[D-Day] M32 ARV

[Ecam]

How "springy" is that cable? The only issue I have is every thing I've tried jumps off the winch drums when tension is released. This vulcanized cord is just about perfect in my opinion for scale steel cable, I would buy this if I could find it. For now I'll just watch out for overheated belts. When I first picked it up (or unraveled from the mower) I tried to break it by hand (and failed).

[Ecam]

Doc, I just reread your post and noticed you said "it would not break lifting the boom". If you are talking about the cable that lifts and then becomes a safety wire, yes it is a metal cable. It is an alloy of some sort (picture hanging wire) is acts similar to solder, bends easy and will hold the bend. The winch cable and crane cables are the vulcanized cord.

[MrChef]

Impressive lifting "test". I couldn't see any stress on the crane boom. Great work.

[Ecam]

Chef's reply made me think of what it could do. Trigger pull scale. It read slightly higher than shown before the clutch slipped and backed down to here. So just over 4 lbs.

[Herr Dr. Professor]

Oops: you are right, Eric: I should have said something like "hook" instead of "boom." Now four pounds lift is quite good. Were it pulling an O-Gauge train, that would be enough for over 50 scale freight cars.

[Ecam]

Turns out I didn't zero the scale add another half pound (but the original test had I zeroed the gauge, I would have said it bottomed out so probably 15-20 lbs)

[Ecam]

Well, I got an hour in this morning for tanking before getting roped in to installing a new hot water heater for a neighbor. Moved the winch rearward 11.28mm (.444") to align with the crane position. It now has a straight shot from the winch to the pulley at the top of the frame. Only contact is side to side as the winch cable spools in and out.

[Ecam]

So in the spirit of sharing tips and the learning aspect of the group builds, I thought I would show the method I use for creating light guards. I used to use a hammer to flatten my copper wire, but a few years ago I came upon a deal on a bead roller. I built the stand to include a shrinker/stretcher combo and made them foot powered.



The die is for forming a bead normally, but because they are tight fitting it will flatten my wire just inside of the bead part.



A couple passes and this is the result.



Forming is simple.



This is the set this unit will get (stock plastic for comparison).



I usually drill or melt holes, and with a generous dip in epoxy often it will pass for welds.

[Ad Lav]

Nice step by step, some good tools you have

I cheat and use Schumo stuff lol

[Ecam]

It's not cheating, just another way to do it!