it…. however, I’ve learned through trial and error that I need to select a heat range that’s just a little higher than recommend. You’ve got to get good penetration and you can’t do that with the welder voltage set to low…you’ll wind up with what they call a cold weld. It will look kind of like someone used a glue gun to melt some globs of steel or like the old timers use to say, it’ll look like a Turkey came by and took a squirt on it (I cleaned that one up a little bit). Oh well, welding is fun and all it takes is practice, practice, practice and a little instruction is always good.
I began welding in the early 70’s when I was building a home built airplane (Steen Skybolt) …used 4130 steel tubing…(.035 and .049 wall thickness) that’s thin stuff. I bought a acetylene rig and had a friend give me some instruction. It wasn’t long before I was able to make nice welds (practice, practice, practice). I’ve always heard that once you learn how to gas weld it makes learning how to use a stick, tig or wire welder much easier. You’ve just got to get a grasp of the basic art of watching the puddle and running it along the path….a little faster…or a little slower…or maybe a little more heat and so on.
You’ll love the welding course…it’s really fun.
OK, I quit…I’ve blown enough hot air /forums/images/graemlins/blush.gif….good luck with your welding class and projects.
DW
