Digger

[shipto]

SO CLOSE!
got the framework finished today and its all piped up, in fact the only thing stopping it from running is the hydraulic oil tank which has not been made yet. I have shown where it will be placed in the second pic right behind the operators (me) seat.
still a few little bits to finish some of which have to wait until it can lift itself high enough for me to brace it and get under it and of course panel it all in nice and tidy.

[shipto]

I have made a start on the hydraulic oil tank, I had intended to just make a box and leave it at that however while perusing through some sites I discovered that it may not be good to allow the oil just fed into the tank to go direct to the pump.
So a baffle is in order to force the oil to go the long way around as shown in the fourth picture.

[shipto]

ok got the tank finished, painted and mounted and I am please to declare ITS ALIVE!
hopefully get a video tomorrow but I have a slight leak from the slew motor  so that going to need some new seals (if I can get them)

[Stilldrillin]

ok got the tank finished, painted and mounted and I am please to declare ITS ALIVE!

Yay!!

      Blummin well done!   

So pleased someone's had a good day........   

David D

[shipto]

Thanks stilldrillin, still got a lot to do to get it finished but I have had everything working and apart from the leak on the slew motor all seems fine.
the problem I have now is that there are very few things to do that will prevent bits from falling off it but once they are done I have a job to use it for and it is going to take a lot of motivation to finish it properly.

[shipto]

It went a bit wrong  it turns out the machine is capable of lifting way more weight than the base can handle which is going to force a rethink and modification. It was all fine when I was lifting buckets of dirt but then I lifted a big concrete cloths line post along with its big block of support material. slewed the machine around and the base frame started to buckle (pictured).
So to solve this little problem I am going to cut the base frame down a bit and get rid of the adjustable rear axle and have it fixed in place. as well as doing this I am going to weld plates along the sides and just sure everything up in general.
As a little side note I thought I would post a pic of the kind of thing I make for a living, dont usually take pictures at work but this frame is a little different to the basic A frames I make most of the time.

[shipto]

Probably the last post to this project for a while (depends how money comes together for workshop) but I cut down the part where it bent and rewelded it as well as strengthening the base and set to working with it. It still need some things doing to it but all of these apart from one or two safety concerns which I will address before I do anything more with it, are cosmetic.
With the benefit of hindsight I should have made it like this in the first place but thats the rub hindsight is only useful AFTER a problem comes up.
next few posts will hopefully be placed in the shop section