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

Lancs Lad · Dec 10, 2023

hiluxman said:
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

Tbf no better over here...all baghdadistanised now

V8Druid · Dec 10, 2023

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

had to tie the damned thing up there with summat, 'til I got a prop under it Mick

was bloody heavy

V8Druid · Dec 11, 2023

so next thing on the agenda was working out roughly how much ram travel I was going to need to get it to tilt through 120 degrees .... and what sort of bracketry I was gonna have to dream up ....
so - full right

and left ...

gave me a relative idea of how much .. IIRC it worked out at about 620 mil stroke to take it from 60-0-60 deg.s
cylinders weren't a problem - searched every where for trunnion mounted though and failed to find any, or even loose trunnions I could use. ..... so had to come up with a mount system that i ended up with
now ten years ago trying to find or get any real info on the black art of tilty control was like trying to get a night out with Demi Moore/Angelina Jolie/whoever ... it just wasn't out there and took me a long time and a lot of questions to finally suss how to achieve it and then a bit longer to determine how I specifically was gonna manage to make it work ... then it was shopping time
couple of 700 mil stroke rams and a Cetop3 manifold with three solenoid op. valves

which only two of arrived and not as spec.ed so went back

to eventually be replaced with what was ordered originally

plus I also needed to be able to control these ... and my stick tops were devoid of buttons, bar the two on the right stick .... so this arrived from a German hyd.s supplier

only needed 4 buttons and the six button unit was like two euros dearer, so thought - never know - might come in handy to have a few extras

then had to make a custom adaptor to get it to attach to the Rexroth stick at the right angle of dangle to suit

and persuade it all into place

and swap the buttons around to give me side to side colour coding rather than up down (never bothered to look at 'em after, after a few days of use - LOL) ... came out easy - little sods to get back in though.

aaaaaaand then had to create a loom to link all this lot, including the existing two right stick buttons, from the cab to the dipper end ...

and then find a suitable termination / socket to suit multiple ways (there was more to come here)

which I was lucky to have sat ... these ain't cheap

and i know you're all getting bored with the nitty gritty bits and want to see all the rest of the lumpy bits, but all this tish has to get sorted too

and took a hell of a lot of time to dream up and install

Vinpetrol · Dec 11, 2023

Already I’ve found a bit of info that’ll help me out . John fitted new levers to my hitachi to give me prop tilt function with rollers

The only thing is these levers are a bit straight and the original hitachi ones must of leaned in a bit more . When I was in it on Friday I noticed that they were a bit wide and straight . I’m going to have a look at them and see if I can address the “angle of the dangle “ the way you did !

V8Druid · Dec 11, 2023

next up .... some lugs and pins for the rams .....
get 'em drilled

and tapped for retainers for the pins, then lopped up and cleaned ready for attachment

the FLT mount blocks were just right for this, minus the carriage hooks, with a spacer to get them to the right spread for the rod eyes

pair either side

spacer block inserted to stop 'em closing up when they got consolidated and weld 'em on solid

rams in situ, ready to be picked up in the Miller to suss the next bit of the job

three coats of tish to keep 'em from rusting
and attached ..........

took a bit of working out just where the top eyes were going to need to end up .....

...... to clear everything as they 'stroked' .... but eventually had a handle on it and got it sketched up ... one of the few sketches I did for this build ... mostly in the head -- paper first, then transfered full size to the bench to make sure it deffo worked out and to check clearances at various points

then it was time to get cutting

Mick-the-fitter · Dec 11, 2023

V8Druid said:
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

I’m quite liking the build, those rams have a lot of naked crome hanging out

Mick-the-fitter · Dec 11, 2023

The cylinders have the ports on the outside, is that where they will stay? I guess 180 turn in there is no clearance!

V8Druid · Dec 11, 2023

Mick-the-fitter said:
The cylinders have the ports on the outside, is that where they will stay? I guess 180 turn in there is no clearance!

that was the issue Mick ... meant sacrificing tilt movement .... eventually banjoed the pipe ends to minimise risk .. did try to get them inboard, but created too many issues then

Stroppymonkey · Dec 11, 2023

V8Druid said:
that was the issue Mick ... meant sacrificing tilt movement .... eventually banjoed the pipe ends to minimise risk .. did try to get them inboard, but created too many issues then

Cmon - we want the next installment!

V8Druid · Dec 11, 2023

Mick-the-fitter said:
I’m quite liking the build, those rams have a lot of naked crome hanging out

had no choice Mick ... needed the travel to get the 60-0-60 movement

so ... next bit 20ft of 100 x 12 flat lopped up to make .

piloted, tap size drilled and tapped for M10 captures

then time to assemble ... the spread at the bottoms needed to be an inch wider than at the tops to clear the rod end brackets so off set each joint by half an inch