Ian

Ouch!! Glad your ok mate, that must of been a hell of a fright!

A short test video for you.. If it looks lumpy that's Potatobucket videos for ya.. Click on the pic... Oh, I guess PB can't handle wide screen!

Evening all, time for a long overdue update on this camera panning jig thingy, and quite a lot has changed.. But first.. You saw the masking tape template of the part I forgot to photograph, well here's the part finally photographed.. Screws go though the cog and screw into captive threads in the 6 sided er... boss which is welded to the shaft. It has been re-welded since this photo was taken.. With the winding shafts sorted so they run parallel with each other the whole lot was welded to one end of the rails. The other end got a pulley.. One of the shafts was then taken back off for some serious strengthening and a few guiding washers. The green garden string I had bought was useless and kept breaking, so I tried some thin fencing wire which I happened to have kicking about the place. The system worked just fine for panning along side to side though the fencing wire was starting to develop lots of little kinks.. So I thought I'd best try things up and down.. Yes I was in position to catch the video camera should anything fail and gravity makes things plummet during testing.. These two photo's were taken in record time As the electric motor at the time was 12 volt, it made it easy to try it out outside.. With it back on the bench for more testing the thin fencing wire decided it had had enough of having lots of little kinks forced onto it and showed it by snapping! I also wasn't that happy with how the pulleys worked. The ultra slow side of things was really ultra slow like the camera moved 1 ft every 20 mins sort of ultra slow! The New Holland tractor wiper motor made all sorts of squealing sounds when it's speed was turned down and it would of been a pain in the 'orse to have to disconnect the drive wire/string from one pulley shaft to another to get different speeds... Sooooo, a rethink was needed... Hidden under the yellow rag (which is wrapped around to try and quieten gear noise a bit) is the 18 volt motor from the rechargeable drill that gave up it's speed controls. It powers the kiddys electric car gearbox to turn a single shaft which is now held up one end by a bearing and plate that came from a Webb cricket pitch mower years ago.. It pays to throw nothing away As you can see the whole thing is now rubber mounted to the rails to reduce the amount of running sounds the camera picks up. A big thank you to Matt for donating some strong fishing line to the cause, it now winds both ways on the shaft, so when one side is winding in the other is winding out. The speed control is a work of art and is more than worthy of the two photo's it's getting As I am using the trigger speed control from the 18 volt rechargeable drill I needed to find an accurate way of applying pressure of varying amounts to the trigger and keep it there.. The easiest way I could think of was a clamp of some sort.. Like the exhaust clamp with a bit ground out to fit the trigger.. Just tighten the nuts to increase the speed. A washer was welded on to house a master on off switch Power is now supplied by this 18.5 volt HP power pack that I found in a box in the workshop.. No idea where or when I got it, but it has come in handy So with everything finally ready to go, the jig thingy was put in a position up high, video camera clamped in place on the carriage and the comical electrical system plugged in... It was at the point I managed to knock a stand which was holding up one end and it all came crashing down with a loud bang! Nigel and Matt came running to see if I'd done anything nasty, but soon hastily retreated once they saw me stomping about the place swearing a lot! Somehow my video camera didn't get broken, not even a scratch, but the jig thingy did need some repairs! One of which was to repair the end of the winding shaft which had had a threaded end sheered off! To make the shaft long enough again I had to lengthen it.. It was at this point I had an idea and left the shaft over length for another idea.. More on that when it happens. So does the camera panning jig thingy work? Well, here's a couple of snaps after some successful testing, but your going to have to wait until the next MadTrax video to see the results

Evening all, a few photo's of Nigel's exhaust repairs.. Starting with a bit of pipe. A bit of beating... Taking shape. You can just about make out the "holes circles" in this photo.. Snip snip. Some welding and quite a bit of drill later.. The welds around the side still need a bit more grinding back in this photo. Old verses new.. I know which one looks better

A slightly late Happy Birthday Koen, I hope you had a good day with lot's of Wheel Horse or lathe pressies

Not our normal sort of stuff on MOM, but it is a machine and it is old.... A very cool story and a nicely edited video..

Oops! we all have those "moments" once in a while.... I think I'd attack it with a grinder but just enough to get the clearance on the lathe you need.

The green sheets almost blend in Chris, you just need to change the far one for a lighter in colour model and Pam will never see them or know..... Until she walks into them of course

Some nice shaped logs there Chris, the real Knobbly one would look cool carved out as an ashtray.. Rustic looking and useful

I miss being able to use my Wheel Horses for work like that, these day's I don't even own a trailer! Speaking of trailers, be careful with the weight you put in the Saxon, or your end up banana-ing it like I did with mine.

Your right about the steel bearing creating lot's of audio noise.. I thought it might do and the video camera does pick it up way too well.. I did try the battery drill motor, but being 18V it wasn't to keen on running at 12V or 13.8V from my CB power pack! I'd already thought of the self angling camera thingy, but using string instead of a solid bar sort of thing. One thing I am trying to do with this build is build it as cheaply as possible.. So far it's cost me £1.79 (with staff discount from the garden center) for a ball of string, I'm hoping that's all I have to spend Not yet, I still write my own scripts When I say write, it's more like start talking to the camera and wonder what I'm going to say next Thanks Richard More of an update for you chaps. As I'd cut up the wiper motor bracket to make the camera carriage thingy, I needed to make a new one.. The shape will change a bit when it gets mounted to the rails. Here's the gearbox from the kiddies electric var that I forgot to take a photo of.. All that gearing will slow things down very well, ideal for time lapse videos. The missing sprocket from the gearbox is fixed to the electric motor shaft.. I don't need all of the motor so out came the grinder. It was at this point that I decided the time had come to look for for an old inner tube to make some tyres out of as Mister Mad Mower suggested. I couldn't see anything with bike wheels on it in the scrap pile, so I had a drive looking for some rubber coolant pipe to use... Fear not, the Fergies are safe. It was these two Escorts that I was interested in.. The estate while easy to get into was not going to give up any of it's internals as the bonnet pull lever inside refused to budge! The saloon I knew had an opening bonnet but without cutting down any trees only the driver door would open.. About 6 inches! Lot's of unnatural body positions later I just managed to get my arm in and pull the latch.. It's a shame that when I opened the bonnet I found the water pipes way too small! Oh well, best have another look at the scrap pile as it's on the way back to the workshop.. This time I got off my Wheel Horse to have a real good look.. Then I spotted it buried under loads of junk and long grass. Hurrah Yesterday was a very cold day weather wise so naturally the first thing to do when I got back to the workshop was to make a coffee And bask in the glory of finally finding an inner tube. Once the coffee had warmed me up I slice a bit off the inner tube and with a lot of stretching it slid onto the bearing.. Instant tyre I will try a wider bit of inner tube to see how well it wraps it's self around the bearing.. As you can see the bearing only really make contact with the rails on it's outer edge, so the more the tube wraps it's self around the better.. I'm not a fan of the really low profile tyre look anyway Back to the drive train if you can call it that lol.. To get the ultra slow panning side of things working I needed to find a way of fixing the small electric car motor to the New Holland wiper motor.. A bit of round bar with a 3mm diameter drilled in it.. The bar was then heated up (ta for the use of your blow torch Nigel) and expanded so the 3.2mm shaft of the electric motor could be press fitted in. A bit of tube with a 13mm nut welded on. Which is a tight fit on the bit of bar. Once the tube is welded to the bar the nut end winds onto the wiper motor. Taa daaaa... Drive into the gearbox for the ultra slow speed side of things. To get drive out of the gearbox I needed to find a way of fixing a bit of this bar to this sprocket. A masking tape template, shame I forgot to photo the steel version as well! The basic motorized system, and yes the far shaft needs a tweak to get it straight.. The idea is you can tie a bit of string to the shaft coming out the wiper motor to produce a nice workable speed.. Move the string to the far shaft and the gearing is such that it would take about 30 mins maybe more to pull the camera carriage up the rails.. Just right for time lapse stuff

Thanks Joseph, even more special effects and other bits coming soon Yeah MadTrax has changed a bit since I started it all those months ago, and looks all the better for it.

Gritting already James! Are you expecting snow anytime soon?

Evening all, I have started a little project that I have been meaning to do for a long time, a panning camera jig thingy.. This should make my videos look more professional and hopefully make them more enjoyable for you all to watch... The first part needed was the gearbox out of this very old and abandoned kiddies electric car.. I forgot to get a photo of the gearbox so here's a pic of what remained of the car when I'd finished cannibalizing it. While dumping the remains of the car on the rubbish pile I thought I'd have a quick look at the scrap pile... Hhmm... Those tubes could come in handy Back in the workshop some choppy weldy later, a 8 inch wide tubular track was made. Now I needed something to roll along the track, a sliced up cart axle and some used bearings got things rolling.. Yes I did commit the sin of welding the bearings to the axles, but the bearings feel the same as before the welding so hopefully all will be well. Something to mount the camera would be handy, so an old tripod got the chop. To motorize the contraption I am using a CB radio power pack, a New Holland tractor wiper motor and the speed control gubbins from a rechargeable drill that has knackered battery's. The two axles were joined together by using a cut down New Holland tractor wiper motor bracket which just happened to have the right size hole to fit the tripod cut off. As you can see the wiper motor isn't fully fitted yet. The idea is the wiper motor slowly winds a length of string onto a shaft and pulls it along the track.. The speed control does work but the motor does make some squealing sounds at slower speeds.. Something to have a think about.. I will add the electric car gearbox to slow things really down whilst doing time lapse filming. I hope to have it all fully finished and tested tomorrow, so stay tuned

Ooooo.. Me like that a lot Any chance of a video to hear the engine running? Can't beat the sound of a V8

Great photo's Norm, thanks for posting them. I do find it hard to turn off the part of my brain that looks at the 27 T and thinks hot rod

That's fantastic.. Love it

No idea on the starter I'm afraid, but as this is (I think) the first forklift on MOM some pictures would be cool

Evening all.. A bit of trimming, re-shaping and carefully grinding back the welds later and the tank fits again. One of those little milestones, the first squirt of paint on this project.. An even bigger milestone.. With the frame work finally done it was treated to a couple of coats of the red oxide stuff. The poor light in the workshop made it look like a very dark thin coat! But the biggest milestone yesterday was getting the frame in it's top coat, a very classy shade of satin black All I have left to do now is everything else, which is quite a bit

That's a hell of a big space James, I'd need a golf cart or a Why Not to get from one end to the other!

Morning all, let's start this update with a very good reason to buy a decent Mig welder... As I've been going round welding up MT's frame there has been the odd weld or three to tidy up... This was gone with my old MigMate hobby welder, and even though I was welding from underneath it looks horrible and not very strong! But once it was all ground back and hit with my Murex TradesMig 165 it looked like this So there ya go boys and girls, bin the hobby Mig and get something more trade like but nothing new (Made in China) and cheap... My Murex is at least 20 years old and will outlast me I expect A heat shield has been made from some thick ally to stop the exhaust cans from melting the seat.. The rear mounts are just captive nuts welded onto the seat mounting plates.. The fronts were mounting brackets that I think used to hold the bodywork on.. Strong with a threaded hole.. That will do nicely Slowly the frame is getting weled and cleaned up.. Some more strength was added a the front where new tubes meet old... Yes the square plate is offset, but so are the lower tubes.. By this point I was starting to get bored with the "weld, grind, weld, clean off some rust, weld, grind, weld, grind" side of things, so I dug the fuel take out and bolted it in place.. Even with the bars, gauges etc bolted on you could see down inside the tank from the front which really bugged me.. So it had to be covered over but I still wanted some air to blow under the tank.. The last bit of my first (and very rubbish) mig welded came in handy once again, this time donating some louvers. Some cutting and welding later... Welded on the tank though a bit of trimming is needed.... The tank will fit in place as it should, you just can't get it on

Oops! Just a silly fun photo

Yes even I fluff my lines once in a while... You tart...

Your right about that lack of grease nipples, but the bearings are bearing and not bushes.. I've got a little box with all the little ball bearings that fell out in it..

Great work as always Richard.. The 12 ton press will make life easier on the joints