Ian

Got the auger and axle, wheel brackets and wheels clean and shiny today and applied a few coats of red primer.

Had a look at getting the first part assembled today.
The bolts that hold the wheels on were the first thing to do, one missing and one snapped a little warm up with the gas torch and the bit came out I then ran a 3/8 tap through the hole and found a couple of bolts in stock from an old mower deck.
I now have enough to get the Auger fitted and on wheels, might give it a coat of paint first.

You could always use it for leaves! 
 
 

While I was at Kingsfold last weekend this turned up.
Its a 37 inch Wheelhorse snowblower, it's had all the rusty bits welded up and looks all there even comes with new bearings, seals, cable pulleys and chain.

Reminds me of a skeletal version of a House Robot from the Wars......Dead Metal-ish . Regret not being able to pay a visit yet Ian. Hopefully in the near future.   

Not much to report other tha MadTrax now looks like this!!
 

 
 
With a bit of luck I will get the strip down video finished and up today, so you can see how the above happened

Yes it is Norm, I like the whole design. Very precise and versatile. Will even atomise paraffin to run an engine (if run on petrol first for 20 seconds).
No washers! , all joints are machined tapered fits. Although they were noted for drips, occasional flooding etc, I think if they are carefully cleaned and assembled, they won't do that.
Fortunately, I now have a full copy of (c1926) service instructions for these carbs to work with.
 
 
No secrets or magic Nigel. Most of the stuff I use is found under the kitchen sink. Old worn out green scouring pad (softer). Shiny Sink cream cleaner. White vinegar.
Piece of Aluminium for a scraper, old toothbrushes for the outside of carb body. Soft steel/brass wire brushes.
Inside- Thinners for cellulose (acetone), tooth and small inter-dental brushes. Old version 'T' cut. Then put some time and elbow grease into it and wash thoroughly in thinners-
 

 
 
 

Confronted with a problem while assessing parts for a current project. A 96 year old carburettor with a damaged, rusted up Mushroom Air Filter-
 

 
Side angle showing it's firm, seized up attachment to the Carb body-
 

 
I had given it a dose of my preferred homemade Penetrating Oil brew as I wanted to remove the Filter without damage so I can maybe reuse the threaded Back Plate with a new dome on it.
But what to use that would provide a good gripping turn force without damaging it......... Then the light bulb illuminated above my head (no emoji for it).
I stopped servicing my own vehicles a few years ago, but I remembered that I had a real good Oil Filter Extractor for use in confined spaces-
 
  
 
Gently held the carb in a vise-
 

 
.... and proceeded to carefully apply an 'undo'  force-

 
applied about 20 ft lbs and it freed up and undid-
 
 
 
No damage whatsoever. I was then able to finish dismantling the carb for inspection and will be able to make a new cover for the filter.
Glad to say that the carb is fully cleaned and serviceable, but not as shiny as it was when new, it was mostly nickel plated.
   
 

 

Fantastic! I look forward to seeing it used in your videos! 

I didn't think so because a lack of an enormous power plant 
 

Nigel wouldn't be able to do anything with that.  But I bet Ian could.

Morning all, Wow almost 2 years since I last updated this thread!
 
Quite a lot has changed on the Camera Panning Jig Thingy or CPJT for short..
 
The bearing wheels lost thier inner tube rubber tyres/tires as well, they kept losing them..  Despite a nice tight fit on the bearings they would work their way one way or the other and come off!
 
String or fishing line was always a bad idea really..  The fishing line was a very strong one, I can't remember now what it was rated at) but it would still stretch and eventually snap!
I didn't fancy it breaking when doing a vertical shot and my video camera hurttling towards the ground at a very fast and very damaging rate
 
 
Soooo, now we have a whole lotta thread
 
Let's start at the smaller end...
That's the end of a rather long length of threaded rod with a "made on the lathe" thingy that screws onto the rod (with a lock nut) and allows me to put a bearing or two on the end of the threaded rod..
Yes you are seeing correctly, that is a skateboard wheel and bearings fixed on the frame
The idea is the skateboard wheel allows for a little bit of movement which makes everything run a lot smoother.
 

 
 
Moving along the threaded rod we come to the camera carriage thingy..
 

 
 
Zoom in a bit and you can see the threaded rod runs through a couple of nut's welded onto the carriage..
As the threaded rod turns, it forces the nut's to wind down (or up) the thread which being welded to the carriage moves the carriage along the rails... Cool eh  
 

 
 
A view from the underside.. The lead pipe is zip tied on to the carriage to counter balance the weight of the carriage and camera on top when the CPJY is being used vertically.. Otherwise know as up and down
 

 
 
Moving down (or is it up?) to the business end we have a couple of pulleys a belt and half a wiper motor..
With the pulleys set this way the carriage moves down the rails at a ground breaking 1 inch per minute. The carriage has a little over 6 foot of travel along the rails which gives me a 1hr 12mins recording time as the camera pans it's way down the rails..
That may sound like a long time, but is is very handy when filming long scenes such as stripping all the parts off MadTrax
 
If I swap the pulleys around then I get a total travel time of about 6 mins..
I have made a couple of other pulleys (no photo) which can be swapped in giving more travel time options..
 

 
 
A better view of this end, a computer cooling fan has been fixed on to help keep the wiper motor cool.. It does get a bit hot which I expect it did when it was actually being used as a wiper motor!
 

 
 
Power now comes from a Mustang CB radio power pack.. No fancy speed control this time (as the pulleys take care of the speed), just forward and back depending on how the two wires are connected.
 

 
 
The lengths (and heights) I go to to bring you all good video footage
 

 
 
You can see al the "panning action" in the next MadTrax video, strip down in timelapse
 

Morning all, Wow almost 2 years since I last updated this thread!
 
Quite a lot has changed on the Camera Panning Jig Thingy or CPJT for short..
 
The bearing wheels lost thier inner tube rubber tyres/tires as well, they kept losing them..  Despite a nice tight fit on the bearings they would work their way one way or the other and come off!
 
String or fishing line was always a bad idea really..  The fishing line was a very strong one, I can't remember now what it was rated at) but it would still stretch and eventually snap!
I didn't fancy it breaking when doing a vertical shot and my video camera hurttling towards the ground at a very fast and very damaging rate
 
 
Soooo, now we have a whole lotta thread
 
Let's start at the smaller end...
That's the end of a rather long length of threaded rod with a "made on the lathe" thingy that screws onto the rod (with a lock nut) and allows me to put a bearing or two on the end of the threaded rod..
Yes you are seeing correctly, that is a skateboard wheel and bearings fixed on the frame
The idea is the skateboard wheel allows for a little bit of movement which makes everything run a lot smoother.
 

 
 
Moving along the threaded rod we come to the camera carriage thingy..
 

 
 
Zoom in a bit and you can see the threaded rod runs through a couple of nut's welded onto the carriage..
As the threaded rod turns, it forces the nut's to wind down (or up) the thread which being welded to the carriage moves the carriage along the rails... Cool eh  
 

 
 
A view from the underside.. The lead pipe is zip tied on to the carriage to counter balance the weight of the carriage and camera on top when the CPJY is being used vertically.. Otherwise know as up and down
 

 
 
Moving down (or is it up?) to the business end we have a couple of pulleys a belt and half a wiper motor..
With the pulleys set this way the carriage moves down the rails at a ground breaking 1 inch per minute. The carriage has a little over 6 foot of travel along the rails which gives me a 1hr 12mins recording time as the camera pans it's way down the rails..
That may sound like a long time, but is is very handy when filming long scenes such as stripping all the parts off MadTrax
 
If I swap the pulleys around then I get a total travel time of about 6 mins..
I have made a couple of other pulleys (no photo) which can be swapped in giving more travel time options..
 

 
 
A better view of this end, a computer cooling fan has been fixed on to help keep the wiper motor cool.. It does get a bit hot which I expect it did when it was actually being used as a wiper motor!
 

 
 
Power now comes from a Mustang CB radio power pack.. No fancy speed control this time (as the pulleys take care of the speed), just forward and back depending on how the two wires are connected.
 

 
 
The lengths (and heights) I go to to bring you all good video footage
 

 
 
You can see al the "panning action" in the next MadTrax video, strip down in timelapse
 

Morning all, Wow almost 2 years since I last updated this thread!
 
Quite a lot has changed on the Camera Panning Jig Thingy or CPJT for short..
 
The bearing wheels lost thier inner tube rubber tyres/tires as well, they kept losing them..  Despite a nice tight fit on the bearings they would work their way one way or the other and come off!
 
String or fishing line was always a bad idea really..  The fishing line was a very strong one, I can't remember now what it was rated at) but it would still stretch and eventually snap!
I didn't fancy it breaking when doing a vertical shot and my video camera hurttling towards the ground at a very fast and very damaging rate
 
 
Soooo, now we have a whole lotta thread
 
Let's start at the smaller end...
That's the end of a rather long length of threaded rod with a "made on the lathe" thingy that screws onto the rod (with a lock nut) and allows me to put a bearing or two on the end of the threaded rod..
Yes you are seeing correctly, that is a skateboard wheel and bearings fixed on the frame
The idea is the skateboard wheel allows for a little bit of movement which makes everything run a lot smoother.
 

 
 
Moving along the threaded rod we come to the camera carriage thingy..
 

 
 
Zoom in a bit and you can see the threaded rod runs through a couple of nut's welded onto the carriage..
As the threaded rod turns, it forces the nut's to wind down (or up) the thread which being welded to the carriage moves the carriage along the rails... Cool eh  
 

 
 
A view from the underside.. The lead pipe is zip tied on to the carriage to counter balance the weight of the carriage and camera on top when the CPJY is being used vertically.. Otherwise know as up and down
 

 
 
Moving down (or is it up?) to the business end we have a couple of pulleys a belt and half a wiper motor..
With the pulleys set this way the carriage moves down the rails at a ground breaking 1 inch per minute. The carriage has a little over 6 foot of travel along the rails which gives me a 1hr 12mins recording time as the camera pans it's way down the rails..
That may sound like a long time, but is is very handy when filming long scenes such as stripping all the parts off MadTrax
 
If I swap the pulleys around then I get a total travel time of about 6 mins..
I have made a couple of other pulleys (no photo) which can be swapped in giving more travel time options..
 

 
 
A better view of this end, a computer cooling fan has been fixed on to help keep the wiper motor cool.. It does get a bit hot which I expect it did when it was actually being used as a wiper motor!
 

 
 
Power now comes from a Mustang CB radio power pack.. No fancy speed control this time (as the pulleys take care of the speed), just forward and back depending on how the two wires are connected.
 

 
 
The lengths (and heights) I go to to bring you all good video footage
 

 
 
You can see al the "panning action" in the next MadTrax video, strip down in timelapse
 

Morning all, Wow almost 2 years since I last updated this thread!
 
Quite a lot has changed on the Camera Panning Jig Thingy or CPJT for short..
 
The bearing wheels lost thier inner tube rubber tyres/tires as well, they kept losing them..  Despite a nice tight fit on the bearings they would work their way one way or the other and come off!
 
String or fishing line was always a bad idea really..  The fishing line was a very strong one, I can't remember now what it was rated at) but it would still stretch and eventually snap!
I didn't fancy it breaking when doing a vertical shot and my video camera hurttling towards the ground at a very fast and very damaging rate
 
 
Soooo, now we have a whole lotta thread
 
Let's start at the smaller end...
That's the end of a rather long length of threaded rod with a "made on the lathe" thingy that screws onto the rod (with a lock nut) and allows me to put a bearing or two on the end of the threaded rod..
Yes you are seeing correctly, that is a skateboard wheel and bearings fixed on the frame
The idea is the skateboard wheel allows for a little bit of movement which makes everything run a lot smoother.
 

 
 
Moving along the threaded rod we come to the camera carriage thingy..
 

 
 
Zoom in a bit and you can see the threaded rod runs through a couple of nut's welded onto the carriage..
As the threaded rod turns, it forces the nut's to wind down (or up) the thread which being welded to the carriage moves the carriage along the rails... Cool eh  
 

 
 
A view from the underside.. The lead pipe is zip tied on to the carriage to counter balance the weight of the carriage and camera on top when the CPJY is being used vertically.. Otherwise know as up and down
 

 
 
Moving down (or is it up?) to the business end we have a couple of pulleys a belt and half a wiper motor..
With the pulleys set this way the carriage moves down the rails at a ground breaking 1 inch per minute. The carriage has a little over 6 foot of travel along the rails which gives me a 1hr 12mins recording time as the camera pans it's way down the rails..
That may sound like a long time, but is is very handy when filming long scenes such as stripping all the parts off MadTrax
 
If I swap the pulleys around then I get a total travel time of about 6 mins..
I have made a couple of other pulleys (no photo) which can be swapped in giving more travel time options..
 

 
 
A better view of this end, a computer cooling fan has been fixed on to help keep the wiper motor cool.. It does get a bit hot which I expect it did when it was actually being used as a wiper motor!
 

 
 
Power now comes from a Mustang CB radio power pack.. No fancy speed control this time (as the pulleys take care of the speed), just forward and back depending on how the two wires are connected.
 

 
 
The lengths (and heights) I go to to bring you all good video footage
 

 
 
You can see al the "panning action" in the next MadTrax video, strip down in timelapse
 

Morning all, Wow almost 2 years since I last updated this thread!
 
Quite a lot has changed on the Camera Panning Jig Thingy or CPJT for short..
 
The bearing wheels lost thier inner tube rubber tyres/tires as well, they kept losing them..  Despite a nice tight fit on the bearings they would work their way one way or the other and come off!
 
String or fishing line was always a bad idea really..  The fishing line was a very strong one, I can't remember now what it was rated at) but it would still stretch and eventually snap!
I didn't fancy it breaking when doing a vertical shot and my video camera hurttling towards the ground at a very fast and very damaging rate
 
 
Soooo, now we have a whole lotta thread
 
Let's start at the smaller end...
That's the end of a rather long length of threaded rod with a "made on the lathe" thingy that screws onto the rod (with a lock nut) and allows me to put a bearing or two on the end of the threaded rod..
Yes you are seeing correctly, that is a skateboard wheel and bearings fixed on the frame
The idea is the skateboard wheel allows for a little bit of movement which makes everything run a lot smoother.
 

 
 
Moving along the threaded rod we come to the camera carriage thingy..
 

 
 
Zoom in a bit and you can see the threaded rod runs through a couple of nut's welded onto the carriage..
As the threaded rod turns, it forces the nut's to wind down (or up) the thread which being welded to the carriage moves the carriage along the rails... Cool eh  
 

 
 
A view from the underside.. The lead pipe is zip tied on to the carriage to counter balance the weight of the carriage and camera on top when the CPJY is being used vertically.. Otherwise know as up and down
 

 
 
Moving down (or is it up?) to the business end we have a couple of pulleys a belt and half a wiper motor..
With the pulleys set this way the carriage moves down the rails at a ground breaking 1 inch per minute. The carriage has a little over 6 foot of travel along the rails which gives me a 1hr 12mins recording time as the camera pans it's way down the rails..
That may sound like a long time, but is is very handy when filming long scenes such as stripping all the parts off MadTrax
 
If I swap the pulleys around then I get a total travel time of about 6 mins..
I have made a couple of other pulleys (no photo) which can be swapped in giving more travel time options..
 

 
 
A better view of this end, a computer cooling fan has been fixed on to help keep the wiper motor cool.. It does get a bit hot which I expect it did when it was actually being used as a wiper motor!
 

 
 
Power now comes from a Mustang CB radio power pack.. No fancy speed control this time (as the pulleys take care of the speed), just forward and back depending on how the two wires are connected.
 

 
 
The lengths (and heights) I go to to bring you all good video footage
 

 
 
You can see al the "panning action" in the next MadTrax video, strip down in timelapse
 

Quiet drive -
Use the wiper motor ( with the plain bearings greased ) with a block of wood roll pinned onto the shaft .Fix a 1"  plywood disc onto the block and stretch some inner tube over the disc to form a grippy tyre .
Make a similar pinned block arrangement on the input shaft , just make a 10" or 12" plywood disc ( 3/4 or 1" ply ) and use a larger innertube from a van etc to make up the tyre .
Mount the wiper motor on a plywood plate that is free moving ( pivoted ) so a deadweight or spring can pull the drive and driven discs together .
If your motor is doing 45rpm , a 1" disc onto a 12" disc should reduce this down to 3.75 rpm .If the bar this drives is 1/2" then  you should see a trolley travel of  around 6 1/4" per min with the line fixed directly to the bar .
If  12" travel a min is required then use a 6" disc and so on .
If you have any , bicycle wheels make large diameter pulleys for a belt reduction , again almost silent due to the lack of grindy gears .And a inner tube can be cut length wise in half to make a good flat belt to be driven off a piece of brush handle fixed to the motor shaft . Or just make up a disc drive and run it directly on the inner rim .
And iff all else fails , rob the little womens sewing machine motor and foot pedal .......

That Rolls crew cab looks great, I'd happly use it every day if I could afford the fuel
 
 
 
I think that was "The Beast" Mk1 Norm that went up in flames.. If I remember rightly it was kinda based or used bit's of a Capri body?
 
The Beast Mk 2 as above used to have a Rolls Royce grill, JD on the current grill stands for John Dodd.
The story (of which I expect there are many) goe's, John Dodd was driving The Beast abroad (Spain or Germany, I can't remember) on a motorway and flew past a Porsche at a very high speed..
The next day the said Porsche owner went to a Rolls dealership asking for the new Rolls estate!
This is when RR got the 'Orse about Mr Dood using their grill on The Beast..
 
The court hearing was in London, so every day of the hearing Mr Dodd drove The Beast to the court in the center of London
 
I've heard The Beast is still alive and well, now living with Mr Dodd in Spain but it does come over to the UK once a year for an MOT..
 
Disclamer...   All the above is based on on a fading memory and only 2 coffees so far today, so it might not be 100% acurate..

Thanks Norm, it's good to have it driving after all this time. 
 
Soooo, what does it drive like?
 
Well, very good as it happens.. MadTrax feels very stable and planted with not even a hint of "it's going to topple over"  
Oh, and it's fast... In high ratio of course..    Trying to work out the gearing is impossible, so I'm going to guess it will top out about 80mph..
Not that I fancy doing that sort of speed on a quad of course 
 
Off road it's just as good, it feels almost unstoppable.
Rob and I were testing it by driving across deep ruts back and forth..  Eventually it started spinning the rear wheels, flick the switch to 4x4 mode and it pulled it's self out straight away..
 
Amazingly despite the testing abuse nothing broke!  Me happy with that 
 
A few minor little problems to sort..
During the off road testing MadTrax did get rather hot, in a "needle in the red" sort of way!
Part of the problem was an airlock in the cooling system, of course the highest point is where the temp sender is!
As the water level in the expansion tank is no longer dropping I guess all the air has gone out the system..
 
The other part of the problem is while riding MadTrax, the engine is at high RPM but the quad isn't moving that fast to push cold air through the rad..
So I have got an extra cooling fan to fix to the outside of the rad, it should help things out..
 
One thing the engine is doing that I wish it wouldn't is it's running very rich!
The carbs have already been cleaned out, so a bit of carb tuning and balancing will be done when MadTrax goes back together..
 
I did try and get some off road video footage, but for some reason I was having a bad camera day and didn't notice the camera was already recording..
So when I hit the "start recording" button to film the action, I was actually stopping recording!
The end result was I had mostly footage of "the bits inbetween" rather than the action!  
 
No photo's other than this screen grab of MadTrax ripping up the grass.. The smoke is from the over fueling!
 

 
 
MadTrax is now back up on the bench ready to be pulled apart tomorrow or Friday.
Lot's of bit's to be "fully welded up", and painted.

Well done guy's, as Head Exam say's, "Very Deserving"
 

Well done guy's, as Head Exam say's, "Very Deserving"
 

Well done guy's, as Head Exam say's, "Very Deserving"
 

Thanks Norm, it's good to have it driving after all this time. 
 
Soooo, what does it drive like?
 
Well, very good as it happens.. MadTrax feels very stable and planted with not even a hint of "it's going to topple over"  
Oh, and it's fast... In high ratio of course..    Trying to work out the gearing is impossible, so I'm going to guess it will top out about 80mph..
Not that I fancy doing that sort of speed on a quad of course 
 
Off road it's just as good, it feels almost unstoppable.
Rob and I were testing it by driving across deep ruts back and forth..  Eventually it started spinning the rear wheels, flick the switch to 4x4 mode and it pulled it's self out straight away..
 
Amazingly despite the testing abuse nothing broke!  Me happy with that 
 
A few minor little problems to sort..
During the off road testing MadTrax did get rather hot, in a "needle in the red" sort of way!
Part of the problem was an airlock in the cooling system, of course the highest point is where the temp sender is!
As the water level in the expansion tank is no longer dropping I guess all the air has gone out the system..
 
The other part of the problem is while riding MadTrax, the engine is at high RPM but the quad isn't moving that fast to push cold air through the rad..
So I have got an extra cooling fan to fix to the outside of the rad, it should help things out..
 
One thing the engine is doing that I wish it wouldn't is it's running very rich!
The carbs have already been cleaned out, so a bit of carb tuning and balancing will be done when MadTrax goes back together..
 
I did try and get some off road video footage, but for some reason I was having a bad camera day and didn't notice the camera was already recording..
So when I hit the "start recording" button to film the action, I was actually stopping recording!
The end result was I had mostly footage of "the bits inbetween" rather than the action!  
 
No photo's other than this screen grab of MadTrax ripping up the grass.. The smoke is from the over fueling!
 

 
 
MadTrax is now back up on the bench ready to be pulled apart tomorrow or Friday.
Lot's of bit's to be "fully welded up", and painted.

Thanks Norm, it's good to have it driving after all this time. 
 
Soooo, what does it drive like?
 
Well, very good as it happens.. MadTrax feels very stable and planted with not even a hint of "it's going to topple over"  
Oh, and it's fast... In high ratio of course..    Trying to work out the gearing is impossible, so I'm going to guess it will top out about 80mph..
Not that I fancy doing that sort of speed on a quad of course 
 
Off road it's just as good, it feels almost unstoppable.
Rob and I were testing it by driving across deep ruts back and forth..  Eventually it started spinning the rear wheels, flick the switch to 4x4 mode and it pulled it's self out straight away..
 
Amazingly despite the testing abuse nothing broke!  Me happy with that 
 
A few minor little problems to sort..
During the off road testing MadTrax did get rather hot, in a "needle in the red" sort of way!
Part of the problem was an airlock in the cooling system, of course the highest point is where the temp sender is!
As the water level in the expansion tank is no longer dropping I guess all the air has gone out the system..
 
The other part of the problem is while riding MadTrax, the engine is at high RPM but the quad isn't moving that fast to push cold air through the rad..
So I have got an extra cooling fan to fix to the outside of the rad, it should help things out..
 
One thing the engine is doing that I wish it wouldn't is it's running very rich!
The carbs have already been cleaned out, so a bit of carb tuning and balancing will be done when MadTrax goes back together..
 
I did try and get some off road video footage, but for some reason I was having a bad camera day and didn't notice the camera was already recording..
So when I hit the "start recording" button to film the action, I was actually stopping recording!
The end result was I had mostly footage of "the bits inbetween" rather than the action!  
 
No photo's other than this screen grab of MadTrax ripping up the grass.. The smoke is from the over fueling!
 

 
 
MadTrax is now back up on the bench ready to be pulled apart tomorrow or Friday.
Lot's of bit's to be "fully welded up", and painted.

I was there that weekend Richard, as I remember Johns crew chef was driving a shadow with all his tools and kit thrown in the back