Druidic exploits of a various nature!!

[Stock]

So you bought a super trim with arm off set......................

The pump flow rate on them beasties was 16gal / min, but be careful them gearbox, pump & motor are bomford only.........................

[v8druid]

Fast forward through 3 days of torrential pissy wet weather .......

And it had been a pretty mixed bag of weather that day too .... but mostly damp, ranging to ‘kin drowned !!!


I'd been having a bit of a panel beating session on the bent bits of the VA-r ... all was now back as it was pre-stupido and would’ve been re-assembled if it hadn’t been for this ......





It was literally .... bouncing ...... and didn’t take long to accumulate a few inches in the ‘slurry pond’ .........





The most difficult bit of straightening ... (or at least what I had anticipated being the toughest) went the easiest, with it suitably bolted to the bench and some well aimed smacks from a sledge!!








The outer plates had taken a little more ‘finesse’ to caress back to shape on the anvil, with a 4lb hammer !!


It was all vee-ed and cleaned and ready for some hot stick to tack it up for a trial fit, ‘fore it got ‘properly’ welded back together.


New bolts ‘en route’, although I have to say, I must agree, to a certain extent, with a comment from Frank, my mate in Norway, in an email the day before ..... the 8.8s probably saved a lot more possible damage, letting go, as they did. I’m therefore having a serious think about the wisdom of increasing the strength of ‘em!!
Could be the slew ring next time/could so easily have been, this time !!!!!

I'm going to order a new disc. maybe two ..... in 20mm, now I have it in bits, to take all the necessary dimensions and fab up one with the Hill attached to it for all the 50mm pinned pick up att.s, with perhaps a second set up to cope with 70mm pinned stuff .... but may well still build a modified 'S' type/style hitch onto that one, as I've been threatening to do for ages.


The original plate is 15mm in the business dept. and the loading is transferred across the whole width/length by the 20mm pick up cheeks which are fully welded to the 15mm plate and picking up on as many bolts as possible, given the dimensional limitations.


As I've already said this started out life, in my hands, as a bar bender ... pix below ..... with all the forces in torsion/shear on those bolts, which was spread to all 16 of 'em, via the lighter side covers/load spreaders.


I'd always intended to get a new disc profiled for it ...... but you know what it's like .... getting around to it is another thing!!


As I've also said, as Frank pointed out ..... going up on the bolt grade then transfers the 'onus' of weakest link to the slew ring .... I'd rather be replacing bolts and straightening bits, than struggling to find a new ring gear for it!!!!!!











It's performed very well so far and it was only me being a total dick that caused this ....... something had to give and it weren't gonna be the boulder, in this instance ...... and thankfully it was the bolts/plates that did ...... not the ring gear.

[Stock]

The single acting ram is a hydraulic breakaway it allows the head to move rearward when it encounters an obstacle and once you lift it clear the ram pushes it back to working position. That was a great improvement over the duck bill manual system..............................

[v8druid]

So you bought a super trim with arm off set......................

The pump flow rate on them beasties was 16gal / min, but be careful them gearbox, pump & motor are bomford only.........................

The sticker on it says it's a Highwayman Stock ..... 73 ltr / min ain't gonna be a problem for a 'Drema pump doing 240/min .... hopefully !!

The original set up is; ... all actions are powered by the traccy hyd.s .... the PTO runs the pump to drive the head and is supplied by the gert tank it carries. Multiplex chain drives the pump from a lay shaft powered by the PTO ... all now obsolete.

The head's going under the VA-r on the 'Drema, suitably bracketed and I'll run the head from the breaker circuit.

You seem to know a lot about these units Boyo .... any idea on any pressure limitations?

Only reason I bought a complete unit was; it was cheaper than a head on its own .... and a tidy looking head it is too

[v8druid]

The single acting ram is a hydraulic breakaway it allows the head to move rearward when it encounters an obstacle and once you lift it clear the ram pushes it back to working position. That was a great improvement over the duck bill manual system..............................

I'd guessed it was something along those lines but ......... the confusing issue is that when it gets 'oiled' by the head circuit powering up ..... the ram is ported to close ???? not open?????
Doesn't make sense ?

Academic though, as I doubt it'll get incorporated into anything I create to carry it under the VA-r

[v8druid]

As I've already said ..... bloody good job the bolts were 8.8s ..... they are 150,000lbs yield, per square inch (just over 13 tons breaking strain on a 12mm bolt) ..... 12.9s are 230,000lbs (20.5 tonnes on the same size)
Could've been a hell of a lot more serious otherwise!!!!


I'm going to price up the discs, ready profiled as it may be a lot cheaper than doing 'em meself ..... I'm just about out of 20mm plate and would have to buy another plate, with a lorrawaste for two of these ...... A profiler may well be able to nest 'em in with other work .... hopefully!!








In case yer's all wondering ............. I wrote it on the bench to remind meself to measure up before I stuck it back together !!


The teeth are devoid of grease, 'cos they'd just been cleaned of all the old crud in 'em, before getting a liberal application, as it goes back together and I do have 2 nipples strategically placed above the tooth line, for further insertion of the greasy stuff, as required !!

The eagle eyed amongst you will have spotted in the previous pix .... the fact that the broken bolts had disappeared from the ring gear ....














The ‘heavy washers’ are ‘slugs’ I used to keep from the Punch/crop/shear, specially for these sort of jobs ... just punch a hole in the middle to suit the stud size to be removed and weld on .... if you couldn’t get a good enough grip, weld a BIG nut on top of the washer!!

With them removed I went around all the holes with a tap to make sure they were all clean and ‘good’ .... none of the holes had ever been bottomed out with a ‘plug’ / no. 3 tap either!!





Rather than risk damaging the grease seal ..... I took it out .... completely, cleaned it and the groove, before replacing it post ‘heat’ and cleaning, etc.





‘Fore I could get on with the plate’s reassembly, I needed to make some room on the surface bench ... I’ve had Mick’s old 18” sat on there a while awaiting ‘some attention’ to the gap between the teeth’s extended edge and the main edge ..... where everything escapes from !!


So welded in the plates I cut a while back .......





Before lifting it out the way .....

[v8druid]

To make some more room for clamping down the various bits .....








For ‘nailing ‘em back together’ .....





....... after I’d checked that the tacked up positions were correct ...





.....first !!!!


Left it clamped to the surface bench, to cool, whilst I had me tea, then removed it ... without any perceptible movement and repeated the process on t’other side ....





...... and end for end, ‘til it was all well and truly consolidated .......





Which left it a bit late for grinding flat the areas it’s gonna be sat on !


So welded the Roemheld capture plate back into place, which had been ‘ripped asunder’ from it’s location on the gear housing, in the 'lower' upper, (forgot a pic) ....... then tidied up and dived into a box to make some new studs to drive the rotary and get a.n. other coat of paint on it, as it’s rusting quite badly on the body ...... oil blacked finish doesn’t really like getting wet!!





The bottom (as viewed) is stainless !!


So next is get it re-assembled, which’ll be fun with the upper in one piece, but ...... I have a plan!!!!

[v8druid]

Forgot to say .... they delivered my new toy recently .........





Along with a box of leccy for the day ......





...... to keep me drugs at 2 degc C !!


New tranny for everyone, on our shiny new pole .......





And a new pole for the neighbours too .....







Left me our old pole, ......... at the bottom of the drive, so had to go ‘grab’ it ...... 'twere a bit damp !! .....








... got it back to the patch and I’m wondering WTF to put 30 odd ft of pole .... first thought - on top of me boxes ..... then thought .... nah the boss was never going to wear that one!!
Damn me if her first suggestion wasn't ....... " on top of your boxes? " !!







Do for now !!


You’ll notice that due to the lack of tilty/turny facilities ATM, I’ve had to resort to bolting a rotator back on the Cranab as I needed to shift a few boulders out the way...








Free hanging ain't a patch on under the VA-r, but the brackets for hanging 'em off the hitch lift point worked well


The boulder pile grows ever larger ..... 'bout a dozen or so added That day ......








The boss’s Hatching day celebration on the 20th, so wasn’t gonna be a lot done on the bench and was likely to be a ‘spensive day ..... last year was a free rein in Jules’ shop in Monmouth !!!!!! ... no idea where we were going in the morning? She had plans though and I was sure to find out in the a.m.!!

[Stock]

You will need to get your self an anticavitation valve, run an independent return to the tank as that motor has no case drain.

The rotor runs at about 2300 rpm, driven by the motor @16 gals with 2800 psi. That looks like a supertrim head as the hyman was way more boxy with an internal toothed belt,
like this

[v8druid]

getting close to catching up now Guys ......

Sunset on the longest day ..... well the 21st ...... according to the net the longest day was the 20th this year as it was/is a leap year

looked like we may be having a nice day tomorrow








Goodie .... more bloody mowing !!
Grass looked like it hadn't been cut in a month, after the days of torrential monsoons we'd been having ...... unless of course me bolts turned up !!

22nd was an entire day on the brush-cutter / strimmer doing all the bits I can't get at with the mowers ... edges, real steep bits, etc. .... my feet were hanging off in the night as it was all mostly on banky sort of terrain
Can not believe the growth in a week !!

posty turned up in the afternoon with ........





On D4's recommendation, thought I'd give one of these a try ....





Never had one that comes with an 'operators manual' before ..... or a bunch of keys!! ......





Plus of course the ultimate in attachments ......





which arrived the other day. The first one is still going strong and just had to have a second to go on this.


ordered a BSP one assuming that CAT would still be old skool ..... were they bollox .....bloody M10 !!!!
If I'd gone for an M10, the bugger'd have been BSP ..... it's just the way it is ..... Mr Sod has that way about him

bit of tweaking with a tap and all was good !!

I'm told the Cat grease guns are probably a Lincoln. Usually priced at £49 .
Think maybe the keys were meant for someone else ..... 5 is a generous 'freebie' !! Certainly couldn't see WTF they fitted in the grease gun

either that or .... I'm hoping that whatever they fit is gonna be delivered soon too,

That really would be a result

[v8druid]

You will need to get your self an anticavitation valve, run an independent return to the tank as that motor has no case drain.

The rotor runs at about 2300 rpm, driven by the motor @16 gals with 2800 psi. That looks like a supertrim head as the hyman was way more boxy with an internal toothed belt,
like this

My breaker return is direct to tank Stock, via the return filter ........ and 1" hose. I see there's what I assume to be a cross line relief valve in the system which'll get re-used, close-ish to the motor .

The head is deffo more modern looking than that old beast ...... WTF is an anti-cavitation valve ..... I understand what it does, but never seen one

I'd guess from the belt cover it's got maybe 3 or 4 Vee belts ...... will have to take it off for a look see and will prob.s drop them off for initial set up/trial, save having them flaily things whizzing about

[Stock]

something to do with exit I think....................

[v8druid]

something to do with exit I think....................

Nah ....... think it was more to do with Iceland winning 2-1 over England last night, looking at all the FB commentary after the match.
Not a football fan or watcher .... but fairplay, for a semi amateur team they ran rings round England's team of millionaires last night .... they were the better team without doubt

[v8druid]

on the home straight ...

As expected ...... The Boss’s day out proved ‘costly’, but she deserves a bit o’ spoiling now and again .... few new clothes, a load of plants for her ‘gardening habit’, nice bit of grub out ..... a good day out, according to her FB posts !!


The following day I’d made a decision on the VA-r ...... ‘fore it went back together it was going to get some mod.s ..... whilst it was apart, or it’d be ages before I developed the enthusiasm/relented on using it, to pull it to bits again to do them.
I’ve been intending to alter the Hill’s attachments for some time and have had the brackets made to do it for quite some time ..... so .... lacking any new mount profiles, t’old one had to have it .....











The 70mm cheeks came off and all got cleaned up....




I want to be able to continue to use these ... occasionally, so paired ‘em up, set out the new mounting centres and piloted ‘em as a pair ....





Before separating ‘em to drill ‘em out to M16 tapping size ....








And getting the old threads inserted for connecting ‘em to the new brackets ....




Having attached their new mounts to them I could then use them to get their positions set out and aligned easily........








Got the one side stitched and secured so’s I could use it to align and parallel the second one .....








And then stitched in place ready for a weld up.

Did the usual ‘bridge brace’ .......





......and sequential welding on the insides ...... and letting it all cool off......





‘fore taking the cheeks off and bracing the new brackets (forgot a pic) and getting them fully firmed up......





Having let them cool too, I offered up the cheeks to check for any movement ..... perfect .. as they were to start !!

[v8druid]

The Hill’s new mount lugs followed in the cheeks place fully bolted in place .... ignore the excess bolt lengths and extraneous nuts guys ... assembly only items .. They’ll all be length-ed up for the permanent items.





Next bit to get my attentions was Mr Hill’s finest ...... that I’d already ‘butchered’ a while ago and temporarily mod.-ed for a try out .... as you’ve already seen, many times recently!!
Its temp. lugs had to have it .... and once off, the body got cleaned up .... again !!





Before getting turned and humped over, on to its new ‘best mates’ for a suss out.








A major PITA/governing factor about re-mounting this, is the auto system for the secondary latching safety mechanism interlock, which I’ve already ‘Druidised’ to minimise the space required.


Short of grinding off the odd millimetre here and there, it can’t be made any smaller. I could ‘do away’ with it completely ..... I already have a system mod. in place to over-ride it, as required, but didn’t really want to eliminate it completely, but I knew it was going to make things ‘tight’ in the scheme of things, as far as space is concerned, within the guts of the beast, for the Roemheld’s connections to both the Aux. ports/QCs and for the plumbing for the Hill itself!
A 60mm gap was/is the bare min. I can get away with .... so ..... so be it.

The other question to be determined, was the position about the centre point and no amount of measuring was going to beat chucking it in place approximately and ... pondering it.


To do a thorough job on getting it dead right .... first time, I needed to build up the Roemheld's ‘head’, so’s I could get a ‘real’ handle on just how it was all going to look/be/fit !!


As said .... this method allows me to remove the Hill, occasionally if I really need/want to and refit the 70mm cheeks.


The Aux. QCs are going to have their own independent brackets to support them in a permanent position, so will not need any ‘disconnection’ of supply plumbing. I need to achieve an ability to disconnect the Hill temporarily, if/when it gets taken off, so will need to be QC-ed .....


I have it sussed .......








And this was the final ‘incarnation’ without the M/F extensions that weren’t required, as the QCs cleared the banjo just fine without ....





Having got a ‘real time’ handle on what it was going to look like and what room it was going to need, after a.n.other good shufty and careful measure up, I could move the hill forward the 50mm I really wanted to, to get it nicely centred on its new ‘best mates’, ready for a stitch up and enable me to be able to remove it and firm everything up.





Well that was gonna happen Sunday morning ....... but, ...... out at a friend’s 60th bash Saturday night ... didn’t get in ‘til gone two and had a rude awakening about 4 a.m. when I’d had to leap out of bed ...... gasping for breath and literally drowning in me own ......................... snot !!


Thought it was going to be a Heimlich Maneouvre jobby, but managed to get enough air to clear it all !!!!
https://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/...cle/001983.htm
One to remember and know guys ... lone workers and all that!!


It’s oak tree pollen season ATM here and it has been crucifying me .... Saturday night was something else ... never had anything like that before and have to admit .... frightened me a bit !! My Cetirizene that I take every day to combat it is just overwhelmed .... as was I!!


So didn’t get a lot of zeds that night and by the time I’d surfaced ‘bout 9.30 Sunday morning it was peeing down !!!
So that put paid to the day’s plans .... like bloody Autumn here again 12 C and grim ... yet again !!
Looked forecast better for Monday at least, so I would hopefully get this all ready to go back together ......


after a few other mod.s, while it’s apart .....


more on that again ............

Monday dawned ........... wet and pissy !!!! and today's been no better !!

Damned near the end of June .... 12 C still and peeing down ..... progress non existent


Cloud base lower than the house .......





Remind me again why we live here?!!