I'm all for the "Build it yourself" mentality. There was a member here from Eastern Europe that built a curved boom backhoe and started (I don't know if he finished) an excavator. Both rivalled the best you can find on the commercial market. But this member was no hobbyist fabricator. His skill in design, fabrication and welding was nothing short of amazing.
Thanks for understand the mentality.
When I tell people I want to build something, I always get asked "why?"
my answer has always been a confused "why not?!"
Its baffling to me sometime when people ask why I would want to do something myself when I could just buy, or pay someone to do it.
I've done so much in my life with so little and these dumb ideas I have to try something is what allowed that to be possible.
Even the house I live in ~ when the lady got pregnant, I didn't want us apartment hopping anymore, and wanted to own a home the child could grow up in. Not having the $450,000 to buy one, I decided to build one. Everyone I talked to about it thought I was crazy and couldn't do it, which drove me more to prove them wrong. It took me a year and a half and cost me $61,000 in materials + $11,000 for the cement work, with uncountable hours of research. When covid lockdowns happened, it gave me even more time to work on it. Amazing thing was I passed every inspection first time. When I was done I was left with a 2,560sqft house with an 1,10sqft air conditioned garage sitting on 2.42 acres; but more importantly, have the knowledge (except concrete) to work on every aspect of this home.
You take the knowledge learned from one project, and usually it follows over to the next.
The amazing fabricator you mentioned started somewhere, perhaps this is my starting point.
I'm going to assume your skill set is in the same realm as mine. Capable of a decent repair, maybe some light fab work, etc.
Perfectly put
I'm proposing a middle ground. Why not find a digger like WranglerX linked and fabricate a vehicle (track or wheeled) under it? At least 60% of the rig will then be built for you already.
Same thing I was thinking. Build the base and see where it takes me.
I think you are looking a the big components to cost this out, but you may get buried in the small stuff. Pins, bushings, hoses, valves, down to the lowly grease fittings.
Sadly, that's always the case.
If you go to the enormous effort of fabricating this entire rig yourself and sourcing and buying components, you might as well take advantage of bulk buying the material and begin building your own mini excavators.
Sounds like the Knudson Hillside Tractor story - as that's exactly what he did.
Only I wouldn't build to sell, but sell to build the next/improved one.
Planning is part of it. I plan on starting this after Christmas (If I start getting parts delivered before then, the lady will probably think I skimped on Christmas gifts to buy parts.
(Lets be honest, she wouldn't be wrong)
Bulk buying is always the goal, however it takes a month to import the stuff.
Which is fine if you have a good plan; but that never works out.
I'll give you an example using a pillow block bearing.
I ordered some pillow block bearings to fit a 1" shaft using a 1/2 mounting bolt.
Easy huh? Well, the darn things don't use a 1/2" mounting bolt, they use a 12mm bolt. Too snug to fit without grinding out the hole; But the Chinaman selling them figured rounding was okay.
They should have included the grease fittings, did they? No.
Could I have had them replaced? Absolutely, but the time to get them means my project sits idle for another month - or instead of paying $2 each, I buy them off amazon for $12 each, and get them in 2 days. Or, grind the holes out (too hard to drill with the elongated hole) and buy the grease fitting from ACE around the corner for $3 each.
I really don't think It'll take as long as people are thinking.
I have a CNC router (built that too) I can do the CAD work in 5 minutes, router it out on some 3/4 ply, and use that a stencil to plasma cut out the steel.
Then its just welding and attaching off-the-shelf parts.
Hydraulic pins, spacers, and bushings will be the hardest part - no doubt. That aspect of it will be my learning point.
I'm also not thrilled by the 'open' boom design, but I understand why they did it.
They can make the whole machine out of 1 sheet of steel, and one stick of round tubing.
(the base is pre-built by another Chineese company)
Photo of base without the machine is attached.
Also, the base is $4,030 + import/shipping fees (for 1)
But look at the design of it. Top notch. I really think its meant for robotics, as the build quality of that is far superior than the digger built on top.