Druidfab 4 ton Fork attachment

**#16** » 09:25:51, 04-03-2015

I just love to see good craftmanship, regardless of area. As you may have seen, there are a lot of skilled craftsmen in this forum creating impressive stuff. And then there's the rest of us... :-)

**#17** » 13:00:48, 04-03-2015

nikoneer skrev:I just love to see good craftmanship, regardless of area. As you may have seen, there are a lot of skilled craftsmen in this forum creating impressive stuff. And then there's the rest of us...

I'm in this category when it comes to operating :grin:

A lot more practise required in the 'Drema - I can hold my own in 'Old Jakie', but have a lot of seat time in him and a lot more to gain in my M1500 yet, to come close to Jakie seat time!!
Jakie is SAE levers and the 'Drema is ISO - keep having Jake moments on the ISO pattern :grin:

I'm getting there though........ slowly!!
Put the forks on her and I'm fine, but a much slower operation required for fork work - with a bucket on it's a different story - some of the time.
I get brain freeze after a while and have to stop to get my head back together :grin:

**#18** » 02:41:17, 10-03-2015

Got it started tonight - as promised :smile:

[Grävmaskiner] The Druid's Duck Hunt !!

**#19** » 01:58:53, 12-03-2015

the forks got some exercise today on the big bale handling 'favours' for my neighbour.

Originalets URL: http://i1275.photobucket.com/albums/y450/v8druid/WP_20150311_14_53_51_Pro_zpsi7auvef8.jpg

Tight-ish spot for the first few ....

Originalets URL: http://i1275.photobucket.com/albums/y450/v8druid/WP_20150311_14_54_29_Pro_zpsfu6ivy4j.jpg

........but not as tight as where they were going!

Originalets URL: http://i1275.photobucket.com/albums/y450/v8druid/WP_20150311_14_56_52_Pro_zpskzlieui5.jpg

Got to go in at full reach/flat virtually to get through the doorway!

Originalets URL: http://i1275.photobucket.com/albums/y450/v8druid/WP_20150311_15_29_58_Pro_zpsckg9jsov.jpg

Originalets URL: http://i1275.photobucket.com/albums/y450/v8druid/WP_20150311_15_30_12_Pro_zpsexbqzmn2.jpg

Put ten in there and stuck the forks on top of the blade as I wanted the bucket on the stick to go back down the drive to the house with.

Originalets URL: http://i1275.photobucket.com/albums/y450/v8druid/WP_20150311_16_00_56_Pro_zps1upzldjg.jpg

Mrs.D's been attacking the verge's brambles, etc. this morning and had a decent pile sat on the side of the drive, so it was "can you fill the bucket on the way back Gra and take 'em with you"!

Looking at that last pic, the forks can't be far off a usable position, sat on the blade like that. :cool:

Not had 'em on there in ages and then only for trying them out for a fit, for the fabrication of them.
Must have a better look, next time I've got them on. :smile:

Anyway, fair-play to Pam, she had put her pile just right, at the top of a bank that I could sit the bucket on, under her pile and bowl it all into the bucket :smile:

- didn't think it was all going in there, until I had jumped up an down on it a bit !! :grin:

Originalets URL: http://i1275.photobucket.com/albums/y450/v8druid/WP_20150311_16_00_47_Pro_zpsftt4vmkw.jpg

So glad I held out for and found a VA boom m/c.

Originalets URL: http://i1275.photobucket.com/albums/y450/v8druid/WP_20150311_16_01_18_Pro_zpsvd6hlenx.jpg

All I have to do now is burn it all !!!!!!! :eek:

And before anyone says anything about the spot on the drive - I've seen it too (she hasn't, Mrs D, so shush!!) - it's the only leak on the machine and doesn't do it all the time!!!! :sad:

Lucky it's bio eh? :smile:

I'd brought the bucket up with me to tidy up a pile of horse crap/bedding, for the neighbour, which was rapidly spreading across the turning area - foolishly I forgot a pic before I started (not like me).!! :smile:

Makes a change for me to have a bucket on today, as she normally/usually gets used for handling much more than what she was designed to do.........dig! :smile:

Originalets URL: http://i1275.photobucket.com/albums/y450/v8druid/WP_20150311_14_45_27_Pro_zpsob4fm3gq.jpg

Originalets URL: http://i1275.photobucket.com/albums/y450/v8druid/WP_20150311_14_45_56_Pro_zpsbffhkdwx.jpg

**#20** » 02:25:55, 25-03-2015

Aside from the obvious use of lumping heavy bits about, :grin:

I had several other uses planned for the forks ......... :vissla:

Got the man basket out from its corner and stuck it on to see what it was like for height :eek:

- looked good :cool:

- it wouldn't quite crowd round enough to keep it totally level, :sad:

fully up, but close :smile:

and I wouldn't lose a lot of height boomed down to level it. :smile:

Originalets URL: http://i1275.photobucket.com/albums/y450/v8druid/2014-06-18185307CampR3_zps571262e9.jpg

Those trees had better look out :eek:

now I can reach them :smile:

-They've been in need of a trim, in places for ages, but ladders aren't the easiest of platforms to wield a chain saw from. :uupps:

I now have a dilemma though! :???:

Do I teach her indoors SWMBO to drive; the chainsaw :eek:

or the 'Drema!!?? :uupps:

I can't do both simultaneously!! :sad:

More on this subject to follow :grin:

A few weeks later :vissla:

...... Busy pottering/creating at my bench when Mrs D comes up 'the patch' and says " there's another damned bird in the wood burner - again"!! :uupps:

We get 'em occasionally, :vissla:

but lately there'd been maybe one a week :uupps:

and we'd decided we need to do something about it :idea:

(but hadn't yet)! :sad:

So ........ Down tools and I went to take the top off the Morso - sparrows/tits are small enough to negotiate the baffles :cool:

and appear at the window in the door, :smile:

albeit a tad on the sooty side !! :grin:

After opening the french doors for their exit, :vissla:

one simply opens the Morso's door and they're away. :smile:

If they don't appear, :uupps:

it's a lid off job!!!!!! :sad:

It must have been Starling fledging time, 'cos sat staring at me, when I got in the guts of the Morso, was a very black young Starling, :smile:

who proceeded to feel his way across the ceiling, :uupps:

en route to his open exit. :smile:

SWMBO was not happy :sad:

(and I was a bit PO-ed at the black line across the ceiling too, :sad:

if only for the ear-ache I was getting, for daring to allow said bird to do it!!!!!!!!). :uupps:

After some discussion it was decided that we (I) would need to 'mesh' the cowl on the stack pipe - soon, as in.... instantly. :eek:

Off I went to find some 12mm weldmesh, that I'd got tucked away some where and before I'd even found it, :smile:

'the boss' is on the phone - "there's another one in there and bring something to catch the lil' ba****rd in this time!!"

Well I did, but I didn't, (catch it, that is) :uupps:

at least not for long, :sad:

so we now had soot on a wall as well, :sad:

where the little bugger evaded my best efforts at containing his mad dash from the Morso!! :grin:

I'll swear it was the same bird!!!! :uupps:

He could not have got that dirty, that quick!!!! :eek:

With yet another bollocking ringing in my ears :sad:

I set off AGAIN to find the mesh and damn me, I hadn't even got half way back when Mrs D is stood at the door announcing the arrival of yet ANOTHER one!!!!! :uupps:

I am certain it was the same bloody bird, taking the p*ss!!!!!!! :uupps:

Anyway - we were well happy when the damned thing made a direct 'B' line for the open doors :cool:

and exited without redecorating any walls, ceiling, or carpet and I went and found the mesh. :smile:

I've all sorts of ladders but none of 'em qualify as a roof ladder so .......... either Pam (mrs D) learnt to drive/op the 'Drema in a hurry, :uupps:

or she was going up in the man basket, :smile:

to get said cowl down for 'modification'. :grin:

Visitors curtailed any chance of sorting it that afternoon :sad:

and fortunately we had no more feathered ones either, but the next morning it (and she) had to have it!!! :grin:

Originalets URL: http://i1275.photobucket.com/albums/y450/v8druid/2014-07-01121207_zpsbbd4463c.jpg

Pam is none to impressed with heights :eek:

and reckons if we were meant to be more than 5 or 6 feet above the ground we'd have been born with wings or longer legs!! :grin:

Originalets URL: http://i1275.photobucket.com/albums/y450/v8druid/2014-07-01121826_zps0666d331.jpg

Originalets URL: http://i1275.photobucket.com/albums/y450/v8druid/2014-07-01121843_zps48b4ec66.jpg

After strict instructions not to snap the screws holding it in position, she wrestled the little bugger off and I spent the next hour creating a mesh skin for it, :cool:

before it went back up!! :vissla:

Originalets URL: http://i1275.photobucket.com/albums/y450/v8druid/2014-07-01141829_zps62b4be0c.jpg

mental note to self

DO NOT steer those big EM treaded twins, on hot tarmac, unless you're actually moving. It (the black top) does not like it one bit. :sad:

Forgot to get a pic. of the cowl, so'll have to stick Pam up there again .................. with a camera!!!!!!!! :grin:

The eagle eyed amongst you will have spotted the safety pin in the Miller; the first time I've needed it pluss the safety chain/pins on the basket all fully installed and secured !!!!!!!!!!! :cool:

And yeah, I know she's not wearing a harness :uupps:

- I'd had enough ear-ache for one week :grin:

- she wasn't having any of it, for five minutes aloft. :smile:

She might have, if she'd had a trip up to full height and maybe a parachute too !!!!! :grin:

**#21** » 00:51:00, 17-04-2015

Spent some time a short while back doing a cutting job on the forks, that had to have the torch applied to 'em to put a notch in ready for use under the VA-r :vissla:

Originalets URL: http://i1275.photobucket.com/albums/y450/v8druid/WP_20150323_17_01_01_Pro_zpskfbykife.jpg

also got a couple of holes in it, ready to tap to M16 for the pin captures.....

Originalets URL: http://i1275.photobucket.com/albums/y450/v8druid/WP_20150323_17_38_23_Pro_zpsyqxj5sq8.jpg

then dropped 'em back on their heels......

Originalets URL: http://i1275.photobucket.com/albums/y450/v8druid/WP_20150323_18_06_56_Pro_zpsmgshytgt.jpg

.....ready to get the grinders out to tidy 'em up, before getting touched up again!! :thumme:

Originalets URL: http://i1275.photobucket.com/albums/y450/v8druid/WP_20150324_14_05_00_Pro_zpsdxanl3oo.jpg

Originalets URL: http://i1275.photobucket.com/albums/y450/v8druid/WP_20150324_14_05_08_Pro_zpsddpi6dnr.jpg

Originalets URL: http://i1275.photobucket.com/albums/y450/v8druid/WP_20150324_14_05_24_Pro_zpsnz70ucu2.jpg

I needed to notch 'em to clear the Aux fittings under the VA-r!! :smile:

'Sposed to be wall to wall blue sky here for a while, :hurra:

so very shortly they might just get hung under it and tried out for the job I originally started the rotater for..... x months ago !! :vissla:

**#22** » 05:50:17, 17-04-2015

Nice to get the forks ready for use.

I suppose I´m not in a position to make statements on strength and durability (I don´t have the dimensions or the specifications of material used) , but I cant help my self ... :grin:

: The cross section near the first pin, seams to be the weakest point, and by the notching it´s got narrower. If I am a "crack" trying to get my grip on the contraction, to brake it, I would try to get started at the bottom corner of that notching, next to the pin, trying to converge with the hole of the pin, and then try to find my way down to the cut-out at the bottom of the attachment. (made to attach the forks to the excavators blade )

But I hope I´m wrong about that.

**#23** » 10:38:14, 17-04-2015

jörgen.ottosson skrev:Nice to get the forks ready for use.

I suppose I´m not in a position to make statements on strength and durability (I don´t have the dimensions or the specifications of material used) , but I cant help my self ... : The cross section near the first pin, seams to be the weakest point, and by the notching it´s got narrower. If I am a "crack" trying to get my grip on the contraction, to brake it, I would try to get started at the bottom corner of that notching, next to the pin, trying to converge with the hole of the pin, and then try to find my way down to the cut-out at the bottom of the attachment. (made to attach the forks to the excavators blade )

But I hope I´m wrong about that.

'Morning Jörgen :wave:

I totally agree with you; :vissla:

It is the weakest point, but I had to notch it to clear my aux fittings under the VA-r. :sad:

Ultimately, when I have a hitch built under the VA-r, I will probably fix/weld the pins into this att. and probably double up the internal plate thickness to centre it on the hitch and reinforce this weak point :thumme:

Until then it'll be a case of keep an eye on it :vissla:

It is about 50mm of 20mm plate at this point though :smile:

I should perhaps, in hindsight, have radiused that bottom corner!! :huh:

There are also some bosses yet to go on there too. :thumme:

Don't know how you guys get thread alerts, but I started another last night, which will cover some of my other attachment escapades :grin:

Druid's 'Drema's Druidfab Attachments !!

Hope you like it! :thumme:

**#24** » 14:20:03, 17-04-2015

I love following your work, you are an artist with the torch :buga:

**#25** » 21:41:20, 17-04-2015

kkildal skrev:I love following your work, you are an artist with the torch

Hi Kkildal, :wave:

Thank you very much :thumme:

- I'll take that as a serious compliment. :thummar:

Have to say I've always loved using the gas axe and used to be a lot better, :sad:

with a steadier hand and better eyesight :vissla:

- It's amazing what you can do with one with enough practice !! :smile:

Have also done a bit of thermic lancing too, on 36" bearing blocks, washing the bearings out of the chocks and off the roll shafts on big Davy Mill rollers from a steelworks - no other way to get them off/separate the two. :vissla:

http://www.davymarkham.com/projects/DM% ... chocks.pdf

Now that is interesting work!! :uupps:

- very hot though :huh:

**#26** » 23:28:50, 17-04-2015

You seem to have worked alot within mechanical industries

I have just been messing around with tractors and excavators since I was little and 2 years in school :driver:

and I have restored a few tractors, but I hope my next project will be a wheeled excavator because I want a new challenge :cool:

at the time I am fixing up and modernising a 3 point hitch backhoe called Hymas 21, it is a norwegian made machine, and I am trying to make some buckets for it and a hydraulic coupler so that changing buckets will be easier :grin:

but I have to use an angle grinder to cut out all the pieces because I dont have a gas axe or a plasma cutter :sad:

but with some patience it works fine :cool:

the machine looks like this:

the tractor I have is a Massey Ferguson 690 2wd, witch i have restored between 2012 and 2014

Regards, Kim-Willy

**#27** » 00:46:00, 18-04-2015

Hi Kim-Willy :wave:

I like the look of your hitch :cool:

- it's going to need a very small cylinder though, isn't it?
I assume you are going to use a flat plate with a beveled edge to grip with? :vissla:

It's a very tidy job :cool:

Have you discovered the 'thin discs' :???:

- 1mm x 100/115/125mm and 1.8mm x 230mm :cool:

- amazing for cutting with :vissla:

- buy good ones though :thumme:

- cheap ones will not last and break up too easily :uupps:

Winzer Wurth are the best 115/125mm discs I have found to date :cool:

about £1.80 each, but will cut 200cm of 6mm plate - no problem :grin:

I've seen the Hymas before on Finn, :thumme:

which I look at regularly. :grin:

They look a well built hoe, for an attachment - they're usually built much lighter on a 3 point link attachment.
You won't know yourself with a hyd hitch on there :grin:

- hitch on a switch great!! :grin:

I need to build something similar to go under my VA-r :smile:

(

Druidfab VA-r ) I have the concept/design in my head and need to spend an hour or two on the drawing board to get it detailed :thumme:

Mine will need to suit my Miller dimensions though, :vissla:

at 280mm x 400mm ctrs and will use gripper pins, like the Engcon S type hitches, to grip my 70mm pins - the width does not give a lot of room though, for two pins and a cylinder!! :uupps:

and it will need to be heavily built!!
:vissla:

Your tractor looks in good condition - do you have any more pix of it? I know virtually nothing at all about tractors! :huh:

I was lucky to work for a while for a big-ish engineering company many years ago, who used to specialise in reconditioning steel works' equipment, learnt a lot there and had the chance to work on some stuff that I would not otherwise have had the chance to do later, when I worked for myself. :smile:

Look forward to seeing how your hitch progresses Boyo

Gra

**#28** » 01:17:11, 18-04-2015

I am going to use a plate with bevelled edges yes

I am not good at planning these things so i often just end up winging it :vissla:

The sylinder im thinking of using is 160mm minimum and 210mm maximum length and the rod is 16mm :vissla:

I am thinking of making a tiltable hitch:

I use my 280mm angle grinder to cut the thick stuff and my 125mm grinder to cut the thin stuff and the 1mm discs are quite dangerous on the big machine, but they work great on the small one

here in norway the kind of thin discs I use cost about 2.50£ so I dont use to many of them, only when I need the cut to be as thin as possible :klia:

to comparison the 2mm ones are 0.8£

I had not seen that your hitch did not match the Nordic standard S70, on that the width is 450mm and length is 600mm but the width of yours is closer to the S45 witch is 290x430..

how much does the drema weigh?

The Massey:

Greetings, Kim-W

**#29** » 11:04:06, 20-04-2015

Hi Kim,
Apologies for the slow response - migraine :sad:

The 'Drema is 15-16 tons

There is another table I've seen somewhere with even better capacity for the leg-ed version which mine is - I have it somewhere, just can't see it this morning :vissla:

Nice sketch of the tiltable hitch - the trunnion mount cylinder keeps it compact :cool:

There's been some one flogging these on ebay for a while now.

They'd be a lot nicer unit with a trunnion cylinder!! :smile:

The hitch dimensions of the Miller on the 'Drema are a PITA for creating a hitch under the VA-r, but I do not want to change all of my att.s to suit S type pick ups, so will have to persevere :grin:

That's a very nice looking Massey you have :cool:

- did you have to do a lot to it?

I need to get my thoughts down on paper, for the VA-r hitch, purely to check it'll work.
I have 99.9% of it in my head, but just need to check all will squeeze into the space available - and work :smile:

-
most stuff gets sorted on the bench - after much thought :grin:

The more thought the less alterations :grin:

Gra

**#30** » 15:49:44, 20-04-2015

Hi again, A response is a response no matter when it comes :rock_on:

the hymas 21 only compares to a 3-4 ton excavator maybe so its quite small compared to the drema :lmao:

as for the sketch of the tilt it's not my work, I have found it somewhere on this site

but when I come to making my own it will look somewhat like that one :cool:

The hitch on the drema I'm sure you will rock it when you get to making it :thummar:

The massey was a wreck when I bought it so it was alot of work but the engine and transmission was good when I got it. It was first a year later that i had to overhaul the engine when it started spitting oil... it was mostly welding to get rid of most of the rust