Druidfab Variable Angle Rotator (VA-r) .. a bit of a project

[V8Druid]

this is gonna take some time .....

this is what I started with .... was a rotary FLT att. -- a carpet handling spike that the spike had snapped off of - I bought off my scrappy and created a rotary bar bender for 20mm bar that I had a BIG job for - several hundred staples for canal bank re-instatement - it worked a treat ... wasn't going to bin it when I cleared my yard out ... IIRC I gave Tony the scrappy 50 quid for the rotator, a long time ago

so got it up off the floor and started to suss a plan

whipped the top plate off that'd gotten attached to the original bit, to create the bar bender

and decided what was gonna have to come off

flipped it over and investigated 'the guts' ... didn't want to cook anything with the gas axe

including the ring gear .... so that was next off

now had a proper suss of what'd need removing

so off it came .....

 

[V8Druid]

was gonna need some materials for this so ...

some were acquired ...

and suitably lopped up after a great deal of thought and planning .. an' a lorraheadscratching ..

to end up with a small pile of bits ...

I'd originally set out initially to create a rotator for use with a set of forks Mog'd kindly delivered with the 'Drema, when he'd brought it back from Norwich for me ..... but ...... Atlasrob Taylor'd just gotten himself a tilty ... and I was in awe of the concept - never seen one before and what a great idea I thought it was .... so as I am creating this 'thing' I'm considering it'd not be a hell of a lot more work to make this rotator 'tilt' too .... how wrong was I so at this point I'm developing the idea, 'fore I'd gotten the rotator built even .. good job I did - saved a lot of alterations .....
so ...
bit of tacking, few clamps, more head scratching .. etc...

better see if it'd fit ...

that one pin is only a 65mil .... was short of a 70 when the one bucket arrived from Norwich

 

[JD450A]

Is this what it's come to? Feel like I'm watching topgear on Dave

 

[Rob65]

Druid, just ignore im like we usually all do anyway.

Since the demise of CEF is now confirmed it’s important that the instructions for how to assemble a flat packed tiltey are preserved in the annals of history so future generations can look back on their artificiality intelligent screens and see what naturally occurring intelligence could create when people were still allowed to get their hands dirty.

 

[V8Druid]

Is this what it's come to?

see you have your own section, let alone thread Rory

 

[V8Druid]

Druid, just ignore im like we usually all do anyway.

Since the demise of CEF is now confirmed it’s important that the instructions for how to assemble a flat packed tiltey are preserved in the annals of history so future generations can look back on their artificiality intelligent screens and see what naturally occurring intelligence could create when people were still allowed to get their hands dirty.

I generally do @Rob65

 

[Stroppymonkey]

I'm relatively new to this site.. and I don't know what CEF was? Can someone educate me? I've tried googling it!

 

[V8Druid]

so .. where was I?
after sussing the fit a slight mod was needed on t'other end .. fore nailing it together ... notched to fit around the lift point on the Miller ...

in for a fit ...

and all nailed together ..

then a suss on t'other side and re-assemble ..

after a good clean off

re-used the original drive plate ...

which is where I ****ed up in not fully welding the wings ... as I said in a.n.other thread when I managed to break it some time later
got the pick up plates positions sussed ..

drive plate back off and secured for a 'proper' set up and consolidation

having a 30mm bench top is handy for keeping things flat ... left to cool everything stays where you want it

should've welded them wings
Time for some pins...

didn't have me Startrite Meba band saw back then so 'twas next option -- did cut them well, if slowly
and put the drive plate back in position

 

[V8Druid]

I'm relatively new to this site.. and I don't know what CEF was? Can someone educate me? I've tried googling it!

British Construction Equipment Forum was the previous sanctum of a lot of us here Stroppy ... 'til the owner lost interest, stopped updating it, generally ****ed it to the point that no new members could register, plus a load of other issues and Ross, (@Regy53 ), fair play, set this up and we all migrated. It had some pretty special threads and some great ppl, most of which are here, but we did lose several good members of CEF who just didn't 'jump' plus a few exceptional threads from folk who are sadly no longer with us RIP Traxcavator, RolyD8K & Ponddigger

 

[Mick-the-fitter]

fab inspector here, this is either a spark down the boot moment or three holes cut before dinner and the fourth after

in the dark!

 

[Mick-the-fitter]

Apart from the distraction, I like the idea Druid

 

[V8Druid]

now this is about as far as I'd originally set out to achieve ....

to dangle a set of forks and carriage that Mog had brought me and that I'd fabbed up to use on the 'Drema. ...

there is a reason for the shape of the back of those fork brackets ... which evolved - rapidly - from the original shape I'd built onto them, using the old plate off the bar bender table top

and the rotator did get plumbed up and tried purely as rotating forks, which gave advantages for getting at things -- the pick ups'd also take a bucket, obviously.
However Atlasrob had been posting all sorts up on his thread on CEF, 'bout his new toy and I was already hooked on the concept, particularly for fork use. The cost however was more than I'd paid for the 'Drema, so wasn't likely to be stretching to one any time soon ........ or even much, much later ........... but ... the 'mechanics' of creating summat similar had been floating around in my head from the day I'd seen his new tiltrotator on his Atlas and since I'd started loping up bits for this.....
the eagle eyed will have already spotted this ... lurking in the background

I should in hindsight have made the pins in it removable ... however .. I didn't

you'll also have noticed these blanks sat about too

by the time I'd gotten it consolidated it'd gained a lift point and the two blanks had been 'bushed' ready for 'a pin'

hadn't got a long enough piece of 50mm sat about to align the bushes when they got fitted so had to tack a couple of shorter bits together in a vee block .. worked fine

and was fine for the other two bosses I needed to fit here....

to marry up the two bits of what was ...... the makings of the Druidfab VA-r

bit of packing to keep things put, to get the slings off

to try ........ dangling it in the Miller

and seeing if I could get the sort of angles I'd been aiming for ... had been reading all I could find on 'tilties' and everyone seemed to complain that 40 or 45 degs, often wasn't enough ... I was aiming for 60 " go big or go home "

this was well past the target, but was going to need ram bracketry, so was going to lose a bit, but after a bit more head scratching - dimension-wise - I could still get my target figure

 

[JD450A]

I'm a bit worried about some of those welds, I can see it coming apart of it's given a bit much stick

 

[V8Druid]

fab inspector here, this is either a spark down the boot moment or three holes cut before dinner and the fourth after View attachment 54465in the dark!

TBH Mick it is so long ago (july '14) I can't recall, but you may well be on the right sort of tracks

 

[V8Druid]

I'm a bit worried about some of those welds, I can see it coming apart of it's given a bit much stick

been reading my destructive day in the tilty thread have you .... broke/snapped three bolts and the rest just had to follow ... was the weakest point in the build and it was getting a very/over enthusiastic ragging on a bloody great boulder, stuck in a clay bed ... should've taken it off and picked up a toothed bucket .... C'est la vie - live and learn

 

[Mick-the-fitter]

now this is about as far as I'd originally set out to achieve ....
View attachment 54455

to dangle a set of forks and carriage that Mog had brought me and that I'd fabbed up to use on the 'Drema. ...
View attachment 54456
there is a reason for the shape of the back of those fork brackets ... which evolved - rapidly - from the original shape I'd built onto them, using the old plate off the bar bender table top
View attachment 54457 View attachment 54458
and the rotator did get plumbed up and tried purely as rotating forks, which gave advantages for getting at things -- the pick ups'd also take a bucket, obviously.
However Atlasrob had been posting all sorts up on his thread on CEF, 'bout his new toy and I was already hooked on the concept, particularly for fork use. The cost however was more than I'd paid for the 'Drema, so wasn't likely to be stretching to one any time soon ........ or even much, much later ........... but ... the 'mechanics' of creating summat similar had been floating around in my head from the day I'd seen his new tiltrotator on his Atlas and since I'd started loping up bits for this.....
the eagle eyed will have already spotted this ... lurking in the background
View attachment 54459
I should in hindsight have made the pins in it removable ... however .. I didn't
View attachment 54461
you'll also have noticed these blanks sat about too
View attachment 54462
by the time I'd gotten it consolidated it'd gained a lift point and the two blanks had been 'bushed' ready for 'a pin'
View attachment 54463
hadn't got a long enough piece of 50mm sat about to align the bushes when they got fitted so had to tack a couple of shorter bits together in a vee block .. worked fine
View attachment 54470

and was fine for the other two bosses I needed to fit here....
View attachment 54469
to marry up the two bits of what was ...... the makings of the Druidfab VA-r
View attachment 54467
bit of packing to keep things put, to get the slings off
View attachment 54468

to try ........ dangling it in the Miller
View attachment 54471
and seeing if I could get the sort of angles I'd been aiming for ... had been reading all I could find on 'tilties' and everyone seemed to complain that 40 or 45 degs, often wasn't enough ... I was aiming for 60 " go big or go home "
View attachment 54472
this was well past the target, but was going to need ram bracketry, so was going to lose a bit, but after a bit more head scratching - dimension-wise - I could still get my target figure

No that’s done it for me, I was enjoying the whole build until we got to the blue rope

 

[Mick-the-fitter]

If only we could wind back the clock to the time when good old British engineers made things from drawings and they were sought after for a tenth of today’s prices, but lasted ten times as long!
Today we by a Japanese machine, bolt an Irish hitch on it, which has Italian hydraulics, to pick up a Chinese attachment with a flyte made in India, which has TCT’s from Poland and pins made in the EU, but with lynch pins made in Rotherham

 

[hiluxman]

If only we could wind back the clock to the time when good old British engineers made things from drawings and they were sought after for a tenth of today’s prices, but lasted ten times as long!
Today we by a Japanese machine, bolt an Irish hitch on it, which has Italian hydraulics, to pick up a Chinese attachment with a flyte made in India, which has TCT’s from Poland and pins made in the EU, but with lynch pins made in Rotherham

What's wrong with rotherham aside our taxi services

 

[Lancs Lad]

What's wrong with rotherham aside our taxi services

I've been...just hope the rest haven't

 

[hiluxman]

I've been...just hope the rest haven't

I've the misfortune to live here. It's OK tho as been in the centre of the hood we had constant security presence haha