I agree. First two years in college were almost identical as ones in mechanical course. We even shared some classes and topics. The knowledge you get there is great but only in general...it all comes up to personal effort... The harder you try the better it gets :-D
Tractor backhoe - homemade
- Thread starter BFreaky
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I agree. First two years in college were almost identical as ones in mechanical course. We even shared some classes and topics. The knowledge you get there is great but only in general...it all comes up to personal effort... The harder you try the better it gets :-D
chim
Elite Member
A true work of art. I love to see things guys come up with and your works are exceptional.
M E Race
Silver Member
I do hope you will copyright your materials. From what we can see of your work you have the next breakthru in design. It would be a shame for someone to steal your design and profit from it. We mere mortals can only dream what you can achieve.
I'm also just a mere mortal :-D. Well, I was thinking to patent some of my inventions...but I still don't know much about that procedure... Untill now the best design of a machine I made was on my snowplow. Since I have acess to cnc cutting machine there are no design limits but that requires lots of planning. I have to imagine all the parts and draw them in right size so it all fits together...
rScotty
Super Member
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- Rural mountains - Colorado
- Tractor
- Kubota M59, JD530, JD310SG. Restoring Yanmar YM165D
I use a program called SolidWorks for final design and fitting parts. I'm betting you probably use something like it.
In essence, a patent grants you a period of exclusivity in return for your educating the world in detail about a better way to do something. In the last 20 years the scope of patents have been expanded. It needn't be a completely new invention; patents are also issued for improvements in existing products or processes. Models are no longer a requirement. It can be more difficult to patent something that you have already disclosed publicly - it depends on how much detail has been disclosed.
My advice if you do hit on a world beater patentable design is to save something back.
More advice....Patents are wonderful to hang on the wall, and you'll doubtless accumulate a few. Most will cost you more than they make you. But the real enjoyment comes from a reputation for creativity - and that comes from sharing ideas with your peers just as you are doing. Keep it up; the rest will happen in time.
Copyrights are similar, but are oriented toward works of art or literature. Not the same thing.
Keep up the good work,
rScotty
Thanks for your advice rScotty, I will look into it.
The main reason why I'm posting all this is to show to people what can one man do at home in a simple garage with only the basic tools.
I hope this will give some courage to others so they start building something for themselves. It's not easy, it's not always cheap, it takes lots of time, work and effort, but when it's finished, the feeling is priceless.
Well, let's get back to the main topic...
For the last few days I've been fixing old hydraulic cylinders and got some more material for the main frame. If everything goes as planned the main parts will be ready for assembly by the end of this week.
The main reason why I'm posting all this is to show to people what can one man do at home in a simple garage with only the basic tools.
I hope this will give some courage to others so they start building something for themselves. It's not easy, it's not always cheap, it takes lots of time, work and effort, but when it's finished, the feeling is priceless.
Well, let's get back to the main topic...
For the last few days I've been fixing old hydraulic cylinders and got some more material for the main frame. If everything goes as planned the main parts will be ready for assembly by the end of this week.
M E Race
Silver Member
True, patents and copyrights are two seperate areas, but a detailed plan with that amount of detailed drawings would be sought after by many once the working model is complete. Proceeds from the sale of those plans could be the start of the next work of art.
Yes, but how to protect plans? Once they're out, there is no way to stop or limit the distribution by others... At the end of this project I will have a complete database of all parts in CNC cutting format, but don't really know how to make it profitable
rScotty
Super Member
- Joined
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- Messages
- 9,722
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- Rural mountains - Colorado
- Tractor
- Kubota M59, JD530, JD310SG. Restoring Yanmar YM165D
The short answer regarding protecting plans - or not - is that you must decide before discussing any engineering design project whether your goal is private profit or public acclaim. For what it's worth, I think that most inventors overestimate the value of the former and underestimate the latter.
Keep in mind that basic patents offer protection only within the issuing country. The internet has a wider audience.
That said, it appears from the response you are getting here that your original design drawings are attractive enough to cross over the line of mechanical design and into the realm or artistic work. Perhaps there is a market there. Copyrighting original artwork is much easier than filing patents.
good luck, rScotty
Luremaker
Veteran Member
Another possibility is to offer the plans and all the parts as a complete do-it yourself kit. Similar to what EA has been talking about doing with their attachments. I would imagine with a well designed backhoe and website you would be able to sell a number of kits every year. I bet there are members here who would be interested in such a kit. I realize this would be a lot more work than simply selling your plans. You'd have to run the numbers and see what would be more profitable plans or kits or maybe both.
Here's how it goes... I've disassembled old hydraulic cylinders and checked them inside out. One of the outter parts was in very bad shape so I measured it and made a new one with tripple seals inside. It fitts perfectly and it should be ok now.
These cylinders are now ready for use (afkors, I will put on some new pait on them). The first one (left to right) will be used as a main boom lift cylinder, the second one as a dipper folding cylinder, and the two red ones will be uset for stabilizer legs. The bucket cylinder and the one for hydraulic thumb still need to be checked out.
After fixing them I continued working on some rings and new "heads" for swing cylinders. I will make a trunnion type double acting cylinders to swing the boom assembly.
These cylinders are now ready for use (afkors, I will put on some new pait on them). The first one (left to right) will be used as a main boom lift cylinder, the second one as a dipper folding cylinder, and the two red ones will be uset for stabilizer legs. The bucket cylinder and the one for hydraulic thumb still need to be checked out.
After fixing them I continued working on some rings and new "heads" for swing cylinders. I will make a trunnion type double acting cylinders to swing the boom assembly.
rScotty
Super Member
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- Tractor
- Kubota M59, JD530, JD310SG. Restoring Yanmar YM165D
Have you drawn up a flow diagram for the hydraulics yet? I'm curious about the relief valves and return lines.....are you going to design your own reliefs or go with commercial?
rScotty
kiotiken
Veteran Member
Wow, very, very, very impressive. I love seeing what true machinists are capable of. Keep these posts coming.
Well, I think there is no need for a relief valve, the swing cylinders will be connected in X. If we have 2 cylinders who work in tandem, I intend to connect them like this: A1 with B2 and B1 with A2. One is pushing, and the other is pulling in the same time...
rScotty
Super Member
- Joined
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- Messages
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- Location
- Rural mountains - Colorado
- Tractor
- Kubota M59, JD530, JD310SG. Restoring Yanmar YM165D
Yes, that will work for simple movements & when only using a single pair of cylinders to move the BH in a single plane. BH flow is complicated because it is normal to power more than one cylinder pair simultaneously so as to make the bucket move in a complex motion rather than a series of orthogonal motions. And most control valves are set up to take advantage of that.
For example, you will probably want to limit the force of the swing cylinders to be lower than the force that you want for the bucket curl motion. As I'm sure you know, this can be done to some extent by using larger or smaller cylinders and mechanical advantage. But since what you have is a combination of second hand cylinder sizes (congrats there, BTW) another way is to limit the pressure of the various circuits with relief valves.
There was a thread where some of this is discussed. You might get some ideas from reading: http://www.tractorbynet.com/forums/kubota-owning-operating/246337-backhoe-swings-right-but-not.html
luck, rScotty
jimgerken
Veteran Member
Please consider adding a quick-change bucket feature to the backhoe. It is really difficult to change buckets by driving out the pins, but easy if you have a quick-change system. It is a natural to want a couple different buckets eventually.
As said, very nice work. It is unusual to find someone as artistic as yourself who is also an accomplished fabricator.
As said, very nice work. It is unusual to find someone as artistic as yourself who is also an accomplished fabricator.
I understand what you mean. Swing cylinders will have limited flow and pressure just to give them a smooth motion. I was lucky to find the right sizes of used cylinders for every part of my backhoe, although they come from 4 different machines and it took me a while to get them all.
Tandem pumps and 2 separate joystick valves are there exactly to avoid these series of orthogonal motions. It is gonna be a dual circuit, so everything should work simultaneusly. Joystick valves have a parallel inner connection, so individual flow can be divided to two commands on one joystick at the same time. Jimgerken, quick coupling of the bucket is a must, I have bad experiences with front loader bucket changes... It took 2 of us and 15 minutes of hammering, every time!
I did not like that so I solt the original bucket, built a new one and made it like this:
It works much better then the original, it's bigger and heavy duty, and the coupling takes like 1 minute.
kiotiken
Veteran Member
Man, I'm almost starting to wonder why you even bothered buying a tractor, seems like you could have just built a much better one from scratch! Very impressive work, you have serious skill and ingenuity.
