Collab 2020: Modeling Heavy Equipment (Backhoe)

[spikeyxxx]

@pfbourassa You are probably right. I looked at some more reference online and did find pictures where there is nothing connected to that rail.

[Shawn Blanch]

@pfbourassa yeah I am saying that it’s not pointing to the part it needs to connect to AND I’m a little concerned if I go with my gut and ditch the reference that the hydraulics will interfer on the back side of the wheel/tire where it connects to the axle

[Parker Bourassa]

Gotcha,

For what it’s worth, I think you are correct on where it should connect, and how thin the axle is.

[Kaj Suominen]

Those things are forklifts attached to the bucket, you can see where they can pivot on the top. and they are hold down with bolt on down.

[Omar Domenech]

Caterpillar people can do mods to their rides too

[Kent Trammell]

@blanchsb kudos on your functional research and testing. I agree with your inclination to follow the red dashed line reroute. I’ve run into a few things with the blueprint that I know are inaccurate to the real thing. I trust your testing results 👍

[Kent Trammell]

Also I think I made the wrong call to omit the forklift brackets. All 4 official CAT brochures feature them. This is another strike against the blueprint’s accuracy lol.

Thanks to @spikeyxxx and @louhikarme for clearing up the mystery 👏

[Kaj Suominen]

one thing i’ve learned when doing exact models of real things that blueprints are lacking, either because copyright stuff or that things have changed between different years of same manufacturer and then you also get reference pictures that might be on different model. So the more you have real reference pictures the better. 

🙂

[spikeyxxx]

@louhikarme there is also the little issue that what we get are usually not the actual blueprints (I mean the technical drawings) like the ones they use to manufacture something.

Anyway, a blueprint is just a copy of a drawing, so any drawing could be made in a blueprint. The naming is not incorrect, it just sounds more ‘official’ than it is.

They make a drawing on transparent paper and then lay that on top of special paper with a light sensitive layer (which is yellow, by the way), shine a bright light over it so only where the lines are on the drawing the yellow layer stays. and then they fixate those lines with ammonia, which turns them blue. Hence the name;)

[Shawn Blanch]

This is also worth mentioning the differences between a concept drawing or blueprint and a technical source-controlled-engineer-approved-drawing.

Many sales catalogs fall short because they are built by Sales and Marketing departments. These departments don’t interface on a daily basis with the engineering departments. So, naturally you get the “Silo” effect where one department posts stuff and then the other continues with trial and error development.

I agree with @louhikarme. Those forks rotate forward about the pivot bar on the top and turn the bucket into a fork-lift hybrid. Notice the forks get thinner at the bottom and thicker at the top. Ease of “stabbing” design.

[Matt Dickun]

Okay, thanks.

[Mark Smith]

and because of the ammonia part of it making blueprints stinks… 

[Shawn Blanch]

Okay. I feel like I am done with the basic block out. Maybe I have gone farther than expected or maybe this is just right. I’m hoping it is far enough Because I am ready to move on to train some more. I have most mirror modifiers still active but there are 40+ objects so I don’t remember if I applied a couple on the more basic shapes.

I’m including the wireframe and basic render here for feedback and critique. I tried my best to have clean topology to make it easy to add SubDiv Modifier(s) but there are probably areas that can be improved farther. There are a lot of circular cuts. I kept all circles at division of 8 and maintained same circle-rotation on pieces that shared a circle cutout.

If this looks good enough then I will upload it to the Google Sheet. Hope everyone else is having as much fun as I did! Go DOGs!

Wire Frame – Loader Arm Assembly

Block Out – Loader Arm Assembly

Reference and Playing Around

Notice how the lower frame is cutting into the lower hydraulic. That will have to be thinned out to make room.

I checked out the similar CAT machine at my work and there is plenty of Front Axle clearance behind the Front Wheels. There’s not a ton going on back there so I think the lower hydraulic shouldn’t interfere.

@pfbourassa I’ll send you the updated file here shortly the same way I sent it before.

[Shawn Blanch]

I posted the link via private message @pfbourassa but noticed that you already uploaded your to the Google Sheet. My bad.

@theluthier  I added a comment on my ”Attemp” row for the Loader Arm. When you get a free chance, let me know if you are able to download it just fine.

[Shawn Blanch]

@dostovel  I just put the link on my ”Attempt” row’s comment section for the Google Sheet. Hopefully that should work for you too.

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