andrewdineen

Hi everybody, its been a few years since I put anything in here but for this project I am sure there will be a few of you interested.

Its time to start my next winter project.
This year I would like to build a very large radio controlled utility machine to do a various of tasks.
When I build a working model of something I always like to make it useful and require it to do a few jobs around the house and grounds.
I have been doing alot of research over the past few weeks deciding what to build and its type.

Ok firstly I thought about building a RC tractor. But what jobs would I like it to do? The biggest task is to mow my large lawn every week. Secondly help me with various construction jobs around the grounds. ie moving earth, sweeping etc.

How should it be powered? 2 choices really. electric motors or engine (Gas) .

How big? It needs to be big enough to do these tasks the same as a real machine would.

Wheels or tracks? 2 or 4 wheel drive? and so on and so on.

Time to break it all down and make a decision.

I really want it to look good and draw lots of attention at maybe a few shows etc, If I get invited to any that is.

The main thing is not to make it look like some sort of modified wheelchair which alot of people seem to do.

Ok. I have decided to go full electric powered. Why? Well I do want to play with it indoors during the winter. There's not much fun only being able to mess around with your model outside. If its engined powered then you really cant run it in the house for long. So electric it is.

Wheels or tracks? I have decided to go for wheels. Why? Wheels are so much easier when building a model. There's alot of work and problems when building model tracks and getting them to look right.

Steering? I have decided to go for articulated steering rather than skid steer or regular steering. Skid steer is no good when playing with it on grass. It will rip it up. I could go for regular steering but as its a construction machine then articulated is the way to go.

2 or 4 wheel drive? 4 wheel drive for sure. If I am going to move earth outside , dig and mow then you do really need 4 wheel drive.

What materials? Steel and only steel. Im a good welder and have had good experience working with steel so steel it is.

How big? It should end up the same size as a small regular ride on mower or go kart.

What will it look like when built? Err something like this.


I am sure the powers that be will place this article in the correct place in this forum.

I will keep all the build progress to this article so you can keep track of the build.

Foxy

If you'd like I can move this to the giant scale forum, where many will surely chip in with suggestions and ideas.

cummins driver

My Feedback: (31)

Thats going to be really neat.

However, I have to ask... How are you going to run somthing as big as a real mower in your house?

andrewdineen

28 October 2011.

Hi everybody. Thankyou for your replys. Yes when I mention large scale I mean model sizes. But in here compared to your projects the machine will be very small.

Today I had some time to start working out the size and layout of the model.

Last week in a local shop I came across a old wheelchair that was for sale. I brought it straight away.
Picture below of what I brought.



I had a little play with it and it was working perfectly. The batteries are also in good condition.

I took the chair apart for all the suitable parts for this model.

This week I went back to the shop to have a rummage and there was a much older wheelchair sitting there. Again I brought it straight away.

Here it is below



When I got it home I had a play with it and again it works perfectly.

I broke the chair down again for the required parts.

So now I have 4 wheelchair motors, 2 complete electrical systems and 4 good batteries.

Here are all the parts.









As you can see I have all the parts for the drive train. I am going to use 1 motor per wheel to give me the required amount of torque to make the model very realistic when shovelling earth etc.
The model should pull a car along easily when finished.

So today I had a look at designing the layout of the machine.
You can see from the photos that its going to be a good size model. It measures approx 5 feet (1.5 meters) long.
I used sticky tape to show a rough outline of the chassis and where the motors will be mounted.
Im not going to use the wheel chair wheels as it would make the model really rubbish. I hope to find a suitable wheels later on.





The tape shows the models outline and the X is where the centre of the pivot point is

I am doing to do a few drawings over the weekend so watch this space.

Thankyou for reading.

andrewdineen

Not sure what happened here

andrewdineen

It did it again.
Rubbish PC.

Foxy

Hi andrew,

Think you might have misunderstood. We have a forum here dedicated to large scale (1/6th and larger), which is full of home builds like yours. Up to you matey.

Looking like a good start. Nothing like people getting stuck in straight away and not keeping us waiting

andrewdineen

Hi again.
You you can move me to the correct forum.
Many thanks.

Foxy

My pleasure

Dirty_Vinylpusher

Oh yes I like this!!!!





I'm sure you'll find suitable wheels on a quadbike, ride-on lawnmower or lawn tractor.

quietnas1

This looks cool. Keep it coming.

andrewdineen

BUMP!!!!

Unfortunately I have to abandon this project as something has come up which will take up all my time until Christmas.

I'm going back to night school to retrain.

Sorry chaps.

Many thanks.

Dirty_Vinylpusher

Awwwww WHAT?!! []

Bummer.


So is that like abandon forever and ever or will you pick it back up some time in the future?

wan6176

better close the post