Caterpillar 320D Excavator

    Holiday season is over! so I will make some time available to continue my project. A few days ago I received all my Aluminium parts.

    Total weigth of the parts is 4.5Kg and all together 482 pieces.

    I still need to clean up the parts with some sanding paper to remove traces from the laser cutting.

    I have 3 sizes of buckets that will come with the kit

    I added a few CAT logo's. That is always nice to create the final touch :)

    Once I complete the sanding I will start putting some pictures and explain step by step the building process.[/quote]

    day 2.
    I started to built the boom and the arm and the body/cabin of the excavator. I started by preparing a few 4mm rods with a length of 50mm to hold the boom and arm parts together until all pieces are fitted. I still need to put the 2 mm screws in.

    I sorted all the parts needed for the arm










    and finally the side plates to complete the arm.



    For the boom it went just as easy. I put everything temporary together for now. I will still need to buy the screws.

    Four units in the middle and then the 2 cylinder attachment plates added



    that is how the arm looks when completed (without the screws)

    and the arm and boom fitted together



    I wanted to do only the boom and the arm today but when they were completed I couldn't resist to start working on the cabin and got quiet a parts fitted together



    I have created an inlay to help with the fixation for all the body parts.

    Here a picture with the 2 inlays mounted








    :) I still have quiet a way to go to add all the backparts for the body :)





    I use a 2 mm threaded rod to assemble and fix all the backplates. Its pretty easy and very ridged.


    the body is starting to take shape :)

    so far everything is still put together temporary. I have used some tape to recover my clamps as I will need them later in the built.

    and this is the end result of todays work !!


    I won't be able to do any more work until next week. I have a busy weekend coming up. I promise that I will continue next week and post some more pictures.[/quote]

    Here is how the body looks with all the counter weight plates in place.

    I also cut out a few logo's to add on the body and boom

    the body is nearly finished. I still need to cut out he baseplate and parts to hold the boom.

    For the 360 degree swing, I have made two round plates which I will mount a slip ring on with a motor and gear.

    Next on the agenda will the the undercarriage
    [/quote]

    after a very busy period, I found some time again to continue the project. I have made some modifications to the baseplate of the body and the connection plate for the boom to receive the CTI slip ring.

    today I put together the sprocket wheel.

    I used the following items in addition to the alu cut wheels:
    - piece of M2 threaded rod
    - M2,5 bolt 8mm long
    - M6 to 4mm part to connect the sprocket wheel to the motor
    - M2 nut

    detail of the connection piece

    with a 6mm drill bit I started to make the holes bigger

    then i used a 5,5mm drill bit to make the other holes bigger. I used a M6 steel bolt to thread the 5,5mm holes of the round plates so they would fit on the connection piece

    then i drilled a 2mm hole in the middle of the connection piece so I could fit the M2,5 bolt in it to hold the last 3 round plates

    thats how the front looks

    the back side, after cutting of the excess of the M2 rod and adding the nut.

    i decided to add 16 bolts M2 of 6mm to finish off the front

    still 13 bolts to go :)

    looks like your cat will need tons of filling paste and sandpaper later.
    good luck with this, it will be a never ending process as I am realizing during work on my hitachi.
    :undweg:

    Emanuel

    putting together the bottom rollers for the chain (5 rollers on each side). Therefore I am using a 3mm copper tube with inner diameter 2mm. When I fit a 2mm threaded rod with two nuts, its holding the sides of the undercarriage very well. Tomorrow, when time permits, I'll do the top rollers.

    So, except for the buckets, there is no brazing or welding required on the model :)

    Today i did the brazing of the cabin with Alu flux rods. Here a few pics. Enjoy!

    All brazing done with Easyweld de Durafix. It worked really well and the result is nice.

    I am using a normal torch to heat up the aluminum.
    1. Very important is to clean the place which you want to de brazing on with the copper brush
    2. heat up the aluminum till its hot (i mean really HOT)
    3. only then come carefully in with the aluminum flux rods from easyweld. if you come in too early, they will melt and bulb up with an ugly result.
    4. slightly rub with the flux rods on the hot aluminum and you will see it melts nice and evenly while you pull the rods over the hot surface.


    Here a "walk through video of the cabin".
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=toIhM_AYci4